# were all the apostles really sitting on the same side of the table at the lastsupper
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-apostles-really-sitting-on-the-same-side-of-the-table-at-the-lastsupper/243533
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 4, 2004, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-apostles-really-sitting-on-the-same-side-of-the-table-at-the-lastsupper/243533 "2004-05-04T21:40:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@chefIL11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chefIL11)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2004, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-apostles-really-sitting-on-the-same-side-of-the-table-at-the-lastsupper/243533/1 "2004-05-04T21:40:43Z")
was there even a table?
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### Author:  [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2004, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-apostles-really-sitting-on-the-same-side-of-the-table-at-the-lastsupper/243533/2 "2004-05-04T21:56:57Z")
Was there even apostoles?
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### Author:  [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2004, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-apostles-really-sitting-on-the-same-side-of-the-table-at-the-lastsupper/243533/3 "2004-05-04T22:06:03Z")
If the table was a Mobius Strip, then the answer was **ABSOLUTELY**.
If the table was round you also might be able to advance the argument that they all set on the same side, in that round tables don’t have sides in the same manner that the more squarish ones do.
Or, if they ate in the garden (right out the door, you know, where the bust came down that night) al fesco then there would have been no sides. But the painting would probably have shown the paper plates so that probably isn’t it.
Or more likely, as is the norm now when the cameras come out at Thanksgiving, etc, everybody just got on the same side until the painting was done then went back to eating.
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### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2004, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-apostles-really-sitting-on-the-same-side-of-the-table-at-the-lastsupper/243533/4 "2004-05-04T22:14:48Z")
There wouldn’t have been room except Jesus insisted that he be the only one to do the big arms thing.
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### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2004, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-apostles-really-sitting-on-the-same-side-of-the-table-at-the-lastsupper/243533/5 "2004-05-04T22:33:20Z")
They had just posed for the camera shot.
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### Author:  [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2004, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-apostles-really-sitting-on-the-same-side-of-the-table-at-the-lastsupper/243533/6 "2004-05-04T23:07:20Z")
Da Vinci’s well-known painting is akin to TV shows that place everyone on the same side of the table so that the camera can show all their faces. Artistic license often ignores reality.
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### Author:  [@Iacob\_Matthew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iacob_Matthew)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2004, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-apostles-really-sitting-on-the-same-side-of-the-table-at-the-lastsupper/243533/7 "2004-05-04T23:51:47Z")
There were actually 20-something apostles, you can only make out the ones on Jesus’s side. He also had parts of his harem sitting at the ends of the table and directly across from him.
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### Author:  [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2004, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-apostles-really-sitting-on-the-same-side-of-the-table-at-the-lastsupper/243533/8 "2004-05-05T00:36:59Z")
Is this really a General Question? Sounds to me more like a Cafe Society/MPSIMS “didja ever notice” kind of observation.
It’s not like we have a photograph.
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### Author:  [@chefIL11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chefIL11)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2004, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-apostles-really-sitting-on-the-same-side-of-the-table-at-the-lastsupper/243533/9 "2004-05-05T06:17:31Z")
yes its absolutely a factual question… i was wondering in regards to how it may have been discussed in the bible. Possible answers would have come from: What was the proper ettiquette at the time for eating? Did families and friends etc sit on one side of the table for whatever reasons?
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### Author:  [@citrus\_x\_paradisi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/citrus_x_paradisi)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2004, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-apostles-really-sitting-on-the-same-side-of-the-table-at-the-lastsupper/243533/10 "2004-05-05T06:34:28Z")
No, and the dinner was at night, and they probably didn’t sit like that-- they probably ate reclining.
Thanks. 🙂
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### Author:  [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2004, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-apostles-really-sitting-on-the-same-side-of-the-table-at-the-lastsupper/243533/11 "2004-05-05T07:33:21Z")
The plates - in da Vinci’s painting - are all on one side. [btw: did you see that jesus has \*two \* plates? Hungry bloke, was he?] You think everyone hurried to one side of the table _and took their plates_? And what about those bread, or potato thingies; You think they moved that too?
Nah, I think they all sat on one side. Maybe they watched a floor show on the other side?
