![Triclinium - Archäologische Staatssammlung München](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Triclinium_-_Arch%C3%A4ologische_Staatssammlung_M%C3%BCnchen.JPG)
A ''triclinium'' (plural: ''triclinia'') is a formal
dining room
A dining room is a room (architecture), room for eating, consuming food. In modern times it is usually adjacent to the kitchen for convenience in serving, although in medieval times it was often on an entirely different floor level. Historically ...
in a
Roman building. The word is adopted from the
Greek ()—from (), "three", and (), a sort of
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 ...
or rather
chaise longue. Each couch was sized to accommodate a diner who reclined on their left side on cushions while some
household slaves served multiple courses brought from the ''culina'', or
kitchen, and others entertained guests with music, song, or dance.
The ''triclinium'' was characterized by three ''
lecti'' (singular ''lectus'': bed or couch), called ''triclinares'' ("of the ''triclinium''"), on three sides of a low square table, whose surfaces sloped away from the table at about 10 degrees. Diners would recline on these surfaces in a semi-recumbent position. The fourth side of the table was left free, presumably to allow service to the table.
Usually the open side faced the entrance of the room. In Roman-era dwellings, particularly wealthy ones, ''triclinia'' were common
and the hosts and guest would recline on pillows while
feasting.
The Museum of
Archeology
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
in
Arezzo, Italy
Arezzo ( , , ) , also ; ett, 𐌀𐌓𐌉𐌕𐌉𐌌, Aritim. is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of above sea level ...
and the
House of Cairo in
Pompeii
Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...
offer what are thought to be accurate reconstructions of ''triclinia''. The custom of using ''
klinai'' ("dining couches") while taking a meal rather than sitting became popular among the Greeks in the early seventh century BC. From here it spread to their colonies in southern Italy (
Magna Graecia
Magna Graecia (, ; , , grc, Μεγάλη Ἑλλάς, ', it, Magna Grecia) was the name given by the Romans to the coastal areas of Southern Italy in the present-day Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania and Sicily; these re ...
) and was eventually adopted by the
Etruscans.
In contrast to the Greek tradition of allowing only male guests into the formal dining room, called ''
andrōn'', while everyday meals were taken with the rest of the family in the ''
oikos'', the Etruscans seem to not have restricted the use of the ''klinē'' to the male gender. The Romans may have seen the first dining ''klinai'' as used by the Etruscans but may have refined the practice when they later came to closer contact with the Greek culture.
![Zaragoza - Museo - Triclinio de la calle Añón 02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Zaragoza_-_Museo_-_Triclinio_de_la_calle_A%C3%B1%C3%B3n_02.jpg)
Dining was the defining ritual in Roman domestic life, lasting from late afternoon through late at night. Typically, nine to twenty guests were invited, arranged in a prescribed seating order to emphasize divisions in status and relative closeness to the ''
dominus''.
As static, privileged space, dining rooms received extremely elaborate decoration, with complex perspective scenes and central paintings (or, here, mosaics).
Dionysus
In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Romans ...
,
Venus, and
still life
A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, m ...
s of food were popular. Middle class and elite Roman houses usually had at least two ''triclinia''; it is not unusual to find four or more. Here, the ''triclinium maius'' ("big dining room") would be used for larger dinner parties, which would typically include many
clients of the owner.
Smaller ''triclinia'' would be used for smaller dinner parties, with a more exclusive set of guests. Hence, their decoration was often at least as elaborate as that found in larger ''triclinia''. As in the larger ''triclinia'', wine, food, and love were always popular themes. However, because of their association with patronage and because dining entertainment often included recitation of
highbrow literature like
epics, dining rooms could also feature more "serious" themes. As in many houses in
Pompeii
Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...
, here the smaller dining room (''triclinium minus'') forms a suite with the adjoining ''
cubiculum'' and bath.
In later
republican times, after the introduction of round tables of
citrus wood image:Tetraclinis_articulata_-_Köhler–s_Medizinal-Pflanzen-270.jpg, classic drawing of the tree
Thyine wood is a 15th-century English name for a wood from the tree known botanically as ''Tetraclinis articulata'' (syn. ''Callitris quadrivalvis'', ...
, the three couches were replaced by one of crescent shape (called ''sigma'' from the form of the Greek letter), which as a rule was only intended to hold five persons. The two corner seats () were the places of honour, that on the right being considered superior. The remaining seats were reckoned from left to right, so that the least important seat was on the left side of the most important. The use of the ''sigma'' continued until the
Middle Ages.
See also
*
Accubita
''Accubitum'' (plural: ''accubita'') was one name for the ancient Roman furniture couches 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 ...
*
Cyzicene hall
*
Domus
In Ancient Rome, the ''domus'' (plural ''domūs'', genitive ''domūs'' or ''domī'') was the type of town house occupied by the upper classes and some wealthy freedmen during the Republican and Imperial eras. It was found in almost all the ma ...
*
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 ...
*
Klinē
Klinai (Ancient Greek, Greek for couches; singular klinē), known in Latin as lectus triclinaris, were a type of ancient furniture used by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks in their Symposium, symposia and by the Ancient Rome, ancient Romans in t ...
References
External links
Triclinium(Plan of a Roman House by Barbara McManus)
*{{EB1911, wstitle=Triclinium, volume=27, pages=266–267, short=x
Rooms
Couches
Ancient Roman culture