''Klinai'' (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
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 of all kno ...
; : κλίνη ''klinē''),
known in
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
as ''lectus triclinaris'',
were a type of
ancient furniture
Ancient furniture was made from many different materials, including Reed (plant), reeds, wood, Rock (geology), stone, metals, straws, and ivory. It could also be decorated in many different ways. Sometimes furniture would be covered with upholste ...
used by the
ancient Greeks
Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically re ...
in their
symposia and by the
ancient Romans
The Roman people was the ethnicity and the body of Roman citizenship, Roman citizens
(; ) during the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic, and the Roman Empire. This concept underwent considerable changes throughout the long history of the Roman ...
in their somewhat different convivia.
In the later part of the
Hellenistic
In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...
period, an arrangement of three ''klinai'' positioned in a 'U' shape developed, which together formed the ''
triclinium
A ''triclinium'' (: ''triclinia'') is a formal dining room in a Ancient Rome, Roman building. The word is adopted from the Greek language, Greek ()—from (), "three", and (), a sort of couch, or rather chaise longue. Each couch was sized to ...
''.
Each ''kline'' of a ''triclinium'' offered room for three diners. The seating arrangement of the reclining dinner guests was given a strict significance.
[
A two-''klinai'' arrangement created a ''biclinium'', with the two couches either at a right angle]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kline
Couches
Ancient Roman furniture