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.  

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