Roman Banquet

[Timotheos]

I'm late in completing my Roman village, but scrapped together this small banquet, which taking place in a middle class residence.

The first man on the left and his wife are the hosts.  The man and woman on the center triclinium are the guests of honor.  The man on the far right is a guest.  The fellow sitting next to him is his client, who he brought with him uninvited.

I plan to do a bigger scene once I have my villa set up and the household organized.



As for tricliniums (couches), ordinary ones could be concrete slabs, slanted upwards to make it easier to lay stomach-first on and reach the food. The concrete was padded over for comfort.  The velvet recliners we see in movies are rich-class and for large parties.  Intimate house parties like this hosted a literal triclinium ("three recliners").




-Tim

[playmofire]

That's a neat custom, Tim, and I look forward to seeing the bigger scene you have planned.  The background is cleverly done with the book front or DVD case.

[Martin Milner]

It's just like Thanksgiving horizontally!

[Timotheos]

Yeah, I wonder how obese people managed it.

But, seriously, the Roman couches in private homes tended to be (at least at Pompeii) concrete fixtures.

Romans didn't drink from cups, as our klickies come with, but drank wine from bowls which they passed around.  Romans regarded sharing from the same plate (as in the above custom) as social, whereas having private plates (like we do) was unsocial (though people did it--the reason we know this was considered unsocial (and existed in the first place) is because surviving accounts complain about it).

For Romans, "culinary art" was disguising one sort of food to seem like another.  Petronius satirizes this in the Satyricon.

For example, a chef would present a fish, beef, and lamb course entirely made from duck.

It's conceptually similar to our chicken flavored tofu or white fish mocked up as crabmeat.

-Tim

[Richard]

Very clever diorama, Timmy ... 

I can't imagine eating in the prone position. It just doesn't look very comfortable.

Personally, I prefer eating while standing at a counter.


BTW, have you seen the Virtual Roman Villa? Click HERE ...

Will your villa also include an impluvium?

The impluvium is very interesting to me as we also have a form of a functional impluvium here in our home in the Virgin Islands. (However, we don't actually have an open compluvium) ... 

Your Roman Theme keeps getting more interesting all the time, Timmy.

All the best,
Richard

[Justindo]

Tim, this is an unexpected and very interesting aspect of your Roman diorama which I wasn't anticipating.  Kudos!

[Gustavo]

Haue Tim!

The only thing I'd like to see, if you agree -- I believe it'll give you better effect with klickys -- is paper instead of cloth. I've been trying, and it works wonderfully! (I attached it )

The back scene is really well done! 'Loved that!

I have to admit that I'm a bit confused, whether the klickys are awake (during) or asleep (after the banquet) ...

By the way, I'm not here! I only come in on weekends

 

Gus

[Timotheos]

I can't imagine eating in the prone position. It just doesn't look very comfortable.

BTW, have you seen the Virtual Roman Villa? Click HERE ...

Will your villa also include an impluvium?

The impluvium is very interesting to me as we also have a form of a functional impluvium here in our home in the Virgin Islands. (However, we don't actually have an open compluvium) ... 

Hi Richard
Thanks for the link to the virtual villa.  It looks good.
My villa won't have an impluvium.  I'm making a Roman-era farm villa in Britain that is half of a villa.  It is my first woodworking effort and likely won't look great.  It has a courtyard, at least.

Can you show us a photo of your impluvium?  There is a house in the next subdivision with an inner courtyard, but it isn't quite shaped like an Italian impluvium.  I like it though.  Maybe my next home I'll design myself... houses here are just big boxes...

To Gus:
I agree the paper cloth looks better over your table.  The fold is more realistic than what I've been able to get the cloth to do.   

[Timotheos]

I can't imagine eating in the prone position. It just doesn't look very comfortable.

I used to eat in the prone all the time--lying on the floor and reading a book or newspaper.  The only time it became uncomfortable is when my elbows weren't on a soft enough surface.

Still, though--I think the Romans (and Etruscans) are the only culture I've ever seen or read about doing that as a social norm. 

Edit:
To Richard:
The virtual form description of the impluvium doesn't explain why it fell out of fashion--in most Roman towns and cities, people had running faucet water and no longer needed to store rain water!

[Richard]

Hello, Timmy ...

The virtual forum description of the impluvium doesn't explain why it fell out of fashion--in most Roman towns and cities, people had running faucet water and no longer needed to store rain water!

Here in the Virgin Islands we have no wells nor fresh water lakes to supply our water. We, therefore, must depend upon rain collection for our water needs.

As the Roman civilization became more sophisticated, great aquaducts were built to bring water from the mountain streams and lakes to the cities. Unfortunately, the Romans were unaware of the hazards of lead. And, many of the aquaducts and pipes were constructed with lead parts and pieces.

On the island of St. Thomas, we have no aquaducts, as none of our mountains are high enough to create rain forests. So, everyone has to have a "functional" impluvium of sorts.

Our modern day impluvium isn't a basin in the center of an atrium. The impluvium that we use is shaped more like a rounded gutter than a basin. However, we do have cisterns to hold our water supply. Our cisterns probably look somewhat similar to the ones that the early Romans used to hold their water supply.

Living in the islands has taught us a lot about conservation. It seems that the early Romans may have been a bit more eco-friendly than the generations that followed.

All the best,
Richard