Thread by @AlisonFisk

🧵 The House of Menander was top of my #Pompeii bucket list on my recent trip. I’ve wanted to visit since researching and writing about domestic slave numbers in this elite Roman household whilst studying ‘Roman Slavery’ on my Masters degree course at @BirkbeckHCA

#Archaeology

The House of Menander is one of the grandest houses in Pompeii, complete with its own private bath complex. It is named after a fresco in a garden portico of the Athenian playwright Menander.

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The House of Menander is one of very few Roman houses to have rooms usually identified as slave quarters. There are four small rooms (originally with another four above) in a marginal area of the house. The rooms are off a narrow corridor on the right of my photo.

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My research involved examining the total artefact assemblage and architectural spaces to identify activities likely undertaken by domestic slaves. I used this as a starting point to talk about their numbers in the Menander household.

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I also considered whether the so-called slave quarters would have provided adequate sleeping space for the likely number of domestic slaves identified by my ‘taskscape’ research. One of the small rooms can be seen in my photo.

#Archaeology