Furniture in ancient Greece

A Greek home would seem bare compared to modern households when it came to furniture. Modern houses contain a variety of pieces, often duplicating each other, and often a variety of knickknacks, utensils, and other commodities as well, and this would have seemed cramped and constricted to the Greeks. Many pieces of furniture in a Greek home had multiple uses, compared to modern times.

The major types of furniture included chairs, tables, and beds, as well as other pieces used for storing items. The pieces would be painted and often have inlaid decorations. There would be covers and pillows to provide comfort.

Vases, furniture, and objects discovered at Herculaneum, 1777, by Pierre-Adrien Paris (1745–1819). (The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles)

During the Minoan and Mycenaean ages, the precursors to Classical Greek furniture existed. Many of the forms were based on examples from the Near East, and especially Egypt. At Cnossos was a famous throne with a high, perpendicular back and a slightly concave seat on four legs. This was placed on a small, raised platform that also acted as a footstool.

There were varieties of thrones during this period, usually classified based on the type of legs. In addition, there was a type of throne with a rounded back and three legs. Opposite the throne, with an upright back, were stools or backless seats, including what may have been folding seats. Benches, which provided seating for more than one individual, also existed, such as at Cnossos, where they are made of stone.

Associated with all of these types of seats were footstools, which may have been used as seats as well. There are some representations of couches or beds, but they are not well described. They seem to have had short legs. There were several types of tables; one shows a round table-leaf on three legs with some fragments discovered; a round table with a central support is also represented, while a rectangular table with four legs is found on a sarcophagus. Finally, homes contained chests with either flat or gabled lids and four legs, used to store items. While the Minoan-Mycenaean furniture shows a variety of shapes, it does not show any development. The furniture of the Minoan-Mycenaean periods does not show a close relationship with the Archaic Greeks and their successors, although some motifs continued.

It is with the Classical Greeks that more development and evolution of furniture occurred. As in the earlier period, the Greeks after the Mycenaean period had a variety of chairs. The throne continued to be used; for example, in the Iliad, Homer describes Zeus sitting on his golden throne, and in the Odyssey, the suitors of Penelope sit on thrones. But thrones were also used for persons of honor or guests to sit on, as a sign of respect. Herodotus records Midas as sending a royal throne to Delphi.

The term throne is also used by later writers, usually in the context of the gods or wise men. It is used several times in the treasury accounts of the Parthenon in the fifth century, and one description mentions three thrones with backs inlaid with ivory. This would seem to indicate that during the Classical Age, thrones were common enough to be given as gifts to Athena and to the city-state of Athens. Thrones were also in private homes, especially of the wealthy, as witnessed in the inventory of the Athenian politician Alcibiades’s household and in images on vases.

There appear to have been four types of thrones: legs ending in animal feet, turned legs, rectangular legs, and solid sides, each of which went through various stages of development. The animal-feet type was popular in the Archaic period, while the turned and rectangular types appeared during the Classical, and the solid-side type were in the Hellenistic period. The animal-feet type had its roots in the Egyptian predecessors of the Egyptian New Kingdom in about 1300. During the Archaic Period, representations of thrones with the animal feet are seen on vase paintings.

The turned-leg type during the Archaic period also shows connections with the Egyptian thrones with turned legs of the same period. During the late Archaic period, the Greek form developed, with more clearly defined legs and proportions. During the Classical period, the designs show more refinement, with sophisticated armrests. The rectangular legs for thrones also appear in the late Archaic period; there are various examples showing development of rectangular-leg thrones, but by the fifth century, they had become a constant form, with intricate designs on the back.

Associated with thrones, but more common in the Greek home, were chairs. In the first form of chairs, a curved back dominated and was usually undecorated. The chair was not as formal as the throne but was more comfortable than the stool. This chair, or klismos, appears to have been a Greek invention without parallel in Egypt or the Near East. Its meaning and definition referred to a comfortable chair with a back for support. It probably was descended from the throne early on, and unlike the throne with animal legs, the klismos had plain, curved legs. Homer mentions the klismos as being appropriate for the gods, showing that it must have been commonly known and comfortable enough. It was popular during the Archaic and Classical periods, as represented on numerous monuments. In some monuments, the klismos had cushions for comfort and support.

Opposed to the klismos was the diphros, or stool. It had four legs and no back. Although it was often used for lower-class individuals, this was not always the case, as Hector sits on a diphros next to Helen as mentioned in the Iliad. It therefore was probably just a chair used by anyone, and was not as comfortable or luxurious as a klismos. It was made of wood and was lightweight so it could be carried. The seat could be round (the most common design) or square. The legs could be plain or highly decorated, which attested to the status of the owner.

