triclinium
/trʌɪˈklɪnɪəm
/ /trɪˈklɪnɪəm/ /trʌɪˈklʌɪnɪəm/noun (plural triclinia /trʌɪˈklɪnɪə/ /trɪˈklɪnɪə/)
1A dining table with couches along three sides, used in ancient Rome.You can see how a triclinium was used to entertain in another fresco, the symposium scene from the Casa dei Casti Amanti in Pompeii....
- Round the perimeter of the room is usually a continuous bench seat (a very distant relation of the Mediterranean triclinium?) which, like the walls and floor, is covered with patterned ornamental fabrics and cushions.
- Clytemnestra led Miri to a place at the head of the triclinium removed from Germanicus and Agrippina, but she noted, several heads above some very important people from the city.
1.1A room containing a triclinium.From the villa rustica known as the Villa Carmiano are three frescoed walls from the triclinium, the sitting room, in which three couches in a U shape typically faced a view, in the case of Stabiae, of the Bay of Naples....
- Typical larger Roman houses had a special dining room, the triclinium.
- The ante-room to the triclinium had a fine mosaic floor of which three panels survive, showing the seasons spring, summer, and winter.
Origin
Latin, from Greek triklinion, from tri- 'three' + klinē 'couch'.