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

constructed of precious materials, including crystal, silver, gold and electrum. 80 In the dining
rooms, ladles of silver and bronze (simpula, cyathi) mixed measurable amounts of wine and water,
and transferred the result from the mixing vessels to the cups (Figs. 1.7-1.8). 81 Elaborately
decorated stoves were built for heating the water that was used to cut the wine before drinking
(Fig. 1.16-1.17). 82 These portable stoves were fueled by charcoal, and could be carried into or
near the dining room. 83 Guests were then able to personally supervise the mixing of their own
cups of wine, as K. Dunbabin has recently demonstrated. Rightly stressing the variety of Roman
drinking customs, she concludes that the mixing of wine, water and spices appears to have been
done according to individual taste, rather than in the large batches for all the guests that were
common at Greek symposia. 84 The fact that not all of the guests might drink the same batch of
wine meant that some hosts could favor certain guests with better wine, and leave poorer drink
for the others. Such preferential behavior was considered to be in poor taste by authors such as
the Younger Pliny, because it flaunted accepted etiquette and mocked the atmosphere of
conviviality ('living together') expected at a meal. 85
Table etiquette
Eating and drinking done in company were, above all, social behaviors that had to be
regulated in order to preserve social order. One's behavior at table revealed whether one was
80 For crystal, see Sen. Ep. 123.7; Collezioni 1989, 228-229 (#7). For gold, see Mart. 6.94. See also Dunbabin
1993; Dosi & Schnell 1986b, 62-67, 76-78.
81 Var. L. 5.124 briefly defines the Latin terms and functions for these ladles. For preserved examples, see
Rediscovering Pompeii 1990, 192-197, # 92, 99-100; Collezioni 1989, 178-179, #42; Dosi & Schnell 1986b, 82;
Carandini 1977, 167. A set of ladles of graded measuring capacity is shown amongst a whole silver table
service painted on the tomb of Vestorius Priscus at Pompeii (Dunbabin 1993, Fig. 3).
82 Some smaller forms of these stoves are known today as 'samovars'. For a recent study of these waterheaters,
see Dunababin 1993; see also Collezioni 1989, 182-183, #66-67, 70-74; Dosi & Schnell 1986b, 74-75, 86;
Ward-Perkins & Claridge 1976, #159; Mau 1908, 376-377.
83 In the study sample at Pompeii, stoves for heating liquids have been found in room (g) of I.6.15, under the
stairs of room (20) in I.8.17, and in room (2) of I.9.5 (the latter two published respectively in Rediscovering
Pompeii 1990, 173-175, #59 (mislabeled a 'food-warmer'), and 189, #85).
84 Dunbabin 1993, 140-141.
85 Dunbabin 1993, 128, with refs. to Juv. 5.24-37; Mart. 3.82.22-25, who complain about differential treatment
at meals. Cic. Pis. 67 pictures L. Calpurnius Piso's bad behavior: entertaining Greeks at dinner, and worse,
packing them five to a couch while he keeps a whole couch for himself. Plin. Ep. 2.6 contrasts the boorish
behavior of his host with his own egalitarian habits: " 'I serve the same to everyone, for when I invite guests
it is for a meal, not to make class distinctions; I have brought them as equals to the same table, so I give them
the same treatment in everything.' 'Even the freedmen?' 'Of course, for then they are my fellow-diners, not
freedmen.' "; 'Eadem omnibus pono; ad cenam enim non ad notam invito cunctisque rebus exaequo, quos mensa et
toro aequavi.' 'Etiamne libertos?' 'Etiam; convictores enim tunc, non libertos puto.' (Teubner text, B. Radice
translation). D'Arms 1990 argues that this sort of equality at dinners was uncommon, being reserved for the
gatherings of literate, cultivated, 'truly civilized' individuals.
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