Klinē
{{Short description|Ancient Greek furniture}}
{{Italics title}}
File:0469 - Archaeological Museum, Athens - Votive relief - Photo by Giovanni Dall'Orto, Nov 10 2009.jpg man lying on a klinē. On display in Room 19–20 of the National Archaeological Museum, Athens.]]
Klinai (Greek; {{singular}}: klinē),{{cite book |first= Mark |last= Stansbury-O'Donnell |title= A History of Greek Art |pages=119– |publisher= John Wiley & Sons |year= 2015 |isbn= 978-1-4443-5014-2 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=DacXBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA119 |access-date=10 June 2020}} known in Latin as lectus triclinaris,{{cite book |first= Marjorie Susan |last= Venit |title= Visualizing the Afterlife in the Tombs of Graeco-Roman Egypt |publisher= Cambridge University Press |year= 2016 |page= 51 |isbn= 9781107048089 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=SsvZCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA51 |access-date=10 June 2020}} were a type of ancient furniture used by the ancient Greeks in their symposia and by the ancient Romans in their somewhat different convivia.{{cite book |first= Oswyn |last= Murray |quote= convivium |title= Oxford Classical Dictionary |date= 2015 |publisher= Oxford University Press |doi= 10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.1806 |isbn= 978-0-19-938113-5 |url= https://oxfordre.com/classics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-1806 |access-date=10 June 2020}}
In the later part of the Hellenistic period, an arrangement of three klinai positioned in a 'U' shape developed, which together formed the triclinium.{{cite book |first= Richard Allan |last= Tomlinson |quote= dining-rooms |title= Oxford Classical Dictionary |date= 2015 |publisher= Oxford University Press |doi= 10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.2176 |isbn= 978-0-19-938113-5 |url= https://oxfordre.com/classics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-2176 |access-date=10 June 2020}} Each kline of a triclinium offered room for three diners. The seating arrangement of the reclining dinner guests was given a strict significance.
A two-klinai arrangement created a biclinium, with the two couches either at a right angle{{cite book |first= Stephan T.A.M. |last= Mols |title= Wooden Furniture in Herculaneum: Form, Technique and Function |publisher= BRILL |year= 2020 |page= 124 |isbn= 9789004425842 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=YxfUDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA124 |access-date=10 June 2020}} or facing each other.{{cite book |first= Eugenia |last= Salza Prina Ricotti |chapter= The Importance of Water in Roman Garden Triclinia |title= Ancient Roman Villa Gardens |publisher= Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection (Washington, DC), Dumbarton Oaks |series= Issue 10 of Dumbarton Oaks colloquium on the history of landscape architecture |year= 1987 |page= 171 |isbn= 9780884021629 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=gBid9AzRFa0C&pg=PA171 |access-date=10 June 2020}} Biclinium ({{plural form}}: biclinia) may also mean a dining couch for two persons in ancient Rome. {{cite web |title= biclinium |work= Merriam-Webster Dictionary |publisher= Merriam-Webster, Inc. |url= https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/biclinium |access-date=10 June 2020}}