Subsellium

"Scamnum" redirects here. For Roman orthopedic device, see Hippocratic bench.

In the Ancient Rome, the subsellium (a "low bench") was a bench (Latin: scamnum) or sometimes a seat of other kind. The word was used to describe seating arranged for groups of people^[1] in Roman theaters, senators' seats in the curia, seats for tribunes of the plebs (subsellia).^[2] The latter meaning of a "judge's seat" transferred to mean the court or tribunal^[2] and is replicated in the modern en banc (from Law French "in bench" designating the central royal court at Westminster).^[3][4]

Two quaestors sitting on the subsellium (image on a Roman denarius)

In the medieval churches the term was used to designate the misericord, a wooden ledge on the underside of a choir stall seat. When the hinged seat was put upright, the subsellium provided a modicum of support for the occupant^[5] who was otherwise supposed to be standing (thus the "mercy-seat" designation).

Construction

The subsellium was a common, backless bench widespread in the Roman world. Contemporary sources mention its use in private homes, theaters, the senate house, law courts, and schools. Although no definite examples survive, literary accounts strongly that the subsellium was made of wood. Suetonius alone provides several examples:^[6]

• benches from the senate and courts were broken into pieces to create a funeral pyre for Julius Caesar;
• a heavy man caused theater bench to collapse under his weight;
• during a brawl, combatants fought each other with pieces of broken subsellium.

In theaters, the term was also applied to masonry seats.^[1]

Similar benches

Scamnum was a similar, smaller piece of furniture used as both a bench and a footstool (per Varro, it was higher that yet another stool, scabellum, and can be used to get into a high bed). In the late Roman period, subsellium and scamnum apparently became interchangeable, with scamnum being the more pedestrian term ("subsellia, or, as the common man says, scamna").^[7]

Herculaneum

Three pieces of furniture found at Herculaneum might be examples of subsellia (or scamnum). These rectangular benches are between 1.05 and 1.40 meters long and stand 36 to 39 cm high. Due to the artifacts' deterioration and attempts of restoration, many details are unclear, including the number of legs (four separate legs or two slab legs) and their attachment to the seat. For comfort, the seats were slightly concave with rounded front edges. The front part of legs featured a carved, S-shaped curve resembling a stylized animal leg.^[8]