Page 21 - SYTYGIB: Ancient Rome

But if you think transferring food successfully into your mouth is difficult, at least you have the option of eating sitting upright. In ancient Rome they often ate LyInG dOWN!
During dinner in a rich person’s house, everyone would lie across large couches, while slaves brought them food and wine. Sound MeSsY?
Well, add to that the fact that people ate with their hands, and it’s no wonder people had to clean themselves with perfumed water between courses.
The dining room – or triclinium – was one of the most important rooms in the ancient Roman home. In fact, some really posh homes might have had up to fOuR dining rooms. They would be decorated with murals on the walls and expensive mosaics made of thousands of tiny squares of marble, glass, pottery, tile, shell or stone on the floor. You can recreate this look by drawing a lovely picture in felt tip on your dining room walls and arranging gravel in a pretty pattern on the floor. Your parents are going to be sOoO pleased.
Guests would be seated (or rather,
be sent to LiE dOWN) on couches in order of importance, with the couches arranged in a U-shape around the table. The most important guests were always in the middle and the least important were the furthest from the hosts on the far side of the table. If you were on a small stool in another room altogether, the host rEaLlY didn’t like you.
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