DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61617#0319
THE POMPEIAN HOUSE
259
the side walls back of the couches and the inner end of the
room have each a single large panel with a small panel at the
right and left, while on each side wall in front are only two
panels, of the same size.
In one respect the ordinary dining room was far from con-
venient; those who had the inner places could not leave the
table or return to it in the course of a meal without disturbing
one or more of those reclining nearer the outside. Large rooms,
in which an open space was left between the couches and the
wall, or in which several tables with their sets of couches
could be placed, were unknown in pre-Roman Pompeii. In
the time of the Empire a few of these large dining rooms
were built in older houses. There is one measuring about
25 by 33 feet in the house of Pansa; another, of which the
dimensions are 23 by 30 feet, in the house of Castor and Pollux;
and a third, 36 feet long, in the house of the Citharist.
In a number of houses we find a large, fine apartment —
designated by the Greek word oecus— which seems often to
have been used for a dining room, especially on notable occa-
sions. A particularly elegant form was the Corinthian oecus,
which had a row of columns about the sides a short distance
from the walls, the room being thus divided into a main part
with a vaulted ceiling and a corridor with a flat ceiling. The
couches would be placed in the main part; the guests could
pass to their places along the corridor, behind the columns.
The remains of such an oecus may be seen in the houses of
Meleager and of the Labyrinth.
A specially interesting example — unfortunately not yet wholly
excavated — is in the house of the Silver Wedding. In this
case only the inner part, designed for the couches, is set off
by columns. We may assume that there was a vaulted ceiling
over the middle, resting on the entablature of the columns; that
the ceiling of the corridor between the columns and the wall
was flat, and of the same height as the entablature; and that
the front part of the room had a flat or slightly arched ceiling
of the same height as the crown of the vault over the middle.
In the more pretentious Roman houses there was sometimes
a dining room for each season of the year; when Trimalchio in
259
the side walls back of the couches and the inner end of the
room have each a single large panel with a small panel at the
right and left, while on each side wall in front are only two
panels, of the same size.
In one respect the ordinary dining room was far from con-
venient; those who had the inner places could not leave the
table or return to it in the course of a meal without disturbing
one or more of those reclining nearer the outside. Large rooms,
in which an open space was left between the couches and the
wall, or in which several tables with their sets of couches
could be placed, were unknown in pre-Roman Pompeii. In
the time of the Empire a few of these large dining rooms
were built in older houses. There is one measuring about
25 by 33 feet in the house of Pansa; another, of which the
dimensions are 23 by 30 feet, in the house of Castor and Pollux;
and a third, 36 feet long, in the house of the Citharist.
In a number of houses we find a large, fine apartment —
designated by the Greek word oecus— which seems often to
have been used for a dining room, especially on notable occa-
sions. A particularly elegant form was the Corinthian oecus,
which had a row of columns about the sides a short distance
from the walls, the room being thus divided into a main part
with a vaulted ceiling and a corridor with a flat ceiling. The
couches would be placed in the main part; the guests could
pass to their places along the corridor, behind the columns.
The remains of such an oecus may be seen in the houses of
Meleager and of the Labyrinth.
A specially interesting example — unfortunately not yet wholly
excavated — is in the house of the Silver Wedding. In this
case only the inner part, designed for the couches, is set off
by columns. We may assume that there was a vaulted ceiling
over the middle, resting on the entablature of the columns; that
the ceiling of the corridor between the columns and the wall
was flat, and of the same height as the entablature; and that
the front part of the room had a flat or slightly arched ceiling
of the same height as the crown of the vault over the middle.
In the more pretentious Roman houses there was sometimes
a dining room for each season of the year; when Trimalchio in