Fig. 114.—Early Pompeian house, restored.

Later, under Greek influence, a court with a colonnade and surrounding rooms was added. This was called peristylium, 'peristyle'; it is simply the more elaborate inner part of the Greek house, andronitis, joined to the dwelling of Italic origin. We find the union of atrium and peristyle with their respective groups of apartments fully accomplished in the second century B.C., the Tufa Period; the type of dwelling thus developed remained in vogue during Roman times and is often called the Roman house.

The double origin is clearly indicated by the names of the rooms. Those of the front part are designated by Latin words,—atrium, fauces, ala, tablinum; but the apartments at the rear bear Greek names,—peristylium, triclinium, oecus, exedra. In large houses both atrium and peristyle were sometimes duplicated.

The houses of Pompeii impress the visitor as having been designed primarily for summer use. The arrangements contemplate the spending of much time in the open air, and pains was taken to furnish protection from the heat, not from the cold. The greater part of the area is taken up by colonnades, gardens, and courts; from this point of view the atrium may be classed as a court. The living rooms had high ceilings. In summer they were cool and airy, in winter difficult to heat; they were dark and close when the door was shut, cold when it was open.

Fig. 115.—Plan of a Pompeian house.
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With a single exception the arrangements for heating so often met with in the remains of houses discovered in northern countries are found at Pompeii only in connection with bath-rooms; the cold was ineffectively combated by means of braziers. We are led to believe that the Pompeians were extremely sensitive to heat, but endured cold with great patience. One who makes himself familiar with the arrangements of Italian houses to-day will receive a similar impression, although the peculiarity is perhaps less obvious than in the case of the ancient dwellings.