La trapeza nei monasteri del Vicino Oriente in epoca protobizantina

Monastic archaeology has traditionally concentrated its efforts on the religious spaces of monastic compounds. This attitude has changed over the past few decades and archaeological research is now paying more attention to the domestic, residential and productive components of monasteries. Among these components, there is the refectory, a space whose role - both domestic and religious - is particularly relevant to the monks. Identifying this room can be difficult for several reasons, but its position in relation to the kitchen areas and the church is sometimes a clue. In the Early Byzantine Near East, refectories are mainly rectangular rooms; nevertheless, different types of dining halls can be discerned based on their internal spatial division. Conservation issues often affect furniture and decorative elements, but some discoveries enable to reconstruct their internal arrangement.