Dining posture in ancient Rome

by Matthew B. Roller

"This book investigates the meaning and importance of the three principal dining postures - reclining, sitting, and standing - in the period 200 B.C.-A.D. 200. It explores the social values and distinctions associated with each of the postures and with the diners who assumed them. Roller shows that dining posture was entangled with a variety of pressing social issues, such as gender roles and relations, sexual values, rites of passage, and distinctions among the slave, freed, and freeborn conditions."--Jacket.