Couched in Death: Klinai and Identity in Anatolia and Beyond.

• Author: Simpson, Elizabeth
• Position: Book review

Couched in Death: Klinai and Identity in Anatolia and Beyond. By ELIZABETH P. BAUGHAN. Wisconsin Studies in Classics. Madison: UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PRESS, 2013. Pp. xvii + 487, illus. $65.

Elizabeth Baughan's Couched in Death is a welcome addition to the scholarly literature on ancient furniture--with the kline, the couch or bed, considered here in its funerary context but also in terms of its wider use. The book is based on her PhD dissertation, which was centered on the funerary klinai of Anatolia, here expanded to include examples from other areas of the Near East and Mediterranean worlds, incorporating new research and information. Anyone familiar with the art and architecture of the first millennium BC in Greece, Anatolia, and Italy will have encountered the kline in its many manifestations. This important publication helps to clarify much about the ubiquitous furniture form and its use for banqueting and the grave.

After an introduction on "approaches to klinai and the cultures of Anatolia," the chapters discuss, in turn, Archaic and Classical Greek klinai, Anatolian funerary klinai, the origins of the kline-tomb and the reclining banquet, "banqueting and identity in Achaemenid Anatolia," and finally the legacy of the funerary couch. While ostensibly limited to one particular furniture type, the scope is in fact broad, resulting in a vast tapestry of evidence that forms an impressive if uneven picture. Baughan has assembled a large number of klinai, both surviving examples and those illustrated in painting and sculpture; as her detailed review of the literature makes clear, she has produced the most comprehensive study of the subject to date.

The term kline (from [phrase omitted], 'to lean or recline') is one of several ancient Greek words used to denote a bed or couch, and is commonly found in texts of the Classical period (Richter 1966: 52-63). The various terms have not been linked conclusively to particular types of beds, either extant or depicted in art, although Baughan explores the possibilities (pp. 65ff.). Scholars have long wondered whether such furniture might have been reserved exclusively for sleeping or banqueting--or used for multiple purposes. This has not been completely resolved by Baughan, who considers a priori that ''klinai were by nature multifunctional" (p. 11). This "functional versatility" makes the kline apt for funerary purposes, according to Baughan, and indeed the dead are shown lying in state on beds...