Editor's Summary
16 August 2007
Table manners
In ancient paintings and sculpture, participants at banquets almost always recline on their left sides. The usual explanation is that it leaves the right hand free to hold eating and drinking vessels. But an alternative view is gaining ground. The Mediterranean civilizations took hours over a meal, and ate and drank plenty. Gastroenterologists now advise patients with gastro-oesophageal reflux to ease the condition by lying and sleeping on their left. The Romans and other ancients may have discovered this the hard way. And in addition, the geometry of the 'reclining' stomach means that a lean to the left allows more room for copious amounts of food and drink.
Books and Arts: Science in culture: Left to digest
In ancient art, banqueters always recline on their left side — perhaps to aid digestion.
Paolo Mazzarello & Maurizio Harari
doi:10.1038/448753a
