The hospitality of the present day in the east exactly
resembles that of the remotest antiquity. The parable of the “great
supper” is in those countries literally realized. And such was the
hospitality of ancient Greece and Rome. When a person provided an
entertainment for his friends or neighbours, he sent round a number of
servants to invite the guests; these were called _vocatores_ by the
Romans, and κλητώρες by the Greeks. The day when the entertainment is to
be given is fixed some considerable time before; and in the evening of
the day appointed, a messenger comes to bid the guests to the feast. The
custom is thus introduced in Luke: “A certain man made a great supper,
and bade many; and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that
were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready.” They were not now
asked for the first time; but had already accepted the invitation, when
the day was appointed, and were therefore already pledged to attend at
the hour when they might be summoned. They were not taken unprepared,
and could not in consistency and decency plead any prior engagement.
They could not now refuse, without violating their word, and insulting
the master of the feast, and, therefore, justly subjected themselves to
punishment. The terms of the parable exactly accord with established
custom. The Jews did not always follow the same method; sometimes they
sent a number of servants different ways among the friends they meant to
invite; and at other times, a single male domestic.
The Persians send a deputation to meet their guests: this deputation are
called openers of the way; and the more distinguished the persons sent,
and the greater the distance to which they go, so much greater is the
honour. So it is proclaimed, “Go forth and behold king Solomon, with the
crown wherewith his mother crowned him.” “The bridegroom cometh, go ye
forth to meet him.” The names of the persons to be invited were
inscribed upon tablets, and the gate was set open to receive those who
had obtained them; but to prevent any getting in that had no ticket,
only one leaf of the door was left open; and that was strictly guarded
by the servants of the family. Those who were admitted had to go along a
narrow passage to the room; and after all who had received tickets of
admission were assembled, the master of the house rose and shut to the
door; and then the entertainment began. The first ceremony, after the
guests arrived at the house of entertainment, was the salutation
performed by the master of the house, or one appointed in his place.
Among the Greeks, this was sometimes done by embracing with arms around;
but the most common salutation was by the conjunction of their right
hands, the right hand being reckoned a pledge of fidelity and
friendship. Sometimes they kissed the lips, hands, knees, or feet, as
the person deserved more or less respect. The Jews welcomed a stranger
to their house in the same way; for our Lord complains to Simon, that he
had given him no kiss, had welcomed him to his table with none of the
accustomed tokens of respect.
The custom of reclining was introduced from the nations of the east, and
particularly from Persia, where it seems to have been adopted at a very
remote period. The Old Testament Scriptures allude to both customs; but
they furnish undeniable proofs of the antiquity of sitting. As this is
undoubtedly the most natural and dignified posture, so it seems to have
been universally adopted by the first generations of men; and it was not
till after the lapse of many ages, and when degenerate man had lost much
of the firmness of his primitive character, that he began to recline.
The tables were constructed of three different parts or separate tables,
making but one in the whole. One was placed at the upper end crossways,
and the two others joined to its ends, one on each side, so as to leave
an open space between, by which the attendants could readily wait at all
the three. Round these tables were placed beds or couches, one to each
table; each of these beds was called _clinium_; and three of these being
united, to surround the three tables, made the _triclinium_. At the end
of each _clinium_ was a footstool, for the convenience of mounting up to
it. These beds were formed of mattresses, and supported on frames of
wood, often highly ornamented; the mattresses were covered with cloth or
tapestry, according to the quality of the entertainer. At the splendid
feast which Ahasuerus made for the nobles of his kingdom, beds of silver
and gold were placed round the tables; according to a custom in the east
of naming a thing from its principal ornament, these must have been
couches profusely ornamented with the precious metals. Each guest
inclined the superior part of his body upon his left arm, the lower part
being stretched out at length, or a little bent; his head was raised up,
and his back sometimes supported with pillows. In conversation, those
who spoke raised themselves almost upright, supported by cushions. When
they ate, they raised themselves on their elbow, and made use of the
right hand; which is the reason our Lord mentions the hand of Judas in
the singular number: “He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the
same shall betray me,” Matt. xxvi, 23. See ACCUBATION.
