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Chapter 1. Archaic and Classical Greek Klinai: Realities and Representations
- University of Wisconsin Press
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15 C H A P T E R 1 Archaic and Classical Greek Klinai Realities and Representations The couch in antiquity served many more functions, both real and symbolic, than the sofa normally does today: not only relaxation, but also dining, drinking, having sex, and sleeping, as well as serving as a deathbed, bier, and permanent resting place in the grave. These are the functions, at least, that we can infer from scenes on Greek vases; there may have been many more. As a fixture of the Greek symposion, the kline has even been described as “an instrument for the education and cultural fulfillment of human nature.”1 Because couches were made primarily of wood and other organic materials (such as cords of leather or hemp), very few actual examples are preserved archaeologically for analysis of form and context. Any study of ancient couches must therefore rely heavily on representational evidence, where accuracy of details may or may not have been important to the artist. While this limitation poses potential interpretive problems, such representations are frequent and formulaic enough that general trends can be seen and compared with the few extant physical remains, and quirks or habits of particular vase-painters can be recognized. Klinai represented in Archaic and Classical Greek art and known from actual remains fall into two main types, classified by Kyrieleis as Type A and Type B (Figs. 2–3).2 These types differ primarily in leg shape, and both leg types can occur on other furniture forms. Rectangular Type B legs with side cutouts and volute-and-palmette ornament often occur on thrones or chairs, while round Type A legs with turned moldings are often seen on stools as well as thrones. Both couch types were associated in antiquity with East Greek centers of production and probably also evolved in that region. My aim in this chapter is to establish what we know of the basic characteristics, development, and uses of klinai in the Archaic and Classical periods, based on written and archaeological evidence, before trying to understand the funerary klinai of Anatolia. Although the form and decoration of klinai represented on vases are often taken for granted or overlooked while attention focuses on the activities of their occupants, the klinai themselves have much to tell us about furniture styles and carpentry techniques, and comparative study of the pictorial contexts of different couch types may shed light on their possible thematic or symbolic significance. Analysis of visual representations also highlights the multifunctionality of these furnishings, a point that has particular importance for interpreting the funerary klinai, which are representations of a different, three-dimensional kind. Plato’s use of the kline in the Republic (10.596b–598a) as an exemplum in his discussion of ideal forms and mimesis challenges the relevance of such representations to the study of the actual Archaic and Classical Greek Klinai 16 Figure 2. Symposion with Type A klinai on an Attic black-figure column krater attributed to the Ptoon Painter, ca. 580–570 [B31]. Paris, Musée du Louvre E623. (Photo: Hervé Lewandowski, Réunion des Musées Nationaux / Art Resource, NY) Figure 3. Herakles feasting on a Type B kline on an Attic bilingual amphora attributed to the Andokides and Lysippides Painters, ca. 520–510 [B114]. Munich, Antikensammlungen 2301. Simpson 2002, pl. 79a. (Reproduced with permission of the Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek München) [54.163.195.125] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 13:17 GMT) Archaic and Classical Greek Klinai 17 furnishings being depicted, but the deliberate juxtaposition of different couch types in the works of several vase-painters suggests that formal variation, at least in some cases, may have carried meaning. And this variation of kline forms may help to explain why Plato chose to use klinai, of all things, in this famous exemplum. Terminology and Function The term kline first appears in Archaic Greek poetry celebrating the reclining luxury of the symposion .3 Derived from κλίνω, “to recline,” the noun literally refers to any piece of furniture on which one lies down and so can be translated as either “bed” or “couch,” depending on context. From the Classical period through the Roman era, the word was used to refer to both beds for sleeping and couches for dining.4 This duality extends beyond terminology: one piece of furniture probably served both functions, sleeping and banqueting.5 The spaces in an Archaic Greek house and the furnishings within them were probably multifunctional: as Boardman puts it, the “sleeping...