Classics 63 Archaeology and Architecture of the Greco-Roman World Ancient Cities Fall 2000 ~ Beth Severy

Paper Assignment on House in Pompeii

Assignment: Using one house from Pompeii as an example, explain the social structure of the Roman house, that is, how the plan and decoration of the house shapes and reflects the social and cultural identities of its occupants and visitors.

Your paper should include a plan of the house and a full bibliography of the sources of your information.

Questions you might ask yourself in developing your paper:

• How does the architecture divide space? What social rituals or activities are built into the structure of the house? How does the plan help visitors move through the house and understand the functions of the rooms?
• What are the social axes at work (public/private, grand/humble, commercial/residential, male/female, adult/child, etc.)? How does the surviving decoration help you confirm your reading of those spaces? Are rooms decorated to grab and sustain attention? To mark service areas? To direct or divert attention? What spaces were not decorated and why?
• Are there rooms for which we can determine a specific function? How are their uses coded? Who would have used the rooms? Does anything in the rooms work to reinforce the position of those who used the rooms in the family or community hierarchy (slaves vs. free family members, male vs. female, adult vs. child, etc.)?
• Are sight lines important? What can you see inside the house from the doorway? What spaces or people are framed or otherwise emphasized? What could you see on the street from the doorway? Is the door on a main street or back alley? What other buildings are on the block?
• What does the house reveal about the class status of its owner? About the class aspirations of its owner?

Books and articles you may wish to consult in choosing and analyzing a house:

Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, Houses and Society in Pompeii and Herculaneum, particularly the chapters we are not reading for class.
Brilliant, R. Pompeii AD 79 : the treasure of rediscovery (New York 1979).
Gazda, E., ed., Roman art in the private sphere. New perspectives on the architecture and decor of the domus, villa, and insula (Ann Arbor 1991).
McKay, A.G. Houses, villas and palaces in the Roman world (London 1975).
Leach, E.W. "Reading signs of status: recent books on roman art in the domestic sphere," (review article) American Journal of Archaeology 96.3 (1992) 551-57.
Dunbabin, K.M.D. "Houses and households of Pompeii" Journal of Roman Archaeology 8 (1995) 387-390.
Dunbabin, K.M.D. "Convivial spaces: dining and entertainment in the Roman villa," Journal of Roman Archaeology 9 (1996) 66-80.
Foss, P.W. "Age, gender and status distinctions at mealtime in the Roman house," World Wide Web document, http://www-personal.umich.edu/~pfoss/hgender.html (1995).
George, M. "Servus and domus : the slave in the Roman house," in R. Laurence and A. Wallace-Hadrill (edd.), Domestic space in the Roman World (JRA Supplement 22, 1996).

On 24 hour reserve from my mailbox in the Classics office (Old Main 311):
John Clarke, The Houses of Roman Italy.
L. Richardson, Pompeii: An Architectural History.

On 24 hour reserve at the circulation desk in the library:
Paul Zanker, Pompeii: Public and Private Life.
Penelope Allison, "Roman households: an archaeological perspective" in Roman Urbanism, pp.112-46.

Articles on specific houses:
Allison, P. "The relationship between wall-decoration and room type in Pompeian houses: a case study of the Casa della Caccia Antica,"Journal of Roman Archaeology 4 (1992) 235-49.
Archer, W.C. "The maturing of the Fourth Style: the Casa delle Nozze d'Argento at Pompeii," Journal of Roman Archaeology 7 (1994) 129-50.
Archer, W.C. "The paintings in the alae of the Casa dei Vettii and a definition of the fourth Pompeian style," American Journal of Archaeology 94 (1990) 95-123.
Bergmann, B. "The Roman House as Memory Theater-The House of the Tragic Poet in Pompeii" Art Bulletin 76.2 (June 1994) 225-56.
Laurence, R. "Pompeii-The Casa del Marinaio and its History" Journal of Roman Studies 83 (1993) 227-29.
Berry, Joanne "The conditions of domestic life in Pompeii in AD 79: a case-study of houses 11 and 12, Insula 9, Region 1"Papers of the British School in Rome 65 (1997) 103-125.

If you are particularly interested in artifacts:
P. Allison, "Artefact Distribution and Spatial Function in Pompeian Houses" in The Family in Roman Italy, 1997, pp. 321-54.
P. Allison, "Labels for Ladles" in The Archaeology of Household Activities, 1999, pp. 57-77.
Berry, J. "Household artifacts: towards a reinterpretation of Roman domestic space," in R. Laurence and A.Wallace-Hadrill (edd.), Domestic space in the Roman World (JRA Supplement 22, 1996).

Ancient Cities Homepage ~ Classics Department ~ Macalester College

12/4/00
Beth Severy, Macalester College