When a Persian comes into an assembly, and has saluted the house, he
then measures with his eye the place to which his degree of rank
entitles him; he straightway wedges himself into the line of guests,
without offering any apology for the general disturbance which he
produces. It often happens that persons take a higher seat than that to
which they are entitled. The Persian scribes are remarkable for their
arrogance in this respect, in which they seem to bear a striking
resemblance to the Jews of the same profession in the days of our Lord.
The master of the entertainment has, however, the privilege of placing
any one as high in the rank of the assembly as he may choose. And Mr.
Morier saw an instance of it at a public entertainment to which he was
invited. When the assembly was nearly full, the governor of Kashan, a
man of humble mien, although of considerable rank, came in and seated
himself at the lowest place; when the master of the house, after
numerous expressions of welcome, pointed with his hand to an upper seat
in the assembly, to which he desired him to move, and which he
accordingly did. These circumstances furnish a beautiful and striking
illustration of the parable which our Lord uttered, when he saw how
those that were invited chose the highest places.
Before the Greeks went to an entertainment, they washed and anointed
themselves; for it was thought very indecent to appear on such an
occasion, defiled with sweat and dust; but they who came off a journey
were washed, and clothed with suitable apparel, in the house of the
entertainer, before they were admitted to the feast. When Telemachus and
Pisistratus arrived at the palace of Menelaus, in the course of their
wanderings, they were immediately supplied with water to wash, and with
oil to anoint, themselves, before they took their seats by the side of
the king. The oil used on such occasions, in the palaces of nobles and
princes, was perfumed with roses and other odoriferous herbs. They also
washed their hands before they sat down to meat. To these customary
marks of respect, to which a traveller, or one who had no house of his
own, was entitled, our Lord alludes in his defence of Mary: “And he
turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I
entered into thine house; thou gavest me no water for my feet, but she
hath washed my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her
head. Thou gavest me no kiss; but this woman, since the time I came in,
hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint;
but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment,” Luke vii, 44. Homer
mentions it as a custom quite common in those days, for daughters to
wash and afterward to anoint the feet of their parents. Our Saviour was
in the circumstances of a traveller; he had no home to wash and anoint
himself in, before he went to Simon’s house; and, therefore, had a right
to complain that his entertainer had failed in the respect that was due
to him as a stranger, at a distance from the usual place of his
residence. The Jews regularly washed their hands and their feet before
dinner; they considered this ceremony as essential, which discovers the
reason of their astonishment, when they observed the disciples of Christ
sit down at table without having observed this ceremony: “Why do thy
disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not
their hands when they eat bread,” Matt. xv, 2. After meals they wash
them again; for, says the evangelist, “the Pharisees and all the Jews,
except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the
elders,” Mark vii, 3, 4. When they washed their hands themselves, they
plunged them into the water up to the wrists; but when others performed
this office for them, it was done by pouring it upon their hands. The
same custom prevailed in Greece, for Homer says, the attendants poured
water on the hands of their chiefs. This was a part of the service which
Elisha performed for his master Elijah; and in every instance under the
law where water was applied to the body by another, it was done, not by
plunging, but by pouring or sprinkling. To wash the feet was a mean and
servile office, and, therefore, generally performed by the female
servants of the family. It was occasionally performed, however, by
females of the highest rank; for the daughter of Cleobulus, one of the
Grecian sages, and king of Lindus, a city on the south-east part of
Rhodes, was not ashamed to wash the feet of her father’s guests. And it
was customary for them to kiss the feet of those to whom they thought a
more than common respect was due; for the daughter of Philocleon, in
Aristophanes, washed her father, anointed his feet, and, stooping down,
kissed them. The towel which was used to wipe the feet after washing,
was considered through all the east as a badge of servitude. Suetonius
mentions it as a sure mark of the intolerable pride of Caligula, the
Roman emperor, that when at supper he suffered senators of the highest
rank, sometimes to stand by his couch, sometimes at his feet, girt with
a towel. Hence it appears that this honour was a token of humiliation,
which was not, however, absolutely degrading and inconsistent with all
regard to rank. Yet our blessed Redeemer did not refuse to give his
disciples, and Judas Iscariot himself, that proof of his love and
humility.
