Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In Roman antiquity, a recess or an apartment in a house in which the family archives, recorded upon tablets, were kept and the hereditary statues placed. It was situated at the further end of the atrium, opposite the door leading into the hall or vestibule.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • At the end of the atrium is what would be called a tablinum in the house of a man of family, through which we enter the bake-house, which is at the back of the house, and opens into the smaller street, which, diverging from the main street at the fountain by Pansa's house, runs up straight to the city walls.

    Museum of Antiquity A Description of Ancient Life

  • On the right-hand wall of the tablinum is a picture of

    Museum of Antiquity A Description of Ancient Life

  • To the right of the tablinum is the fauces, and on each side of the atrium the alæ are seen, partly shut off, like the tablinum, by handsome draperies.

    Museum of Antiquity A Description of Ancient Life

  • There was a long silence, during which I strained my ears for the sound of raised voices in the tablinum, but the only noise was of dishes being cleared from the dining room.

    CONSPIRATA ROBERT HARRIS 2010

  • The guests filed out, the women turning toward the tablinum, the men moving into the study.

    CONSPIRATA ROBERT HARRIS 2010

  • Then he bathed, dressed in clean clothes, and fussed about the arrangement of the chairs in the tablinum.

    CONSPIRATA ROBERT HARRIS 2010

  • I was sent along with Flaccus to make an inventory of this arsenal, which we discovered in the tablinum stacked in boxes from floor to ceiling.

    CONSPIRATA ROBERT HARRIS 2010

  • He stepped over the discarded drafts of his speech and made his way into the tablinum.

    CONSPIRATA ROBERT HARRIS 2010

  • I escaped by pretending I had to check everything was ready in the tablinum, and from there I slipped into my little cubicle and rinsed my neck and face with tepid water from my basin.

    Imperium Robert Harris 2006

  • So many people had turned out it was hard for him to struggle through the tablinum to the atrium, where Quintus, Frugi, and Atticus were surrounded by a very decent showing of senators.

    Imperium Robert Harris 2006

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