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

under the SE corner of DR•(c) caused the floor of the dining room to collapse at that point. A
public water source (important if private water sources were reduced or cut off due to drought)
was also located just across the street from the entrance, at the NE corner of insula (I.10) (Fig.
5.99). The only light and ventilation for the kitchen was apparently through the doorway into
atrium (b). The finds from the S half of this property (including the kitchen) were never
published, so it is difficult to discern where the bulk of kitchen goods and equipment were
stored. However, a photo taken at the time of excavation (PPM I, 743, #240) shows three
terracotta weights, a cylindrical terracotta cooking stand closed at the top by a round ceramic
disk, a coarse lid with a handle and two other open ceramic cooking vessels. From this evidence,
it would appear that the kitchen was in use at the time of the eruption.
Installation amenities, dining areas: Maiuri reasoned that DR•(c) was used in part for
reception because there was evidence for a couch against the E wall. 71 Several other finds in
bronze support the suggestion that dining was carried out here: a foot stool for the couch, two
table amphorae, two serving trays with handles, two jugs and three pastry forms (Maiuri, 385,
Fig. 17). A few amphorae were found in the cenaculum DR◊{g} at the time of excavation, but no
secure evidence for dining vessels or furniture exists. 72 Other storage of dining apparatus was
available in a cabinet, the imprint of which was recognized against the W wall of atrium (b).
Associated with this cabinet were a bronze serving tray, casseruola and a ladle.
I) Decorative amenities, KI (e): The only decoration in the kitchen is from the lararium painting
above the ST, described below, under 'Sanctity'.
Decorative amenities, dining areas: The cocciopesto pavement of DR•(c) centered on a square
emblema with an inscribed circle in which a dog, birds and fish were depicted. The emblema
was bordered by a meander pattern in white tesserae. The walls are in the late 3rd style; a thin
architectural scheme imposed on a white ground frames vignettes in the central panels, showing
rams, goats and swans pulling chariots. The central vignettes are flanked by miniature still-lives
of gilt vases. Sutherland argues that the decoration is in 'imitation' 3rd style and dates to after the
A.D. 62 earthquake. The pavement from cenaculum DR◊{g} was able to be reconstructed; a central
(1.0 m 2 ) square emblema consisted of marble cut-outs linked by lines of tesserae. The walls were
again of the late (or 'imitation') 3rd style; red-bordered panels contained medallions of animals
over a red socle.
71 Maiuri NSc 1929, 384: "lungho la parete est si osservano tracce di un divano".
72 Of note is room (d), which was enlarged by the space formerly occupied by the fauces after the entrance to
the building was moved into (a). The decoration is patchy and practically illegible, and there is a niche for a
couch or bed (ca. l. 2.00, w. 0.90 m.) at the S end of the W wall, below a window to the street. Although the
room (l. 4.75, w. 4.38 m.) is even larger than DR•(c), the small size of the niche (and consequently the couch)
suggests a bedroom here.
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