This article about the dining arrangements for Jews and Romans gives helpful information to aid
our understanding of the account of the Last Supper in John’s Gospel, as well as the account of
the woman washing Jesus’ feet, and Jesus washing his disciple’s feet (Jn 12-13).
When we think of the Last Supper, we often imagine Jesus and his disciples sitting around a modern table with upright dining chairs, with their feet underneath the table. This is the scene portrayed by Leonardo Da Vinci in his famous painting. However, Jews and Romans did not sit up at a table, but reclined on couches or cushions around a low table.
A Roman dining room was called a
triclinum because it contained three couches, set around a
central table. The table was a low block with couches around it on three sides. There would a
single couch in the middle, where the host would sit, and one couch to his left, and one to his
right, opposite each other. The side opposite the host would be left open for people to bring food to the table. The couches would be covered by a cushion, or a cushion would be provided for the guest to lean on. The guests approached the table from behind the couches, then reclined on their left side, supporting their head on their left elbow, leaving their right hand free to take the food.. A normal Roman triclinum would seat nine people, three on each couch. For the last supper there were thirteen people present. Either they used larger couches, or laid on cushions on the floor, or were closely squashed together as particularly intimate friends.
Their feet would stretch out behind them, away from the table. This would make it quite easy
for Jesus to go round and wash the disciples' feet without them having to move (Jn 13:1-17), and for Mary come in and anoint Jesus’ feet (Jn 12:3).
A man’s head would be in line with the chest of the person reclining to his left, making it easy
for that person to lean back and speak to the person on his left without anyone else hearing what
is said. In Jn 13, some of the statements made by Jesus were heard by all twelve disciples (v21),
while other statements were private (v26).
From the account in Jn 13, it is possible to work out the seating positions of the four people involved in the conversation: Jesus, John, Peter and Judas. At the last supper, Jesus was the host of the meal, so sat at the head of the table, in the middle of the centre couch. John, the beloved disciple, would be immediately to the right of Jesus, so his head would be level with the chest of Jesus. John would then be able to lean back and whisper to Jesus without the others hearing (v23). The Greek text uses the words, “falling back on the breast of Jesus”.