the attic stelai - The American School of Classical Studies at Athens

THE ATTIC STELAI 213
could proclaim his taste, for we find a plain hanging which sold for 10 drachmas,
suggesting that the embroidered ones may have brought as much as two couches, or
three tables, or even the price of a house door.
Those words for furniture which occur in the Attic Stelai have been studied under
the following headings in this order: 1. Chairs. 2. Chests and Boxes. 3. Couches and
Beds. 4. Doors. 5. Lampstands. 6. Tables. 7. Furnishings. The Greek words are
arranged alphabetically under each heading.
CHAIRS
There are six terms used in the Attic Stelai for pieces of furniture meant to be
sat upon, and one more, klinter, which seems to have denoted something between a
chair and a couch. Fifth-century painting and sculpture are rich in representations
of various sorts of seats, but it is sometimes difficult to establish a definite relation
between a given term and one of the pictured pieces of furniture. Richter, in her
Ancient Furniture, has made only three large distinctions: the throne, the chair with
a back (which she calls simply klismos), and the stool. There are two articles in the
Daremberg-Saglio Dictionnaire (Saglio, s.v. Cathedra, and Chapot, s.v. Sell) and
one by Hug in R.E., s.v. Stuhl, but in none of these is there much attempt at a close
consideration of the differences between various sorts of chairs.
1. awa'KXtOXt (I, 236). Chair having a back. This term appears only once in our
list, in a group of furniture items. Wilhelm 8 assumes that anaklisis equals canaklintron,
and refers to Pollux, VI, 9, where anaklintron is listed as a part of a bed, the same
as is referred to by Aristophanes, Eccl. 907, as epiklintron. Phrynichos, 130 (ed.
Rutherford, p. 207), stated that it was proper Attic usage to say epiklintron, not
anaklintron, and thus in another passage on beds Pollux (X, 34) uses only the term
epiklintron. It has been assumed that all three words might apply to the raised end
of a couch, on which one might rest an elbow while dining, or lean his head for sleep.
In support of this interpretation we find that Hesychius defines cmphikephcalos as a
bed which had an anaklintron at both ends.
However, if we do not immediately accept the equation of terms made above,
but consider only the uses of the special term ancaklisis, the result is somewhat different.
In Attic inscriptions this word is associated not with couches but with various sorts
of chairs. A typical entry is that of I.G., 112, 1421, lines 97-99: Opovot uE-yaXot rpEs
OVK V)/CE' c'cKXTEX 7)XE4?avT/EVcs.10 In I.G., IV, 39, line 9 it is a bathron which
has an anaklisis. There might be some doubt as to whether this part of the chair were
the back or the arms, since according to Richter the thronos might appear with back
8 Jahreshefte, VI, 1903, p. 240.
9 Ransom, Couches and Beds, pp. 109 and 111.
10 Cf. I.G., II2, 1415, line 26; 1425, lines 206-207; 1460, lines 6-7.