To understand how deeply the symbolic representations of power and privilege were ingrained into the dining customs of the Ancient Romans, we must begin with the fundamentals of the physical environment where the dining experience occurred: the dining space.
Specific features of the dining space, such as the size of the group that could be accommodated and the arrangement of the diners, are features that profoundly affect the group's ability to communicate, the atmosphere of the occasion, as well as establish a hierarchy within the social situation. These elements of the dining space influence its use as a physical and symbolic representation of wealth and influence.
Triclinium:
The triclinium was a style of place setting introduced around the same time the Romans were introduced to the luxuries of the East. While the poor still engaged in the more archaic dining style of sitting on benches or chairs around a table, the wealthy began to evolve their dining habits. The triclinium, in contrast to the early Roman place setting, was used to represent social standing, a place to welcome guests into the home and share in the surplus of the host’s wealth. The triclinium is true to its nomenclature, literally interpreted as ‘three couch room'. It was marked by three broad couches set in the formation of the Greek letter pi, with a single table standing in the middle that served all the diners.
Literary sources indicate that it was typical from 1st century BC to the 1st century AD, as the normal pattern for a public dinner in Rome, for the dining space to host nine people with three people per couch.
The couches (lecti) were designated summus, medius, and imus (highest, middle, lowest) with strict rules of precedence establishing the proper position of the guests. The lectus summus and lectus medius were for the guests while the lectus imus was reserved for the host, his wife, and one other family member. The three place settings for each couch are number in a clockwise formation. The traditional place of honor was the place No. 3 on the middle couch, sometimes referred to as the locus consalaris—the position of high consul or high magistrate. The locus consularis was especially convenient for a public official. If necessary, he could receive or send messages during dinner, and could do so without even turning his elbow. Next to it was the place of the host which was No. 1 on the lowest couch, lectus imus. If the host was the only one of his family in attendance than the seats on his couch were reserved for the humblest of guests. The hierarchical pattern of the triclinium was strict, establishing the expected social order within the temporal scope of the dinner. The person who occupied lectus summus was said to be the above the person to his right. The person occupying the middle space was above the one on his right and below the one on his left. |
To reach the common table, the guests had to lie diagonally across the couches, hence the diagonal lines. This arrangement encouraged networking and the complex exchange of favors and obligations that is so basic to the Roman social structure.
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