Household equipment
Most of our information about household
equipment comes from references and accounts in written
sources, mainly in private documents,
manuscript
illustrations and
church frescoes, though
also from surviving vessels. Just as today, the
type and quality of equipment in a Byzantine house depended on both the
economic and social status of the owner. The commonest materials employed were
glass, clay, shell or wood for the poor, and metal (gold and silver), ivory or
even precious stones for kings and high-ranking officials.
Rudimentary
furniture in a Byzantine home included a bed (klinarion or krevation)
and a table. Wooden
beds
were not
common,
as most people slept on mattresses made of straw, cotton, rags
or down, which were placed directly on the floor or on benches built along the
walls of the triklinos. Beds
were
made from
planks
within a
frame resting on two
tripods
or
four
legs,
which were sometimes
gilded
or
silvered. They were covered with
various types of bedding, the krevvatostrosia
or
krevvatostromnia, such as pillows
and sheets, made of linen, wool
or
even
silk, dyed,
embroidered
or
woven
with
gold yarn. Tables were made
of wood and occasionally also of silver or
gold, or were
inlaid with ivory
tiles. Low tables
were not only used for serving food, but also as workbenches or even desks.
Chairs (thronia) and stools (skamnoi or sellia), low seats with two or four legs, were used for sitting. Makroskamnia were probably large or
small benches for more people. One particular type of seat was the throne, usually
accompanied by a footstool, for the exclusive use of the emperor, the
patriarch, bishops and abbots. To
prevent wear, furniture had fabric coverings (skamnalia).
Byzantine
house furnishings also included boxes or chests used to supplement fitted cupboards
(cabinets) in rooms. These chests often
had locks, and came in many sizes depending on use: some were used for storing
bread and other foods, clothes and garments, money, silver or gold vessels,
jewellery and even books. Clothes
were laid
on top of chests
or stored
in
cloth or
leather
bags
called
tsamantades.
Drugs and medical supplies were stored in special
boxes
called
pandektes.
Floors
were often covered with
carpets
(epeuchia or
ypeuchia) of varying size
and
thickness. Curtains (vela) hung
from the ceiling were used as room
dividers.
Monochrome
or
multicolour, vela were made of linen
or
silk decorated with
embroidered
or
woven designs; in the palaces
the vela were also
interwoven with gold.
Mansion
walls were often hung with pictures,
bows,
swords, various
other weapons and mirrors.
Byzantine
houses were lit by candles and oil lamps. Candles
were made
exclusively of
beeswax,
while
oil
lamps
were
ceramic
or metal, filled
with
oil or
fat
for
burning the
wick. They were either
portable or rested on fixed stands. Churches and palaces mainly used round
metal chandeliers with glass lamps suspended from the ceiling by chains. Lanterns
were used for lighting outside the home.
Household
equipment also included tableware such as plates and dishes (skoutelia and pinakia), trays, bowls, glasses, cups (kaukoi or skyphoi), jugs (oinochooi) and wooden or more rarely
metal salt shakers. That being said, sources on wealthier dining tables make
mention of copper or even silver or gold-plated utensils, decorated with
precious stones or made of agate, sardonyx, alabaster or rock crystal. Some of
these were transferred to the West after the fall of Constantinople
and are now stored in church vaults.
Cookware
was similarly varied. Byzantine homes had iron trivets supporting ceramic pots
for day-to-day cooking. Metal or copper kettles called koukoumoi or koumoumia were
used for heating water and hand washing.
A grill was permanently placed on the hearth. Small and large pans were used for cooking;
spoons of various sizes for stirring food were stored in a special small spoon
box (the koutalistra). There were stone
mortars (igdia) for grinding spices,
cereals and legumes, and pepper mills. Finally, ceramic basins were used for washing
dishes and hands.
Clay
vessels for storing olive oil, wine, cereals and legumes were stored in house
cellars. They were small or large jars,
some of which were pitted
in the ground
and
insulated
to
maintain a fixed
temperature. Small
jars were used for storing
butter,
cheese
and
salted food (vytinia or vytinaria).
Pitchers were used for transporting and storing water, and jugs for serving
water, wine or oil at table. Finally, special cooling vessels
made of lead alloys
kept
water chilled.
Glossary (1)
tridinium or triklinos:
reception or banquet area.
Information Texts (0)
Bibliography (3)
1. Κουκουλές Φ., Βυζαντινών Βίος και Πολιτισμός, 1948
2. Parani M., Reconstructing the Reality of Images: Byzantine Material Culture and Religious Iconography (11th – 15th centuries), Leiden, 2003
3. ‘Τα εν οίκω...εν δήμω’ in Ψηφίδες του Βυζαντίου, Athens
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