Stock Photo - Roman fresco wall decorations of the Triclinium C, Villa Farnesia, Rome. Museo Nazionale Romano ( National Roman Museum), Rome, Italy. . . In the center of the dining room was a table, with three couches (klinai in Greek, hence the name "triclinium") on which the diners reclined as they ate. The southern exposure of the room and its main color suggest it was meant to be used in the winter. The architect Vitruvius, writing in the 1st century after Christ, recommends a dark background that will absorb heat to make the rooms warmer in cold weather. The black color (atramentum), made from a mixture of charcoal and glue, was resistant to smoke from the fire and soot from the lamps. On the dark background delicate landscapes are painted in light colors: cityscapes with buildings, arches, and gateways, and rural scenes showing huts, animals, and rustic shrines. The lavish decoration is broken up by slender columns festooned with ivy. The capitals are crowned by graceful female figures (caryatids). A frieze at eye level has scenes in which the same figures keep reappearing: popular tales depicted in a lively fashion. The scenes of the frieze start with the rear of the right wall. Also on this wall, near the doorway. can be seen a restoration made in antiquity to close off another entrance. We can identify a part of the polychrome mosaic pavement of this room. with meanders and stacked cubes rendered in perspective. The modem arrangement does not reproduce the or final. but is intended to suggest the effect of the pavement in the room.