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

collections of amphorae in (20, 34), however, no cooking or eating wares or utensils are associated
with these hearths. The evidence suggests these types of hearths were not used for cooking, but
for various industrial purposes.
All dining and reception rooms were located around peristyle (c). Within the peristyle
itself was found the remains of a single wooden dining couch (DO) facing the central fountain
and pool (Fig. 5.162). DR•(11) has green-ground 4th style decoration and a delicate central
emblema of opus vermiculatum in the pavement around which the couches may have been placed.
Found inside was a storage chest containing domestic vessels. Another chest packed with pots
sat off the NW corner of peristyle (c). A single cup was found in DR•(12), with its 4th style
decoration. DR◊(15), also with 4th style painting and a slate and mosaic floor, contained
evidence for a bed/couch, a chair, and a large cupboard. DH◊(19) (4th style painting) contained
the skeletons of three individuals, a pick and a hoe, with which they probably tried to cut their
unsuccessful escape. Both of these possible dining areas flanked the premier reception and
dining room in the house, the massive DH (18) (Fig. 5.163). This room, painted in the 4th style
and worthy of being called a basilica, was considerably disturbed after the eruption. Pieces of
dining couches, a bronze and marble table and a bronze jug were found here. Numerous fittings
for doors indicate that the room could be closed off from the peristyle.
Cooking, serving and table wares were found stored in the narrow room (10) and there
were a number of amphorae containing wine or vinegar in room (14). There was further storage
of cooking and eating apparatus in the service rooms underneath the bath suite (46-49).
Underneath (49) in [A] was found an iron BZ, a bronze casseruola, and a bronze jug. A latrine
occupied the NW corner of the space underneath (47), and Allison postulates that a semicircular
masonry platform in the SW corner was a cooking hearth; this cannot be confirmed. The furnace
for heating the baths lies underneath (48). Underneath (46) in [B] was a room that contained at
least five storage chests. Amongst the contents was a large collection of cooking, serving and
dining wares, including the famous 118-piece silver service (Fig. 1.8).
Two main shrines served the center of the house. In the NW corner of the atrium, a large
aedicula greeted visitors to the house, near a smaller shrine underneath the stairs to the upper
floor in room (2) (Fig. 1.22). In area (25) off the SW corner of peristyle (c), near the entrance to the
bath suite, an arcuated niche above a tall podium preserved the cavities of five roughly carved
wooden statuettes which Maiuri explained as the images of the ancestors, the imagines maiorum.
This private family shrine was not directly visible from any of the reception rooms, and its
contents were further concealed by wooden shutters (Fig. 5.164).
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