Why did the Romans lie down while eating?A sign of wealth or laziness?

“The great empire of Ancient Rome, which deeply influenced world history and left its traces to this day, continues to surprise us with its information. Besides their political life, many aspects of their social life are quite intriguing. One of these is their dining habits, which we are familiar with from paintings! But why did the Romans lie down while eating? Was it simply because of laziness or was it a sign of a wealthy lifestyle?”

The Romans certainly had a very unique and luxurious lifestyle that set them apart from the rest of the world. One of the most distinctive elements of their culture is their preference for lying down while eating. Usually, most people find this uncomfortable.

In most depictions of the Roman way of life, we see a person lying down eating something. There is no benefit to eating lying down, on the contrary, it makes it harder for the food to reach the stomach and for the stomach to process it. So why did the Romans do this?

SOCIAL SEGREGATION IS THE CAUSE OF EVERYTHING: DISPLAY OF WEALTH!

The reason for this lifestyle is to show wealth in front of the lower social groups. Lying down while eating was something that mostly the rich and powerful did to show that they were more important and that they should always be comfortable with whatever action they performed.

“This trend, which began in the 7th century BC, was inherited from the Greek ancestors. It was often practiced during feasts or banquets, where a variety of food and drinks were served to those belonging to a higher social class, and their only reason to get up was to go to the restroom to make more space for food.”

“In ancient Greece, the tradition allowed only men to lying down , while women would bring the food and sit on chairs at another table. With the trend becoming famous in Rome, women were also integrated to participate in such feasts by lying down. However, this was still reserved primarily for the wealthy and powerful.”

COULDN’T POOR PEOPLE DO THE SAME?

This question has been burning in your mind from the very beginning. That’s why it needs to be answered as soon as possible. Yes, the lower social classes could sit on the floor while eating, but let’s be honest, it wouldn’t be very comfortable and probably only a child today would choose to do so.

We also need to take into account that most people are below the poverty line, meaning that they only have the bare minimum and cannot afford anything else, like a couch or a table where they can eat while lying down, and even if they have money, we need to take that into account.

“The idea here was to be different and special because they were very wealthy and powerful. During that time, there were no special designer clothes or exotic war chariots to distinguish the rich from the poor; most people wore the same clothing, but it’s not hard to imagine that those from a lower social class might appear somewhat dirtier due to all the labor they had to do.”

Source: History Of Yesterday