In the type of stool called the diphros okladias, the legs were not perpendicular, as in the diphros, but rather were crossed, allowing them to be folded up. It had a light seat and could be easily carried and was for general use. They could be taken out in public so that a person could use it for a seat rather than worrying about seats being available. There were two major types of legs—those that were curved and ended in animal feet and those that were straight and plain. The more common animal-foot design featured lion’s paws turned inward; another design had hooves turned outward. The seats appear to have been made of leather to allow the chair to collapse. If plain, the legs tended to end in points. Additional options included boxlike seats, often decorated.

The chair was meant to seat one person, while the bench, with or without a back, could seat more than one. The bathron was a bench, while the ikria was a platform or theater seat. The thranos was a specific type of bench for rowers on ships. Stone benches have been found at theaters and stadiums. If benches have backs, they are perpendicular and undecorated. There were also footstools in ancient Greece used for resting one’s feet and as a stepping stool to get on to a couch or bed. They are mentioned in the Iliad as a place for the gods to rest their feet. They could have legs, sometimes ornately decorated, or be boxlike.

The next type of furniture was the couch or kline, which could also be a bed (which sometimes seems to be the original meaning). Some beds are mentioned by name, such as from Delos or Meletus. The Greek beds had a frame resting on four legs with interlacing, where the upper part was raised as a form of headrest. Sometimes a lower part was raised as well. Depending upon the wealth of the individual, beds may be made of metal, but commonly were of wood.

They could be ornately inlaid with silver and other material. On top of the interlacing were the bedclothes, acting as mattresses, covers, and pillows, although sheets do not seem to have been common. Blankets and rugs were used as covers. Pillows were used to provide comfort for individuals. Like chairs, couches had legs with animals, turned, and rectangular. Their history and design were similar to chairs. Animal and turned legs show an association with Egypt, while rectangular legs show no connections with Egypt or the Near East.

As in modern homes, tables existed but were not used in the same ways. Today, tables support and display a multitude of possessions, while in Greece, they were more confined to use for meals. There were few books or newspapers to sit on a table, and other items, such as mirrors and cups, sat on a shelf or hung on walls from pegs. Since tables were used for serving food and drink for meals, they were temporary and could be removed without difficulty. They could be placed under the couch for storage. Tables often had three legs, two at one end placed near the couch. There were some tables with four legs as well.

There were also chests, boxes, and caskets used for storing materials. Chests were used to store clothes and small articles such as tools and jewelry. Typically, a chest, with a flat or gabled lid, was rectangular and large enough to hold a multitude of clothes. Shelfs attached to walls could hold cups, tools, and other materials. The shelf was on two supports spanning across several feet. There were also sideboards capable of holding dishes and other eating materials.

Although the Greeks did not have upholstery compared to modern times, they did use loose materials and coverings such as pillows and blankets. They could be made of delicate wool with fine thread; they might glisten and be colored such as purple, sea-green, green, or scarlet; they might be decorated with flowers, animals, or stars. The chief materials were linen and wool, but they could also be leather or sheepskin. Many of the materials were made at home, such as portrayed by Helen weaving battle scenes or Andromache weaving flowers in the Iliad. Weavers could also work in shops, producing a variety of fabrics. There were mattresses, pillows, and stuffing for both, as well as other draperies and covers.

Tables, chairs, chests, and beds were most often made of wood since that was the easiest and cheapest material to obtain; but other materials such as metal and stone were also used. The most common woods employed were maple, beech, willow, oak, fir, and holly, with the most prized being citron, an expensive wood. The ancient carpenter used tools commonly found today, including the axe, saw, plane, hammer, chisel, lathe, screwdriver, and file.

They also used the level, compass, ruler, and plummet. All of these tools were of ancient origin. The joining of various pieces of furniture was accomplished with wooden dowels and tenons, and less frequently with metal nails and glue. The material was often decorated with carvings or plating with ivory or metal. Bronze plating was a common feature for couches. The Greeks also practiced veneering and often portrayed mythological scenes on their furnishings.

Furniture in ancient Greece allowed individuals to use their space within their homes in a harmonious fashion. Households tended to be places of refuge, with the majority of time spent outdoors. The Greeks tended to move their social settings from indoors to outdoors, whether in the agora or the assembly.