On Architecture

Vitruvius Pollio

Vitruvius Pollio, creator; Morgan, M. H. (Morris Hicky), 1859-1910, translator

1. THE Greeks, having no use for atriums, do not build them, but make passage-ways for people entering from the front door,

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not very wide, with stables on one side and doorkeepers' rooms on the other, and shut off by doors at the inner end. This place between the two doors is termed in Greek qurwrei=on. From it one enters the peristyle. This peristyle has colonnades on three sides, and on the side facing the south it has two antae, a considerable distance apart, carrying an architrave, with a recess for a distance one third less than the space between the antae. This space is called by some writers “prostas,” by others “pastas.”

2. Hereabouts, towards the inner side, are the large rooms in which mistresses of houses sit with their wool spinners. To the right and left of the prostas there are chambers, one of which is called the “thalamos,” the other the “amphithalamos.” All round the colonnades are dining rooms for everyday use, chambers, and rooms for the slaves. This part of the house is termed “gynaeconitis.”