Andrōn (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
: ''andrōn''), or andronitis ( ''andrōnitis''), is part of a Greek house that is reserved for men, as distinguished from the
gynaeceum
In Ancient Greece, the gynaeceum ( gr, γυναικεῖον ''gynaikeion'', from Ancient Greek ''gynaikeia'' "part of the house reserved for the women"; literally "of ''or'' belonging to women, feminine") or the gynaeconitis ( ''gynaikōnitis'' ...
( ''gynaikeion''), the women's quarters.
The andrōn was used for entertaining male guests. For this purpose the room held couches, usually an odd number to allow space for the door, tables which could be tucked under the couches, artwork and any other necessary paraphernalia. Not all classical Greek houses were large enough to have a dedicated andron, and even those that did might have used the room for mixed-gendered events and women receiving female guests, as well as men hosting
symposia
''Symposia'' is a genus of South American araneomorph spiders in the family Cybaeidae, and was first described by Eugène Simon in 1898.
Species
it contains six species in Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic o ...
.
In excavations at
Olynthus
Olynthus ( grc, Ὄλυνθος ''Olynthos'', named for the ὄλυνθος ''olunthos'', "the fruit of the wild fig tree") was an ancient city of Chalcidice
Chalkidiki (; el, Χαλκιδική , also spelled Halkidiki, is a peninsula and ...
, rooms identified as andrōnes contained items identified with female activities, as in the rest of the house.
[
The definition of andron changed from Ancient Greek literature of Homer to the Latin of Vitruvius. Vitruvius explains some of the changes in Book 6 of '']De architectura
(''On architecture'', published as ''Ten Books on Architecture'') is a treatise on architecture written by the Roman architect and military engineer Marcus Vitruvius Pollio and dedicated to his patron, the emperor Caesar Augustus, as a guide f ...
''; architectural theorist Simon Weir has explained the context around Vitruvius' comments.
Art historian Hallie Franks has explained the metaphors of movement in Greek androns.
See also
*Man cave
A man cave
or manspace,
and less commonly a manland or mantuary is a male retreat
or sanctuary
in a home, such as a specially equipped garage,
spare bedroom,
media room,
den,
basement,
or tree house.
The term "man cave" is a metaphor describ ...
References
External links
*
Society of ancient Greece
Ancient Greek leisure
Men's quarters
{{AncientGreece-stub