more. Here, the triclinium maius ("big dining room") would be used for larger dinner parties, which would typically include many clients of the owner. Smaller triclinia would be used for smaller dinner parties, with a more exclusive set of guests. Hence, their decoration was often at least as elaborate as that found in larger triclinia. As in the larger triclinia, wine, food, and love were always popular themes. However, because of their association with patronage and because dining entertainment often included recitation of highbrow literature like epics, dining rooms could also feature more "serious" themes. As in many houses in Pompeii, here the smaller dining room (triclinium minus) forms a suite with the adjoining cubiculum and bath. In later republican times, after the introduction of round tables of citrus wood, the three couches were replaced by one of crescent shape (called sigma from the form of the Greek letter), which as a rule was only intended to hold five persons. The two corner seats () were the places of honour, that on the right being considered superior. The remaining seats were reckoned from left to right, so that the least important seat was on the left side of the most important. The use of the sigma continued until the Middle Ages. See also Accubita Cyzicene hall Domus Stibadium Klinē References External links Triclinium (Plan of a Roman House by Barbara McManus) Galleries and plans of Roman triclinia (German) Rooms Couches Ancient Roman culture