How did the vomitory get its name?

Answer 1

The term vomitorium appeared late in Roman history, at the end of the fourth century A.D. Macrobius used it in reference the passages situated below or behind a tier of seats in an amphitheatre through which big crowds could exit rapidly at the end of the games. He said that they "disgorged" patrons to their seats. Although the Latin verb means to vomit, throw up, it can also mean 'to belch; to eject from any hollow place; to emit; to spew out.' Therefore, these passages could disgorge, spew out, large crowds.

The vomitoria (plural of vomitotium) at the Colosseum in Rome were so efficiently designed, with 76 of them at ground level, that the 50,000 spectators could be filled into or emptied from the venue in just 15 minutes.

Lewis Mumford in his 1961 "The City in History" spread the misconception that the term first referred to a room adjacent to the dining room where gluttonous eaters could "throw up the contents of their stomach in order to return to their couches [and continue to eat]." He claimed that the word come to be associated with amphitheatre exists only later. This is wrong. Although rich Romans held lavish dinner parties and the guests ate while reclining, there was no purging. Eating while reclining was thought to be good for the digestion. This misconception was tied to the wider misconstrued image of decadence, debauchery and excess of the Romans which was popular at the time.