Tablinum – Main Living Room in a Former Italian House

From the late Latin tab(u)linum – a kind of gallery, terrace in the Roman house.

“[Tablinum] was a room, generally situated on one side of the atrium and opposite to the entrance; it opened in the rear onto the peristyle, with either a large window or only an anteroom or curtain” (“Tablinum” 2021). In the later Roman house, the tablinum was situated between an atrium with which it was connected, and the hortus (garden). Initially, it housed a marriage bedroom, then “the main office and reception room for the house master. [As such, tablinum] was the office in a Roman house, the father’s centre for business” (Ibid.) Over time, it was transformed into a reception room, “where [a master] would receive his clients. [At that time, its] walls were richly decorated with fresco pictures, and busts of the family were arranged on pedestals on the two sides of the room” (Ibid.).

Drawing of a typical roman atrium house. Architectural details of a Domus italica with the tablinum marked number 5. Drawing by Tobias Langhammer – Own work (2010). CC BY-SA 3.0. Photo and caption source: “Tablinum” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

Featured image: The tablinum of the House of Menander (Regio I), Pompeii. Photo by Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany (2014). CC BY-SA 2.0. Image cropped. Photo and caption source: “Tablinum” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

“Tablinum” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. Available at <https://bit.ly/3b8NPgk>. [Accessed on 2nd March, 2021].

PWN (2007). Słownik terminologiczny sztuk pięknych, p. 409. Kubalska-Sulkiewicz K., Bielska-Łach M., Manteuffel-Szarota A. eds. Wydanie piąte. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.