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Just past the atrium and near the centre of the
house was the master's office, or tablinium, which
contained the family records (tabulae) and images of
the family ancestors (imagines).
Here the master of the house, in his role of
patronus would greet his clients (clientes)
and present them with sportulae (food) or presents of
money. Strategically located to enable the
paterfamilias to keep a watchful eye on his
household, while he conducted business, the tablinium
was also the room where visitors were brought.
While the tablinium appears to be a passageway
between the atrium and peristyle, slaves and
servants were not permitted to use it or pass through. The
tablinium was probably rendered private with either
sliding doors or curtains, traces of which remain in some
Pompeiian homes. Passage from the front to the back of the
house was probably enabled by fauces, narrow
corridors on either side of the tablinium to protect
the paterfamilias's privacy as he ran the estate.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, in his book, De
Architectura, gives the dimensions of the
tablinium: "The height of the tablinum to the beam is
one eighth part more than the breadth. The lacunaria are
carried up one-third of the width higher. The passages
(fauces) towards courts which are on a smaller scale, are to
be one-third less than the width of the tablinum; but if
larger, they are to be one half. The statues, with their
ornaments, are to be placed at a height equal to the width of
the alæ. The proportions of the height and width of the doors,
if Doric, are to be formed in that method: if Ionic, according
to the Ionic mode, agreeably to the rules given for doors in
the fourth book. The width of the uncovered part of the atrium
(impluvii lumen) is not to be less than a fourth nor more than
one-third of the width of the same; its length will be in
proportion to that of the atrium."
References: Handbook to
Life in Ancient Rome, Lesley
Adkins and Roy A. Adkins (Oxford University Press, 1998); The
Romans, their Life and Customs, E. Guhl and W. Korner, Senate
Press, 1994
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