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

230 W. KENDRICK PRITCHETT
slumbering,125 but Rodenwaldt follows Ransom in defining it as a poetical term for
couch.126 Finally, Studniczka, referring to Lucian, Symp., 8, describes it as " eine
lange einheitliche Bank."
In spite of so many varied definitions, there are relatively few literary references
to the klinter. The word is applied to Penelope's bed in Od., XVIII, 190, and to
Simaetha's in Theokritos, 2, 86 and 113. In both passages reference is made to
sleeping, in the latter for a period of ten days and ten nights. Moreover, Delphis sits
down beside Simaetha on the klinter, and in line 139, lektra, 'marriage-bed,' is used
as a synonym. In Lucian, Symp., 8, all of the ladies who had been invited to the
banquet occupied one klinter, and in chapter 44 during the ensuing melee one of the
male guests was thrown from a klinter.
Two definitions of the word are preserved in the lexicographers. Hesychius
defines the klinter as &4pos JvaKXLT6', but the plural form is defined both as diphroi
and as klinlai. Elsewhere in defining &4pae, presumably of Theokritos 14, 41, Hesychius
equates klinter with a woman's thronos.127 Photius says the klinter is a sort of
easy chair: E781o fopEiov E'o-TiV 8E Kat KXtVOKa6OE8ptov. Et. Mag. (s.v. lTpO'-KXWITpOV)
calls a klinter a thronos which has a back (prosklintron).
The appearance of the word in our inscription shows that Ransom and Rodenwaldt
erred in considering klinter as a poetical variant of kline, and, indeed, Gow has
observed that it is "rare in serious poetry." 128 In most, but not all, of the passages
it is specified that a klinter was an article of furniture for women. Two of the passages
connect the word with leaning back. In modern Greek, klinter means sofa or
armchair. The composite picture that emerges is of something like the modern chaiselongue:
a semi-reclining seat, large enough for more than one person. Such a seat,
from Roman times, can be seen in Daremberg-Saglio, Dictionnatire, s.v. Cathedra,
fig. 1252.
4. o-K4rovs (III, 8; V, 9).129 Mean bed, pallet. A separate article by Rodenwaldt
is devoted to skimpous in the R.E. This is the most detailed study of the word.
The brief article of Saglio in Daremberg-Saglio, Dictionnaire, s.v. Scim podiurm,
contains in the footnotes the most complete list of ancient literary references.130
Pollux lists the word under the genus of klinai.'3' Hesychius explains the word
125 R.E., s.v. Stuhl 399.
126
R.E. s.v. Kline, 847; cf. Ransom, Couches and Beds, p. 109.
127
Gow (ad Theokritos 14, 41) states that the definition is "probably no more than an inference
" from the Theocritean passage.
128 Ad Theokritos, 24, 43.
129
To these two references should now be added VI, 38, where the restoration [cKtj]w-o8E3 may
be substituted for [Kovt'] wo&S. See above, p. 208.
130
For the etymology of skimpous, see Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch,
s.v. scamnum.
131 X, 35.