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In a domus, a large house in ancient Roman architecture, the atrium was the open central court with enclosed rooms on all sides. In the middle of the atrium was the impluvium, a shallow pool sunken into the floor to catch rainwater from the roof. Some surviving examples are beautifully decorated.
A late 19th-century artist's reimagining of an atrium in a Pompeian domus The domus included multiple rooms, indoor courtyards, gardens and beautifully painted walls that were elaborately laid out. The vestibulum ('entrance hall') led into a large central hall: the atrium , which was the focal point of the domus and contained a statue of or an ...
The atrium testudinatum was employed when the atrium was small and another floor was built over it. [14] The name comes from the Latin word testudo, which means a turtle or tortoise, and by transference a covered vault. The Encyclopædia Britannica said that no example of this type had been found at Pompeii, as of 1911.
A domus, with impluvium numbered 7. The impluvium (pl.: impluvia) is a water-catchment pool system meant to capture rain-water flowing from the compluvium, an area of roof. [1] [2] Often placed in a courtyard, under an opening in the roof, and thus "inside", instead of "outside", a building, it is a notable feature in many architectural traditions.
Diagram of a typical Roman domus.. Fauces is an architectural term given by Vitruvius (Arch. 3.6.3) to narrow passages on either side of the tablinum, through which access could be obtained from the atrium to the peristylar court in the rear. [1]
By the first century BC, the "classic" villa took many architectural forms, with many examples employing an atrium or peristyle for interior spaces open to light and air. Villas were often furnished with heated bath suites ( thermae ) and many would have had under-floor heating known as the hypocaust .
The atrium was the focal point of art in the House of the Tragic Poet. Except for the House of the Vettii, it contained more large-scale, mythological frescoes than any other home in Pompeii. Each image was approximately four feet square, making figures slightly smaller than life-size.
About 100 years later the domus was modernised; tuff capitals were used for the entrance door and the tablinum. In the Augustan period the domus was substantially modified; a peristyle was built using the space from the demolition of the adjacent residential buildings. In the space to the west, elaborately decorated thermal baths were created ...