Lesche
Lesche () is an Ionic Greek word, signifying council or conversation, and a place for council or conversation. There is frequent mention of places of public resort, in the Greek cities, by the name of leschai (, the Greek plural of lesche), some set apart for the purpose, and others so called because they were so used by loungers; to the latter class belong the agora and its porticoes, the gymnasia, and the shops of various tradesmen, especially those of the smiths, which were frequented in winter on account of their warmth, and in which, for the same reason, the poor sought shelter for the night. In these passages, however, in which are the earliest examples of the use of the word, it seems to refer to places distinct from the smiths' workshops, though resorted to in the same manner; and we may gather from the grammarians, that there were in the Greek cities numerous small buildings or porticoes, furnished with seats, and exposed to the sun, to which the idle resorted to enjoy conversation, and the poor to obtain warmth and shelter, and which were called leschai: at Athens alone there were 360 such. The Suda, referring to a