''Accubitum'' (plural: ''accubita'') was one name for the

ancient Roman furniture Ancient furniture was made of many different materials, including reeds, wood, stone, metals, straws, and ivory. It could also be decorated in many different ways. Sometimes furniture would be covered with upholstery, upholstery being padding, ...

couch A couch, also known as a sofa, settee, or chesterfield, is a cushioned item of furniture for seating multiple people (although it is not uncommon for a single person to use a couch alone). It is commonly found in the form of a bench with uph ...

es used in the time of the Roman emperors, in the '' triclinium'' or dining room, for reclining upon at meals. It was also apparently sometimes the name of the dining room itself, or a niche for a couch. Sometimes it denotes a multi-person curved couch, for which the term

stibadium The ''stibadium'' (plural: ''stibadia'') is a later form of the Roman ''lectus triclinaris'', the reclining seat used by diners in the triclinium. Originally, the ''lecti'' were arranged in a group of three in a semi-circle. The ''stibadium'' was ...

is also used. Klinai is the Greek equivalent, sometimes also used. The

mattress A mattress is a large, usually rectangular pad for supporting a lying person. It is designed to be used as a bed, or on a bed frame as part of a bed. Mattresses may consist of a quilted or similarly fastened case, usually of heavy cloth, conta ...

es and feather-beds were softer and higher, and the supports (''fulcra'') of them lower in proportion, than in older triclinium couches. The cloths and pillows spread over them, and over beds, were called ''accubitalia''.Aelius Lampridius, ''

Augustan History The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, designated heirs and usurpers from 117 to 284. Supposedly modeled on the sim ...

'', "Antoninus Heliogabalus" (Pars II), 19, 25; Schol. ''ad Juv. Sat.'' v.17

Notes

References

* Couches Ancient Roman culture Ancient Roman furniture {{furniture-stub