Atrium

The entrance court or hall of a Roman house with a central roof opening (compluvium) and a pool or basin (impluvium draining into a cistern) in which to collect rainwater. The term is perhaps derived from Atria, an Etruscan city of Tuscany, in which such structures were first built. The different apartments or rooms of the house surrounded this central courtyard. The atrium was a most important and interesting part of a Roman mansion. Greek influence is also visible in the use of tetrastyle (four columns to support the roof), and peristyle in some examples. The walls of the atrium would be decorated, sometimes with painted panels or family portraits, and a shrine to the Lares and Penates (household gods, also probably of Etruscan derivation) is sometimes found. Above the atrium were typically grouped the cubicula (bedrooms) and beyond lay the tablinum (family room and study), triclinium (dining room), and hortus (garden). There are many examples of atriums at Pompeii. An atriolum is a small atrium.

Latin term for the entrance-hall of a Roman house, as seen, for instance, in the many examples at Pompeii. Early versions may have been roofed over, but the pattern soon established was of compluvium (a rectangular opening in the roof) over a central impluvium (shallow pool in the floor, drained to a cistern). Vitruvius draws a parallel with Etruscan house layout (atrium tuscanicum), and an Etruscan indebtedness is not implausible. The inward-sloping roof arrangement around the compluvium is echoed in some Etruscan house-shaped urns, and Varrò derives the word atrium from Etruscan Atria (see Adria) on the grounds of architectural parallels. Greek influence is also visible in the use of tetrastyle (four columns to support the roof), and peristyle in some examples. The walls of the atrium would be decorated, sometimes with painted panels or family portraits, and a shrine to the Lares and Penates (household gods, also probably of Etruscan derivation) is sometimes found in the general area. Above the atrium were typically grouped the cubicula (bedrooms) and beyond lay the tablinum (family room and study), triclinium (dining room) and hortus (garden).