Stibadium

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Stibadium, plural stibadia, is a later form of the Roman reclining dining couch called lectus triclinaris. Instead of three couches in a semicircle, the stibadium is a single semicircular couch that can seat up to about twelve people. It was placed in alcoves around the center of the dining room and could be very elaborate in large Roman villas. The furniture is also known as sigma, a name from the lunate sigma shape used in some Greek writing and medieval scripts; it is not related to the Latin letter C. The stibadium was originally outdoors but was moved indoors in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD because its shape made entertaining easier and dining rooms grew larger. In films about ancient Rome, the stibadium is often shown instead of the triple-couch setup.