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

scholars (P. Allison, J. Berry) have considered the full range of material evidence, rather than
concentrating solely upon traditional subjects such as painting, sculpture, architecture or finds. 10
To achieve a comprehensive and integrated study of Roman food and society, D'Arms
has expressed three wishes:
"...to relate shifts in convivial practices to broader patterns of social and cultural
change...to widen conceptions of Roman society and culture to include subequestrian
behavior and experiences ...[and] to integrate the copious
archaeological and art historical evidence with the scattered literary sources." 11
The main contribution of this thesis is to fulfill the second wish. I will demonstrate how residents
of Pompeii from the smallest (work)shops to the largest houses organized their domestic space
for the purpose of making daily meals. In particular, smaller residences of 'sub-equestrians',
rarely included in discussions of housing, are here put back on the map. Not enough is known
about early domestic arrangements at Pompeii to address problems of historical change
systematically; my archaeological study is therefore limited to the third quarter of the first
century A.D. I also contribute to D'Arms' third wish, by setting the archaeological examination
against a background of literary evidence and recent research on Roman meals and houses.
Tying together the various sources, I intend (paraphrasing Gazda) to "expand the definition and
the field to include the full range of culinary expression through all strata of Roman society." 12
My work represents the first detailed study of Roman kitchens, utilitarian spaces, and
dining areas. 13 In chapter two, I construct typologies and terminologies for cooking and dining
areas, in order to discuss the material in a consistent manner. I analyze the extant Latin
terminology, and then establish a working typology based partly on previous archaeological
studies and partly on examples from this study. To avoid using Latin terms weighed down with
the baggage of uncritical modern usage, I have started over with fresh English terms for these
Nozze d'Argento (V.2.i), Casa di M. Lucretius Fronto (V.4.a), Casa del Chiurgo (VI.1.10), Casa di Sallustus
(VI.2.4), Casa del Poeta Tragico (VI.8.5), Casa del Meleagro (VI.9.2), Casa del Labirinto (VI.11.9-10), Casa del
Fauno (VI.12), Casa dei Vettii (VI.15.1), Casa di Marcus Lucretius (IX.3.5) and the Casa di Obellius Firmus
(IX.14). Recently, the Häuser in Pompeji series has offered detailed studies of smaller atrium houses such as
the Casa del Principe di Napoli (VI.15.7-8), Casa del Orso (VII.2.44-46), and soon, the Casa della Caccia
Antica (VII.4.48). These houses are making their way into the literature, but like the others cited above, have
been studied primarily on the basis of outstanding architecture or painted decoration, not because they are
representative of Pompeian housing as a whole.
10 Allison 1992b has documented the distribution of art, architecture and artifacts towards determining
room function and use, though her sample consists solely of medium to large atrium houses. Berry 1993 has
examined a wide range of material evidence from insula I.9 at Pompeii, addressing small and large
households with appropriate attention to the neighborhood context.
11 D'Arms 1986, 64.
12 Gazda 1991, 15; I have substituted the word "culinary" for "artistic", in her original quote.
13 Salza Prina Ricotti 1978/80 (following Fulvio 1879) outlined the basic types of cooking installations and
described several outstanding examples of kitchens from Campania, Ostia and Rome, but she considered
only architectural evidence in larger houses.
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