The entertainment was conducted by a _symposiarch_, or governor of the
feast. He was, says Plutarch, one chosen among the guests, the most
pleasant and diverting in the company, that would not get drunk, and yet
would drink freely; he was to rule over the rest, to forbid any
disorder, but to encourage their mirth. He observed the temper of the
guests, and how the wine worked upon them; how every one could bear his
wine, and to endeavour accordingly to keep them all in harmony, and in
an even composure, that there might be no disquiet nor disturbance. To
do this effectually, he first proclaimed liberty to every one to drink
what he thought proper, and then observing who among them was most ready
to be disordered, mixed more water with his wine, to keep him equally
sober with the rest of the company; so that this officer took care that
none should be forced to drink, and that none, though left to their own
choice, should get intoxicated. Such, we have reason to believe, was the
governor of the feast at the marriage in Cana of Galilee, which our Lord
honoured with his presence. The term ἀρχιτρίκλινος literally signifies
the governor of a place furnished with three beds; and he acted as one
having authority; for he tasted the wine before he distributed it to the
company, which, it is universally admitted, was one of the duties of a
symposiarch. Neither the name nor the act accords with the character and
situation of a guest; he must, therefore, have been the symposiarch, or
governor of the feast. The existence of such an officer among the Jews
is placed beyond a doubt, by a passage in the apocryphal book of
Ecclesiasticus, where his office is thus described: “If thou be made the
master of a feast, lift not thyself up, but be among them as one of the
rest; take diligent care of them, and so sit down. And when thou hast
done all thine office, take thy place, that thou mayest be merry with
them, and receive a crown for the well-ordering of the feast,”
Ecclesiasticus xxxii, 1. See ARCHITRICLINUS.
resembles that of the remotest antiquity. The parable of the “great
supper” is in those countries literally realized. And such was the
hospitality of ancient Greece and Rome. When a person provided an
entertainment for his friends or neighbours, he sent round a number of
servants to invite the guests; these were called _vocatores_ by the
Romans, and κλητώρες by the Greeks. The day when the entertainment is to
be given is fixed some considerable time before; and in the evening of
the day appointed, a messenger comes to bid the guests to the feast. The
custom is thus introduced in Luke: “A certain man made a great supper,
and bade many; and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that
were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready.” They were not now
asked for the first time; but had already accepted the invitation, when
the day was appointed, and were therefore already pledged to attend at
the hour when they might be summoned. They were not taken unprepared,
and could not in consistency and decency plead any prior engagement.
They could not now refuse, without violating their word, and insulting
the master of the feast, and, therefore, justly subjected themselves to
punishment. The terms of the parable exactly accord with established
custom. The Jews did not always follow the same method; sometimes they
sent a number of servants different ways among the friends they meant to
invite; and at other times, a single male domestic.
The Persians send a deputation to meet their guests: this deputation are
called openers of the way; and the more distinguished the persons sent,
and the greater the distance to which they go, so much greater is the
honour. So it is proclaimed, “Go forth and behold king Solomon, with the
crown wherewith his mother crowned him.” “The bridegroom cometh, go ye
forth to meet him.” The names of the persons to be invited were
inscribed upon tablets, and the gate was set open to receive those who
had obtained them; but to prevent any getting in that had no ticket,
only one leaf of the door was left open; and that was strictly guarded
by the servants of the family. Those who were admitted had to go along a
narrow passage to the room; and after all who had received tickets of
admission were assembled, the master of the house rose and shut to the
door; and then the entertainment began. The first ceremony, after the
guests arrived at the house of entertainment, was the salutation
performed by the master of the house, or one appointed in his place.
