Plan the principal hall as a long rectangle entered on its short side through a porch with two columns between the side walls and a vestibule, and put a great round hearth in the centre of the hall, ringed by four columns carrying a raised roof.
Three couches round the table
Dine lying on couches: set three couches round three sides of a low table, the fourth side left open for serving, each couch taking up to three diners propped on the left elbow; the room is named for its three couches, the triclinium.
The Greeks of the symposium and the Romans after them ate reclining. The Greek men’s room (andron) was sized to the couches set end to end round its walls; the Roman triclinium had three, on three sides of a square, with the table in the middle and the open side towards the door, from which the slaves served.
At Pompeii the arrangement survives in masonry couches built in gardens and summer dining rooms, and in the bronze legs and headrests of wooden couches found in the houses. Vitruvius sizes the triclinium to suit them: twice as long as it is wide.
Related rules
Edge the beds before the portico with box, clip box into figures of animals set facing one another, and in the garden beyond cut it into many shapes, even into the letters of the owner’s name.
Let one simple ratio govern the whole: at the Parthenon the lower diameter is to the axial spacing, the width of the stylobate to its length, and the height of the order to the width of the front, all very nearly as 4 is to 9.
D : axial spacing ≈ 1.905 : 4.296 ≈ 4 : 9; stylobate 30.88 : 69.50 ≈ 4 : 9
Plan a Greek theatre by inscribing three squares in the orchestra circle; the side nearest the scene fixes the front of the stage (proscaenium), and the scene is set back to a line tangent to the circle.
proscaenium at r cos 45° ≈ 0.71 r from the centre; logeion 10–12 ft high
Where nothing prevents it, turn the temple and the statue in its cella to face the west, so that those who come to the altar to sacrifice face the sunrise as they face the god.
Set the altar to face the east, and always lower than the statues in the temple, so that those who pray and sacrifice look up towards the god; make it high for Jupiter and the gods of the sky, low for Vesta and Mother Earth.
Cite this page Chris Paton, “Three couches round the table”, The Textbook of Architecture, https://textbookofarchitecture.com/rule/ancient-dining-couches. Text, drawings and models licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.