Private Areas in a Pompeian House? (1 Viewer)

[sw3etiE]

Which areas of the house were guested not allowed in and regarded as private?
Help!!!

 

[sw3etiE]

apparently it was bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchen, smaller atrium and large wine cellar.
but correct me if im wrong.
Feel free to provide a more in depth response

 

[philphie]

this doesn't matter

 

[-may-cat-]

apparently it was bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchen, smaller atrium and large wine cellar.
but correct me if im wrong.
Feel free to provide a more in depth response

The thing about rooms in private homes is that we are not actually sure of their different functions, it is difficult to say whether a room was used for such and such purpose and it's entirely possible that some rooms had many different functions. It isn't always a good idea to label rooms as the 'bathroom' or 'bedroom' because those are our terms and they may not really relate to how the ancients saw the room uses in terms of functionality.

If i recall correctly the use of public/private space in homes was largely dependent on who you were in terms of the patron client relationship. In this way it was possible for some rooms to be considered private space to some but not to others. Decoration and architecture was used to raise and drop boundaries to different individuals.

If you're interested there is a really fantastic book on this called 'Houses and Society in Pompeii and Herculaneum' which explains it all really well with some good pictures, but yeah in terms of HSC content it's not really one of the most important points.

 

[sw3etiE]

Thanks for the reply.
i just needed the right answer to finish my exercise question
i'll try finding the book, seems interesting.

 

[Dora Explorer]

Public areas are usually defined by their extensive decoration usually to display the owner's status and identity (show off) as opposed to private areas, eg service areas

 

[jazzzod]

this doesn't matter

this

 

[cem]

I am not sure who you mean by 'guests'?

If you are saying clients then most certainly they would only see certain parts of the house.

However, close friends and relatives would get to see more.

In addition, a guest staying at the house would see more than another person of equal status who only ever visits the house and leaves.

Clients would be limited to the official side of the house where the owner would need to display their wealth and influence.

A friend who isn't a client might also be limited to the same areas but a really close friend might see some of the less formal areas.

Obviously relatives would get the chance to see some of the informal areas, but so would some very close friends.

Remember that these people were also people and like us, depending on who the guest is, depends on what parts of the house we take them to see.

Being more aware of the different types of areas of the house and the types of people who visited is important but not necessarily cut and dried about who would be able to visit where.