Among the Greeks, this was sometimes done by embracing with arms around;
but the most common salutation was by the conjunction of their right
hands, the right hand being reckoned a pledge of fidelity and
friendship. Sometimes they kissed the lips, hands, knees, or feet, as
the person deserved more or less respect. The Jews welcomed a stranger
to their house in the same way; for our Lord complains to Simon, that he
had given him no kiss, had welcomed him to his table with none of the
accustomed tokens of respect.
The custom of reclining was introduced from the nations of the east, and
particularly from Persia, where it seems to have been adopted at a very
remote period. The Old Testament Scriptures allude to both customs; but
they furnish undeniable proofs of the antiquity of sitting. As this is
undoubtedly the most natural and dignified posture, so it seems to have
been universally adopted by the first generations of men; and it was not
till after the lapse of many ages, and when degenerate man had lost much
of the firmness of his primitive character, that he began to recline.
The tables were constructed of three different parts or separate tables,
making but one in the whole. One was placed at the upper end crossways,
and the two others joined to its ends, one on each side, so as to leave
an open space between, by which the attendants could readily wait at all
the three. Round these tables were placed beds or couches, one to each
table; each of these beds was called _clinium_; and three of these being
united, to surround the three tables, made the _triclinium_. At the end
of each _clinium_ was a footstool, for the convenience of mounting up to
it. These beds were formed of mattresses, and supported on frames of
wood, often highly ornamented; the mattresses were covered with cloth or
tapestry, according to the quality of the entertainer. At the splendid
feast which Ahasuerus made for the nobles of his kingdom, beds of silver
and gold were placed round the tables; according to a custom in the east
of naming a thing from its principal ornament, these must have been
couches profusely ornamented with the precious metals. Each guest
inclined the superior part of his body upon his left arm, the lower part
being stretched out at length, or a little bent; his head was raised up,
and his back sometimes supported with pillows. In conversation, those
who spoke raised themselves almost upright, supported by cushions. When
they ate, they raised themselves on their elbow, and made use of the
right hand; which is the reason our Lord mentions the hand of Judas in
the singular number: “He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the
same shall betray me,” Matt. xxvi, 23. See ACCUBATION.
When a Persian comes into an assembly, and has saluted the house, he
then measures with his eye the place to which his degree of rank
entitles him; he straightway wedges himself into the line of guests,
without offering any apology for the general disturbance which he
produces. It often happens that persons take a higher seat than that to
which they are entitled. The Persian scribes are remarkable for their
arrogance in this respect, in which they seem to bear a striking
resemblance to the Jews of the same profession in the days of our Lord.
The master of the entertainment has, however, the privilege of placing
any one as high in the rank of the assembly as he may choose. And Mr.
Morier saw an instance of it at a public entertainment to which he was
invited. When the assembly was nearly full, the governor of Kashan, a
man of humble mien, although of considerable rank, came in and seated
himself at the lowest place; when the master of the house, after
numerous expressions of welcome, pointed with his hand to an upper seat
in the assembly, to which he desired him to move, and which he
accordingly did. These circumstances furnish a beautiful and striking
illustration of the parable which our Lord uttered, when he saw how
those that were invited chose the highest places.
