ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses how a study of Pompeian house contents can throw light on the nature of Roman households. The study to which it refers was based on the analysis of thirty Pompeian atrium houses and their contents (Allison 1992a).1 The chapter is particularly concerned with archaeological data, its relationship to textual data and with the nature of the information which the archaeological record can provide on the interactions of the people within a Roman household.
