Iconography and Social Practice in the Domestic Sphere

Abstract

This chapter examines the role of images in the Roman domestic sphere, focusing on the contribution of paintings, mosaics, and other forms of representation to the construction of the Roman house as a place of self-representation and social interaction. Images were essential to the purposes of both shaping the environmental quality of domestic spaces and informing visitors about their character, function, and the behavior that was required from them. The case study of an apparently minor genre of Roman wall painting, that of still-life pictures (i.e., images of food and silverware), allows in-depth discussion of how the choice and understanding of subject matters depended on and relied upon shared mechanisms of recognition, as well as a tight semantics of meanings, values, and habits.