Before the Greeks went to an entertainment, they washed and anointed
themselves; for it was thought very indecent to appear on such an
occasion, defiled with sweat and dust; but they who came off a journey
were washed, and clothed with suitable apparel, in the house of the
entertainer, before they were admitted to the feast. When Telemachus and
Pisistratus arrived at the palace of Menelaus, in the course of their
wanderings, they were immediately supplied with water to wash, and with
oil to anoint, themselves, before they took their seats by the side of
the king. The oil used on such occasions, in the palaces of nobles and
princes, was perfumed with roses and other odoriferous herbs. They also
washed their hands before they sat down to meat. To these customary
marks of respect, to which a traveller, or one who had no house of his
own, was entitled, our Lord alludes in his defence of Mary: “And he
turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I
entered into thine house; thou gavest me no water for my feet, but she
hath washed my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her
head. Thou gavest me no kiss; but this woman, since the time I came in,
hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint;
but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment,” Luke vii, 44. Homer
mentions it as a custom quite common in those days, for daughters to
wash and afterward to anoint the feet of their parents. Our Saviour was
in the circumstances of a traveller; he had no home to wash and anoint
himself in, before he went to Simon’s house; and, therefore, had a right
to complain that his entertainer had failed in the respect that was due
to him as a stranger, at a distance from the usual place of his
residence. The Jews regularly washed their hands and their feet before
dinner; they considered this ceremony as essential, which discovers the
reason of their astonishment, when they observed the disciples of Christ
sit down at table without having observed this ceremony: “Why do thy
disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not
their hands when they eat bread,” Matt. xv, 2. After meals they wash
them again; for, says the evangelist, “the Pharisees and all the Jews,
except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the
elders,” Mark vii, 3, 4. When they washed their hands themselves, they
plunged them into the water up to the wrists; but when others performed
this office for them, it was done by pouring it upon their hands. The
same custom prevailed in Greece, for Homer says, the attendants poured
water on the hands of their chiefs. This was a part of the service which
Elisha performed for his master Elijah; and in every instance under the
law where water was applied to the body by another, it was done, not by
plunging, but by pouring or sprinkling. To wash the feet was a mean and
servile office, and, therefore, generally performed by the female
servants of the family. It was occasionally performed, however, by
females of the highest rank; for the daughter of Cleobulus, one of the
Grecian sages, and king of Lindus, a city on the south-east part of
Rhodes, was not ashamed to wash the feet of her father’s guests. And it
was customary for them to kiss the feet of those to whom they thought a
more than common respect was due; for the daughter of Philocleon, in
Aristophanes, washed her father, anointed his feet, and, stooping down,
kissed them. The towel which was used to wipe the feet after washing,
was considered through all the east as a badge of servitude. Suetonius
mentions it as a sure mark of the intolerable pride of Caligula, the
Roman emperor, that when at supper he suffered senators of the highest
rank, sometimes to stand by his couch, sometimes at his feet, girt with
a towel. Hence it appears that this honour was a token of humiliation,
which was not, however, absolutely degrading and inconsistent with all
regard to rank. Yet our blessed Redeemer did not refuse to give his
disciples, and Judas Iscariot himself, that proof of his love and
humility.
The entertainment was conducted by a _symposiarch_, or governor of the
feast. He was, says Plutarch, one chosen among the guests, the most
pleasant and diverting in the company, that would not get drunk, and yet
would drink freely; he was to rule over the rest, to forbid any
disorder, but to encourage their mirth. He observed the temper of the
guests, and how the wine worked upon them; how every one could bear his
wine, and to endeavour accordingly to keep them all in harmony, and in
an even composure, that there might be no disquiet nor disturbance. To
do this effectually, he first proclaimed liberty to every one to drink
what he thought proper, and then observing who among them was most ready
to be disordered, mixed more water with his wine, to keep him equally
sober with the rest of the company; so that this officer took care that
none should be forced to drink, and that none, though left to their own
choice, should get intoxicated. Such, we have reason to believe, was the
governor of the feast at the marriage in Cana of Galilee, which our Lord
honoured with his presence. The term ἀρχιτρίκλινος literally signifies
the governor of a place furnished with three beds; and he acted as one
having authority; for he tasted the wine before he distributed it to the
company, which, it is universally admitted, was one of the duties of a
symposiarch. Neither the name nor the act accords with the character and
situation of a guest; he must, therefore, have been the symposiarch, or
governor of the feast. The existence of such an officer among the Jews
is placed beyond a doubt, by a passage in the apocryphal book of
Ecclesiasticus, where his office is thus described: “If thou be made the
master of a feast, lift not thyself up, but be among them as one of the
rest; take diligent care of them, and so sit down. And when thou hast
done all thine office, take thy place, that thou mayest be merry with
them, and receive a crown for the well-ordering of the feast,”
Ecclesiasticus xxxii, 1. See ARCHITRICLINUS.