Building the social
A query into the societal impact of the Pompeian water supply
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-17-09Keywords:
actor-network-theory, Insula V 1, Pompeii, water supplyAbstract
This study explores the importance of the means of ensuring water supply in the formation of the architectural profile and basic social organization of Pompeii. It sees the city’s domestic water supply, for over two centuries ensured through rainwater-harvesting areas, basins and cisterns situated mainly in and below the many atria, as a stabilizing factor of both cityscape and household. Through the introduction of the city aqueduct in the 1st century AD and the creation of a generous network of public fountains this situation changes and the need to maintain the traditional organization of the “houseful”, comprising enlarged family, slaves and dependents of various kind including shopkeepers, is lessened; the physical proximity between those of different status renegotiated. This development, witnessed in adaptations of the architecture, can be followed through close study of the standing structures in Insula V 1. The hallmarks are the creation of upperfloor living quarters seemingly independent from the life of the large households of the atrium houses, and in parallel the introduction of private water lines from the city aqueduct. The remodelling that resulted in the creation of the double-atrium house of Caecilius Iucundus is focal to the discussion since it offers a coeval chronological fix point in the AD 40s for both remodelling and obtention of piped water.
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