EXEDRA

( ἐξέδρα ), which properly signifies a seat out of doors, came to be used for a chamber furnished with seats, and opening into a portico, where people met to enjoy conversation; such as the rooms attached to a gymnasium, which were used for the lectures and disputations of the rhetoricians and philosophers. In old Greek the word λέσχη appears to have had a similar meaning; but the ordinary use of the word is for a larger and more public place of resort than the ἐξέδρα . [ Lesche . ] Among the Romans the word had a wider meaning, answering to both the Greek terms, ἐξέδρα and λέσχη .