Fig. 123.—Plan of a dining room with three couches.
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The plan of a typical dining room is given in [Fig. 123]. The couch at the right of the table was called the upper couch; that at the left, the lower; and that between, the middle couch. With few exceptions each couch was made to accommodate three persons; the diner rested on his left arm on a cushion at the side nearer the table, and stretched his feet out toward the right. Hence, the first on the upper couch had what was called 'the highest place.' The one next was said to recline 'below' him, because lying on the side toward which the first person extended his feet; the man at the outer end of the lower couch was said to be 'at the foot,' imus. When in the Gospel of John we read of a disciple "lying on Jesus' breast," the meaning is easily explained by reference to Roman usage; John was reclining in the place next below the Master. This arrangement makes clear to us the reason why the couches were so placed that the lower one projected further beyond the table than the upper one; the feet of those on the lower couch were extended toward the end furthest from the table.

To the couches grouped in the manner indicated the same name was applied as to the dining room, triclinium. Of those in the dining rooms only scanty remains are found. In summer the Pompeians, as the Italians of to-day, were fond of dining in the open air. In order to save the trouble of moving heavy furniture couches of masonry were not infrequently constructed in the garden, and have been preserved; such a triclinium is that in the garden of the tannery ([p. 398]). The arrangement is in most cases precisely that indicated in [Fig. 123], the outer end of the lower couch projecting beyond the corresponding end of the upper one. In the middle stands the base of the table, also of masonry; the top is rarely preserved. Near by is a little altar for the offerings made in connection with each meal. The appearance of such a triclinium may be inferred from that of the triclinium funebre shown in [Fig. 245], which has a square table and round altar.

Fig. 124.—Plan of a dining room with an anteroom containing an altar for libations.
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In many gardens we find about the triclinium the remains of four or six columns. These supported a frame of timber or lattice-work, upon which vines were trained, making a shady bower, as in the garden of the tavern in the first Region, referred to below ([p. 404]).

The couches were ordinarily not provided with backs, but the outer ends of the upper and lower couches sometimes had a frame to hold the cushions, as indicated in [Fig. 123] and shown more clearly in our restoration, [Fig. 188]. In the dining rooms small movable altars must have been used for the offerings, such as those of terra cotta or bronze not infrequently met with in the course of excavation. A fixed altar has been found in only one instance, in a small dining room in the eighth Region (VIII. v-vi. 16). Here, as our plan ([Fig. 124]) shows, the front of the apartment is set off as an anteroom, and in this was placed an altar of tufa.