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

skins (Fig. 5.102). 185 A second type is an arcuated niche set into a wall, usually plastered,
painted, or architecturally elaborated with stucco or an articulated shelf (Fig. 1.21). The grandest
shrines are aediculae built of masonry, decorated with marble and/or stucco and paint, appearing
as miniature temples resting on high podia (Fig. 1.22). Bronze, terracotta and marble statuettes of
household and other gods have been found in association with all three types. 186
Did the free family and slaves use different household shrines? As the Italian economy
became more reliant on slave labor in the second century B.C., houses in Pompeii expanded, in
part to include the new servile members of the household. 187 Larger households and houses
required more rooms, and the rooms tended to serve a specific function. E. Salza Prina Ricotti
has argued that as houses expanded and the kitchen moved out of the atrium into its own space,
the lararium:
"far from remaining in the noble part of the house, followed the kitchen and was
established there, recognizing the sacred character of the flame that cooked the
food of the entire family." 188
Neither the literary or archaeological evidence supports the hypothesis that cooking was
originally and exclusively done in the atrium. 189 Moreover, later household shrines do not
always appear in a kitchen; they also appear often in peristyles or gardens. 190 Some are installed
in the atrium even in the last period of Pompeian history. 191 The distribution of ritual in the
Roman house was complex, depending on the size of the household and the nature of their
185 Orr 1978, 1584; Boyce 1937: I.10.18, I.13.2, VI.6.1, VII.15.12, IX.9.3. See I.7.18 in the Gazetteer.
186 See the list compiled in Fröhlich 1991, 356-358.
187 After the army returned from the wars in the East (ca. 187 B.C.), the art of cooking and specialized slaves
to serve as cooks are both reported to have debuted in Rome (Liv. 39.6; see above, pp. 13).
188 Salza Prina Ricotti 1978/80, 247-249 (from which the excerpted quote is translated): "Se non si fossero
trovate Pompei ed Ercolano probabilamente sarebbe venuto spontaneo pensare che, spostata la cucina negli
ambienti servili, il culto dei lari e del fuoco sacro, quel fuoco tanto importante per la famiglia, sarebbe
rimasto nella parte padronale della casa dove i familiari riuniti avrebbero potuto degnamente onorarlo. È in
fondo difficile per noi e per il nostro senso religioso capire che quando la cucina, più o meno nel II a.C. si
sposto dall'atrio per localizzari in un ambiente staccato e posto nei quartieri servili, il larario lungi dal
restare nell'area nobile della casa, la seguì e con lei si insediò, riconoscendo il carattere sacro della fiamma
che cuoceva i pasti della famiglia tutta."
189 For a discussion of the literary evidence for the location of the cooking fire in the early and middle
Republican periods, see chapter two, pp. 69-73. Nappo 1994 has demonstrated that houses constructed at
the end of the third century B.C. in Regio I at Pompeii were originally outfitted with a separate kitchen next
to, but not within, the atrium.
190 The kitchen (86 examples), atrium (56), peristyle (58) or viridarium (47) are the four parts of the house
where according to Boyce's (1937, 105) sample a household shrine most often occurs. Orr's (1973, 98-99)
sample is somewhat different, but the kitchen (8), atrium (11), peristyle (2), and viridarium (19) still make up
the vast majority of locations for shrines, which are rarely found in dining rooms. Jashemski 1979, 115-140
discusses religion in garden contexts.
191 The sacella in atrium (b) of I.10.4 and atrium (d) of IX. 2.26 were fourth style (i.e. ca. post A.D. 45)
installations according to Allison 1992b, 159 and Fröhlich 1991, 294 respectively.
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