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

over a fire built on the ground, with a hole provided for introducing fuel and tending the fire; (c)
a 'cooking brazier' is a portable device that contains the fire and has the means to support a pot
over that fire; (d) a 'brazier' is a portable device that carries a fire for the sole purpose of heating,
and as such has no means to support a pot; (e) a 'stand' is only a support to hold up a pot, and
fire is not involved. 60 The strict division between 'cooking brazier' and 'brazier' is not valid at
Pompeii, because they were used for both cooking and heating; I exclusively use the latter term.
Because cooking supports are made of mundane terracotta, they have generally been
ignored by Pompeian excavators. In the archaeological sample, the record of only one set of three
cooking supports, made up of broken amphorae toes, survives (Fig. 5.153). 61 Cooking stands
(fornelli in Italian) and braziers (bracieri) are slightly better recorded at Pompeii, especially if they
are made of metal. In G. Fiorelli's 1873 inventory of the finds in parts of fifteen insulae, he records
a total of eleven whole or slightly damaged fornelli, four of bronze and seven of iron. He also
records eighteen bracieri, ten of bronze and eight of iron. 62 Terracotta examples were also in use;
one fornello and one braciere of terracotta have been published from the inventory of the Napoli
Museum (Figs. 1.10-1.11). 63 The most common metal cooking stand is the simple tripod of ca.
0.15 m. high, which appears in situ upon the stoves or hearths in some kitchens (Figs. 1.1, 1.4-5). 64
A few of the best preserved metal braziers have been published. They are of moderate size, ca.
0.25-0.35 m. high; those of rectangular shape range are ca. 0.30-0.40 m. wide and ca. 0.50-0.60 m.
long, and those of circular shape are ca. 0.40-0.50 m. in diameter (Figs. 1.12-13). Both forms have
feet, a raised top ridge to hold in the coals, and may be highly decorated on the exterior face. 65
Both shapes are copied in miniature for portable altars of ca. 0.25-0.20 m. on a side for the
rectangular models and ca. 0.15 m. diameter for the circular models. 66
Baking covers
Baking covers, known as either clibani or testum, are earthenware vessels of 0.25-0.50 m.
in diameter that narrow or are domed at the top (Figs. 1.14-1.15). Baking covers were set over a
60 See Scheffer 1981, 25-30, fig. 1, developed for her study of cooking in Italy from the Bronze Age to
Republican Rome.
61 In the southwest corner of portico (o) in I.9.13 (PPM II, 212, # 62); see the gazetteer entry. Ward-Perkins &
Claridge 1976, #295 presents a cooking pot resting on an amphora mouth that serves as a stand.
62 Fiorelli 1873, 170. None of these stands or braziers are illustrated; none have a provenance.
63 Collezioni 1989, 200-201. The fornello: #193, and the braciere: #194. Neither have inventory numbers. See
also Rediscovering Pompeii 1990, 145, #10, a small terracotta altar or brazier.
64 I.6.4 (n), I.6.7 (m), I.10.4 (41), I.10.7 (11) (see gazetteer), and the Casa dei Vettii, VI.15.1 (w), not in the
sample; see Dosi & Schnell 1986b, 84-85. For tripod stands from museums, see Alimentazione 1987, 158, #58
and Collezioni 1989, 200-201, #189 (also shown in Ward-Perkins & Claridge 1976, #297).
65 Unprovenanced braziers: Collezioni 1989, 182-183, #68 (Herculaneum); #69 (Pompeii). See also Dosi &
Schnell 1986b, 75, 88.
66 Altars in the shape of miniature braziers: Collezioni 1989, 188-189, #112-113.
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