KITCHENS AND DINING ROOMS AT POMPEII ... - Get a Free Blog

References
CTP IIIA, 12-13; Orr 1973, 152, #1; Della Corte 1954, 262; Della Corte 1927, 32; Maiuri NSc 1927,
32; Della Corte NSc 1912, 184-185.
Data
A) Total area: 44.6 Nodes: 31.0 Connectors: 1.5 Static spaces: 12.9
B) Total # spaces: 4 # Nodes: 1 # Connectors: 1 # Static spaces: 2
C) Area, HE in (a): 2.5
33. I.7.10-12, Casa dell'Efebo, casa grande (Figs. 1.12, 2.5, 2.23, 5.4, 5.21, 5.84-5.91)
Synopsis.
The properties at I.7.10-12 and I.7.19 were connected by a small staircase located at the S
end of the garden (23) of the former house. It is possible that both were owned and operated by
the same family or individual, but because the two units are architecturally distinct, they will be
considered separately. The synthesis of I.7.19 will consider a potential relationship between the
properties.
This house was the result of the coming together of two atrium houses and their
dependent rooms, with entrances at #10, #11 and #12 (Fig. 5.21). 60 Each of the houses was
equipped with its own complement of living, cooking, reception and dining rooms, which
explains the duplication in room function that appears when the houses are joined together and
redecorated in the 4th style. The conglomeration takes place apparently after the earthquake of
A.D. 62, and perhaps at the instigation of the freedman P. Cornelius Tages, whose name appears
painted on a storage jar, and whom Della Corte and Maiuri considered the owner. The
attribution of the house is not based on strong evidence, but is driven by a desire to see a
Trimalchio-like freedman transform a series of petty houses into a sprawling, pretentious urban
estate. The integration of separate houses poses problems for interpreting which identifiable
dining areas were designed solely for their original separate houses, and which came to be an
active part of the newly joined house.
The entrance (1) at #10 was found locked, barred and braced with a heavy timber from
the inside, perhaps to keep out others during the eruption. This fauces was flanked by two
bedrooms (2, 3) as it led into atrium (A'). On the N side of the atrium, a stair led to second floor
rooms above rooms at both the front and back of the atrium (Fig. 5.84). On the W side, the large
DR◊(4) dominated the atrium. To its S was a narrow room (5) with a bath at its W end. A door at
60 Sutherland and Maiuri believed two houses were joined, one at #10, and another with two entrances at
#11 and #12; A. De Vos (PPM I, 619) argues there were separate houses at #11 and #12, a more unlikely
scenario, as there is no evidence for a nucleus of rooms that identifies #12 as a separate residence.
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