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2004, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-apostles-really-sitting-on-the-same-side-of-the-table-at-the-lastsupper/243533/12 "2004-05-05T10:29:56Z")
Maybe the caterer thought he was setting up for a wedding reception.
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### Author:  [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2004, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-apostles-really-sitting-on-the-same-side-of-the-table-at-the-lastsupper/243533/13 "2004-05-05T11:42:58Z")
For a somewhat serious answer: I’ve always heard that people in Jesus’ culture ate while reclining on the floor. Maybe “reclining” isn’t the right word. More like lying on your side with your head resting on your fist & your elbow on the floor. Something to do with the seating arrangement involved having feet relatively near your face, which is why the New Testament made such a big deal about foot washing. The table itself would have been very low to the floor- maybe only a couple of inches high.
So IOW that painting is based on the way Italians of DaVinci’s day ate, _not_ on how Palestinian Jews of Jesus’ day ate.
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### Author:  [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2004, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-apostles-really-sitting-on-the-same-side-of-the-table-at-the-lastsupper/243533/14 "2004-05-05T12:23:08Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#):
>
> The table itself would have been very low to the floor- maybe only a couple of inches high.
But according to Mel Gibson, Master Historian, the tall table was invented by evryone’s favorite carpenter, Jesus himself! Not only did Jesus invent the tall table, he also invented the chair!
Thank you, Mel, for doing your part to fight ignorance!
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### Author:  [@galen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2004, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-apostles-really-sitting-on-the-same-side-of-the-table-at-the-lastsupper/243533/15 "2004-05-05T13:31:15Z")
But who invented Jesus?
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### Author:  [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2004, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-apostles-really-sitting-on-the-same-side-of-the-table-at-the-lastsupper/243533/16 "2004-05-05T13:40:41Z")
I can assure you that they ate on the same side.
They ate on the top side of the table.
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### Author:  [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2004, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-apostles-really-sitting-on-the-same-side-of-the-table-at-the-lastsupper/243533/17 "2004-05-05T14:01:18Z")
> [@galen](#):
>
> But who invented Jesus?
G.A. Wells
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### Author:  [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2004, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-apostles-really-sitting-on-the-same-side-of-the-table-at-the-lastsupper/243533/18 "2004-05-05T14:15:40Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#):
>
> So IOW that painting is based on the way Italians of DaVinci’s day ate, _not_ on how Palestinian Jews of Jesus’ day ate.
They were Judeans in that era – the term “Palestine” came about a century later.
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### Author:  [@Gotterfunken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotterfunken)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2004, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-apostles-really-sitting-on-the-same-side-of-the-table-at-the-lastsupper/243533/19 "2004-05-05T14:24:51Z")
You have to keep in mind that many of the Last Supper images from the Renaissance–including Leonardo’s fresco at Santa Maria della Grazie–were painted for refectory walls. The refectory is the room in a monastery where the monks have dinner, at tables facing across from one another.
Since Renaissance perspective would give the illusion that the wall space wasn’t really there–in other words, that the scene in the painting seemed to be a continuation of the real space of the refectory–it was as though Jesus and his boys were having lunch with the monks, forming another table to complement the rows of real dining tables.
So Renaissance artists were following certain conventions in placing all of the apostles on one side of the table–those conventions have nothing to do with the situation of the historical Last Supper, which was probably consumed Roman-style (as **HeyHomie** points out), reclining at a triclinium. In fact, there are some Early Christian artworks that do depict Christ and the apostles reclining at the Last Supper.
Their feet would _not_ have been in each other’s faces. The Roman style of dining is illustrated here: [http://acad.depauw.edu/romarch/hgender.html](http://acad.depauw.edu/romarch/hgender.html)
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### Author:  [@FriendRob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriendRob)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2004, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-apostles-really-sitting-on-the-same-side-of-the-table-at-the-lastsupper/243533/20 "2004-05-05T19:18:12Z")
There are few details in the Gospel accounts and those few are contradictory and historically inaccurate.
For instance, in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus tells the disciples that the bread and wine are his body and blood. In John, he says no such thing.
In Jewish custom everyone would have had their own cup to drink out of, but in the Gospel accounts they all share the same cup, in Greek style.
The Last Supper never happened. The gospel writers made it up according to their own meal practices. Just like Leonardo did in his painting.
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