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

their own place and time for rations during which they could enjoy the social interaction of their
peers? Did slaves of differing status within a household eat differently?
There must have been considerable variation in domestic arrangements, depending upon
the mind and resources of their master, the size of the house and the size of the staff. Customs
and attitudes changed continually over time, and from place to place. Households and their
houses fluctuated in size, in the makeup of their families, and in their fortunes. Literary sources
offer anecdotal evidence from the point of view of Roman elites, evidence that does not often cut
across rank, status, age and gender. Fortunately, the archaeological evidence at Pompeii in the
first century A.D. represents a broad band of the socio-economic spectrum. A systematic
exploration of cooking and eating arrangements, from the one-room shop to urban mansions,
follows. I will show that the archaeological evidence confirms and complements the picture of a
hierarchical society outlined above. I begin with definitions and typologies for cooking and
dining areas in chapter two.
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