How Did Tables Evolve as Furniture

Tables are important items of furniture for most modern homes and offices. However, outside of their basic utilitarian function, they have evolved into important items for social display and meaning. Concepts of power, status, and social interaction have revolved around the physical presence and concept of the table, where the design and purpose of the table has extended to many different meanings.

Early History

In earliest written societies, Egypt and Mesopotamia in the 3rd millennium BCE, tables were utilized mostly to keep things from the floor or lift items off the floor. Stands, on the other hand, held food and drinks for people. Tables were created from stone, wood, or sometimes ceramic, although usually these were smaller tables such as end tables. Tables were used for activities such as making crafts. However, tables were not seen as a primary item for furniture in the home, temples, or palaces. This began to shift by the 2nd and 1st millennium BCE, when tables began to appear more on palace reliefs. By then, the table began to replace stands as something that could hold items while one was seated. Tables also were now made of metal as well as more perishable materials.

In the 1st millennium BCE, the Greeks and later Romans also began to utilize tables as more prominent pieces of furniture for the home. Many scenes indicate dining and feasting occurring around tables rather indicating that tables a more prominent aspect of daily furniture. The guéridon, a small rounded table we still use, became popular as a typical piece of furniture for homes. Romans also made more elaborate and decorated tables that were larger, where they now became more associated with wealth display in feasts and as prominent furniture in rich estates. Tables began to be associated with banqueting and elaborate feasts.

Later Development

In the early Medieval period, tables once again lost some of their prominence. Household furniture often did not emphasize large tables and multiple types of furniture, such as chests, would be substituted for tables as they were required. However, wealthy classes or individuals began creating long tables that they could put all or many guests on. Tables began to represent a type of social bonding that guests would come together around physically but also socially. Thus, long tables in prominent halls became symbolic as wealth and social status, where one can dine many guests at once as a way of showing social status and power.