Seating Arrangements at the Last Supper

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And he (Jesus) sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, ‘Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us” (Mark 14:13-15, ESV).

The most famous portrayal of the Last Supper is Leonardo da Vinci’s mural in the refectory of a convent in Milan and aptly named “The Last Supper.” This painting depicts the dominant cultural viewpoint of what the Last Supper looked like.

The seating arrangements were a line behind a long table with Jesus in the middle.

But was this the actual seating arrangement of the Last Supper? Let’s consider a few biblical descriptions…

• Passover at a house (Matthew 26:18).
• Jesus and the disciples reclined (Matthew 26:20).
• Disciples were dipping bread into bowls of food (Matthew 26:23).
• Occurred in a large upper room (Mark 14:15).
• The upper room was probably furnished with furniture (Mark 14:15).
• The room was also used as a guest room (Luke 22:11).
• The house containing the Upper Room has a master or servant in charge of the room (Luke 22:11).
• Jesus seemed able to walk around the room, with easy access to the disciples’ feet for footwashing (John 13:3-11).

There are two historical viewpoints of the seating arrangements of the Last Supper:

First:  A humbler location in which mats were laid upon the floor, and two to three people would sit on the mats in the middle of the floor with food in dishes for dipping with bread. 

Second:  The room was patterned after a Roman feasting hall called a Triclinium, or a dining table with three sides, the middle open for servants to serve food.

Considering the cited references, I side with those who think the Upper Room (obviously owned by a wealthy Jewish family) would have looked like a Triclinium. An early legend of the church portrays that the Upper Room was in a house owned by John Mark’s family (Mark of the Gospel of Mark fame) and that the family was wealthy.

Sorry, Leonardo. While your painting has stood the test of time as a masterpiece, the seating arrangements aren’t historical. 

Trying to improve the situation, I’ve instructed “Alice,” my AI assistant, to come up with a Last Supper painting in a Roman Triclinium setting. I believe her artwork allows us to reimagine the Last Supper in this setting.

But I’ve also noted several historical inconsistencies in her graphics. What are they?