Accubation was introduced in Rome after the first Punic War (264-241 BC). In Greece accubation was unknown at the time of the Homeric poems (cf. Od. i. 145 ἑξείης ἕζοντο κατὰ κλισμούς τε θρόνους τε, XV. 134 ἑζέσθην δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἔπειτα κατὰ κλισμούς τε θρόνους τε), but afterwards the Greeks and Romans adopted this Oriental fashion and lay very nearly flat on their breasts while taking their meals, or in a semi-sitting posture supported on the left elbow.

The rather philistine assertion of Eurocentrism and Westernness on the part of conservative educators […]

So adept did I become, in fact, that I could shower, shave and wash out socks and shreddies on as little as three penn’orth remaining on the meter (which had not yet been decimalized).

We had to be careful during our dangerous wade across the river.