The posture at meals varied at dltfiTent periods. There is sufficient evidence that the old Hebrews were in the habit of sitting (Gen. xxvii, 19; Judg. xix, 6; 1 Sam. XX, 5, 21; 1 Kings xiii, 20), but it does not hence fol- low that they sat on chairs; thej' may have squatted on the ground, as was the occasional, though not per- haps the general, custom of the ancient Egyptians (Wil- kinson, Anc. Erjypt. i, 58, 181). The table was in this case but slightly elevated above the ground, as is still the case in Egypt, At the same time, the chair was not unknown to the Hebrews, but seems to have been regarded as a token of dignity. The Hebrew term is hirise (X32). There is only one instance of its being mentioned as an article of ordinary furniture, viz. in 2 Kings iv, 10, where the A. V. incorrectly renders it "stool." Even there it seems probable that it was placed more as a mark of special honor to the prophet than for common use. As luxury increased, the prac- tice of sitting was exchanged for that of reclining. The first intimation of this occurs in the prophecies of Amos, who reprobates those " that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches" (vi, 4); and it appears that the couches themselves were of a costly character — the "corners" or edges (iii, 12: the word is pedh, nXQ, which will apply to the edge as well as to the angle of a couch. That the seats and couches of the Assyrians were handsomely ornamented appears from the specimens given by La3'ard \_Mneveh, ii, 300- 302]), being finished with ivory, and the seat covered with silk or damask coverlets. (The A. V. has " in Da- mascus in a couch;" but there can be no doubt that the name of the town was transferred to the silk stuffs man- ufactured there, which are still known by the name of "damask.") Ezekiel, again, inveighs against one who sat " on a stately bed with a table prepared before it" (xxiii, 41). The custom may have been borrowed, in the first instance, from the Babylonians and Syrians,
among whom it prevailed at an early period (Ksth. i. 6; vii, 8). A similar change took place in the habits of the (Jreeks, who are represented in the Heroic Age as sitting (ft. X, 578 ; ()d. i, 115). l)ut wlio afterwards adopt- ed the hal}iL of reclining, women and children excepted. Sitting a|)pears to have been the posture usual among the Assj'rians on the occasion of great festivals. A bas- relief on the walls of Khorsabad represents the guests seated on high chairs (hnyard, Ninereh, li, 411). In the time of our Saviour reclining was the universal cus- tom, as is implied in the terms (ai'aKHn^ai, icdraKti- dSrai, dvaKXifET^di, KaTdk-XivinBat) used for ^'si/ting at meat," as the A. V. incorrectly has it. The couch it- self (kX/i'j;) is only once mentioned (INIark vii. 4 : A. A'. " tables"), but there can be little doubt that the Itoman triclinium had been introduced, and that the arrange- ments of the table resembled those described by clas- sical writers. Generally speaking, only three persons reclined on each couch, but occasionally four, or even five. The conches were provided with cushions, on which the left elbow rested in support of the upper part of the body, while the right arm remained free. A room provided with these was described as irrTpiofjii- vov, lit, "spread" (xiv, 15; A. V. "furnished"). As several guests reclined on the same couch, each over- lapped his neighbor, as it were, and rested his head on or near the breast of the one who lay behind him ; he was then said to " lean on the bosom" of his neighbor (rti'a/cfiff^aifcj'rfpKoXTroj, John xiii, 23; xxi, 20; comp. Pliny, Epist. iv, 22). The close proximity into which persons were thus brought rendered it more than usu- ally agreeable that friend should be next to friend, and it gave the opportunity of making confidential commu- nications (John xiii, 25). The ordinary arrangement of the couches was in three sides of a square, the fourth being left open for the servants to bring up the dishes. The couches were denominated respectively the high- est, the middle, and the lowest couch : the three guests on each couch were also denominated highest, middle, and lowest — the terms being suggested by the circum- stance of the guest who reclined on another's bosom always appearing to be heloio him. The protoklisia (TrpujTOKXiffia, INIatt. xxiii, 6), which the Pharisees so much coveted, was not, as the A. Y. represents it, "the uppermost room,'" but the highest seat in the highest couch — the seat numbered 1 in the annexed diagram. See AccuBATioN.
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Some doubt attends the question whether the females took their meals along with the males. The present state of society in the East throws no light upon this subject, as the customs of the harem date from the time of Mohammed. The cases of Kuth amid the reapers (Ruth ii, 14), of Elkanah with his wives (1 Sam. i,4), of Job's sons and daughters (Job i, 4), and the general intermixture of the sexes in daily life, make it more than probable that they did so join ; at the same time, as the duty of attending upon the guests devolved upon them (Luke x, 40), they probably took a somewhat ir- regular and briefer rejiast. See Dine.