Cena

Men often invited friends and clients home to dinner after an afternoon at the baths, so
dinner (the main meal of the day) – at least if he were wealthy enough to have a
triclinium - was expected to be impressive and give a good account of a family’s
wealth and status.

The ideal number of people at a

dinner party was nine, as we can see
from the layout of the standard
triclinium (left). Romans reclined to
eat, leaning on their left elbows.
Food was cut up so as to be easy to
eat with the fingers. Slaves would
serve the food from the fourth side of
the table, which was open. Social
status played an important part in
determining the place for each guest,
which would have been decided by
the host’s wife. The most important
guest would recline next to the host
in the locus consularis. On the plan
on the left, this is position 3 on the
lectus medius. The host would thus
occupy position 1 on the lectus imus.
His wife would either recline with
him on the lectus imus or, in more traditional households, sit on a chair. Two more
important guests would be seated in positions 1 and 2 on the lectus summus, with
other guests on the lectus medius. Another family member or the least important guest
would recline in position 3 on the lectus imus. Guest weren’t always well behaved
enough to follow the seating plan, however:
“Cassius gave a dinner party to which Brutus invited some friends. As the guests
were taking their places to dine, in came Favonius, fresh from the baths. Brutus
complained that he had come uninvited and ordered the slaves to take him to the
furthermost couch (lectus imus). But Favonius pushed past them and took up
position on the middle one (lectus medius).”
Plutarch, Life of Brutus, 34

Wealthy households would eat three courses, much as we do today.

The meal would begin with an offering to the Lares, the gods of the
household (left). Every household had a shrine to the Lares, who
Romans believed guarded the health and fortune of the inhabitants.

Entertainment varied from dancing girls to music to philosophical

discussions. Some men even treated their guests to an after-dinner
recitation of their own poetry, some a little too enthusiastically:

1
 Cena
“This, and no other, is your reason for inviting me to dinner: so that you may
recite to me your verses, Ligurinus. I arrive. I take off my shoes. At once you
have a huge volume of verses brought in with the lettuce and fish sauce. A second
volume is read out, in its entirety, while the main course gets cold. A third
volume is produced, and dessert has not yet been served… if you don’t confine
your awful poems to the mackerel dish, Ligurinus, from now on you will dine at
home, alone!”
Martial, Epigrams, 3.44, 3.50

Questions:
1. Refer to the plan of the seating arrangements above to answer the following
questions.
a) Draw a circle where the host would sit.
b) Draw a square where the MOST important guest would sit.
c) Draw a cross where the LEAST important guest would sit.

2. Read through page 23 – 25 of CLC Book I to answer the following questions.

a) When would the “cena” take place?

b) Describe how diners would eat.

c) How would poor people, slaves, children, and sometimes women eat?

d) Read the information in the beige box and write down examples of food that
would be eaten for each of the three courses:

 First course:

 Main course:

 Dessert: