Space, Movement, and Visibility in Pompeian Houses

Description

"This volume examines the pivotal role of movement, visibility, and experience within Pompeian houses as a major factor determining house form, the use of space, and the manner, meaning, and modalities of domestic daily life, through the application of GIS-based analysis. Through close consideration of ancient literature, detailed explanations of methodology, and exploration of results, Michael Anderson provides new perspectives on Pompeian domestic space including room types and household activities that rarely feature in the discussion of ancient housing. Readers gain a better understanding of priorities in the design of Pompeian houses, the degree to which daily life was interrupted by earthquake damage in the site's final years, and evolving motivations behind wall painting decoration. It not only explores how Pompeian houses reflected the needs of everyday life as imagined by their architects, but also how these spaces served to influence and control daily activities and ultimately how they were transformed by the spatial and visual requirements of domestic life. Space, Movement, and Visibility in Pompeian Houses is suitable for students and scholars of Pompeian houses and domestic life, Roman architecture and urbanism, spatial analysis and space syntax"-- Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents Figures Tables Preface and Acknowledgements 1. The problem of Pompeian houses Pompeian houses or 'the Roman house'? The traditional architectural-developmental narrative Explaining room use Exploring the distribution of finds Roman houses as reflection of Roman society The impact of the 'spatial turn' Re-populating Roman houses Visual impression and identity The symbolic significance of houses The role of actors and agency Conclusions Notes 2. Reconstructing activities in Roman (and Pompeian) houses Reconstructing Roman temporal patterns Roman hours of the day The daily life of the 'elite male' Expanding the elite male's daily activities Other members of the household The materfamilias and other elite women Materfamilias as household manager Extensive financial dealings The celebrated task of wool working Afternoon activities of the elite female The cena Daily activities in the lives of slaves and others associated with the house Cleaning, fetching water, and removing rubbish The afternoon to evening meal Commercial endevours Household and agricultural production Freedmen, lodgers, and other dependents Children and the extended family Older children and elderly relatives Non-elite households Activities of the night Interruptions to the pattern Conclusions Notes 3. The analysis of domestic space Space syntax-inspired methodology Considering movement 'Extended' mean depth (eMD) and access heatmaps The analysis of visibility GIS and visibility The effect of closed doorways Beyond space syntax The sample and sources employed Decoration, finds, and fixtures Finds and decoration in GIS Considerations concerning taphonomy and deposition Notes 4. Visitors, inhabitants, space, and power in Pompeian houses Elite reception in Pompeian houses The fauces-atrium-tablinum-peristyle axis revisited Power and the view from the front door Vistas from reception rooms Conflicting priorities: daily activity vs. elite display Vistas onto low-status activities 'Keeping up with the Julii' - doorways and deceptions Considering the rest of the house Atria and peristyles Cubicula Locating sleeping Situating storage Kitchens, 'service areas', and bath suites Centrally accessible kitchens Strategies for minimising the impact of kitchen-related nuisances Infrastructural efficiency between bath suites, kitchens, and toilets Tensions between form and function The impact of building inertia Notes 5. Case studies Casa di M. Fabius Amandius (I 7, 2.3) (Fig. 5.1) Excavated: 1911f, 1923ff Casetta di Roma (VI 16, 35) (Fig. 5.2) Excavated: 1904 Casa del Principe di Napoli (VI 15, 7.8) (Fig. 5.3) Excavated: 1896f Casa di A. Trebius Valens (III 2, 1.a) (Fig. 5.4) Excavated: 1913, 1915f Casa di Julius Polybius (IX 13, 1-3) (Fig. 5.5) Excavated: 1913, 1970f Casa di M. Obellius Firmus (IX 14, 2.4.b) (Fig. 5.6) Excavated: 1888, 1905, 1910 Conclusions Notes 6. Spatial-visual analysis and post-earthquake Pompeii Reconsidering earthquake disruption Evidence of disruption and continuity Building materials and persisting daily life Rebuilding as the only apparent priority Storage of salvaged items Other signs of disruption Case Studies The Casa di Julius Polybius The Casa di Trebius Valens Persistence or abandonment? Houses relinquished to restoration? Conclusions Notes 7. The spatial-visual analysis of wall painting Adapting spatial-visual analysis to the study of wall painting Numerical analysis - distribution across the categories Tracing the patterns of change Replacement or retention of earlier styles Changing priorities in the Fourth Style Measuring the experience of different classes of visitor The view of the household Conclusions Notes 8. Reflections on the spatial-visual study of Pompeian houses Spaces and activities Compromise and conflict An inherited architectural environment Extending methodology Conclusions Notes Works cited and abbreviations Modern Sources Index