THE IMPERIAL ATRIUM OF THE FOURTH PERIOD. 41 
one, by which the level of the room was raised above that of the corridor. 
In the wall in the rear of the two smaller rooms arched openings were 
left below the level of the pavement, through which the furnaces placed 
beneath the upper floor of the hypocausts were fed. In the rear of the 
larger room toward the west,” and adjoining one of these openings, are the 
partly destroyed remains of one of these rude furnaces. Traces of others 
are found in various parts of the Atrium. Hypocausts were at this time 
inserted also into the older rooms on. the south, with the exception of two 
which retained the level of the outer corridor on which they opened directly. 
In connection with these changes the doors between the smaller rooms‘ 
belonging to the last period were closed, and those by which they were 
connected with the corridor were reduced in width. The older rooms*® on 
either side of this group, the ale of the earlier house, were at least partially 
cut off from the court, upon which they opened through wide arches. In 
one of them® a wall 45 centimeters thick was built, in which is seen a hypo- 
caust opening similar to those in the newer rooms toward the east. The 
shrines of the household gods,’ which by the insertion of the wall had been 
made inaccessible except through a narrow passage-way, were abandoned 
and the statues of the gods were removed, probably to the court® at the north- 
east corner of the Atrium, in the back wall of which niches were at this time 
built. In the passage-way just mentioned was discovered in 1899 a hoard 
of coins of the late empire.® In the large room on the west of the court” 
hypocausts were inserted or the earlier ones entirely rebuilt, since the tegule 
bipedales, of which the floors of the hypocausts are made, are almost wholly 
of this period. In several of the rooms there are scanty remains of frescos, 
which may possibly belong to this period. It is more probable, however, 
that they belong to the final restoration of the building in the time of Sep- 
timius Severus." Marble also was used extensively in many parts of the 
building. 
The Upper Stories: Of the upper stories of the Atrium, as a whole, but 
a few rooms remain, which are situated at the southeast corner of the build- 
ing. These rooms belong entirely to the period under discussion. The 
further extent of the rooms of the period can not be determined, though it 
is certain that there was a group on the north corresponding to that on the 
south. Of the stairways™ leading to the group on the north only the sup- 
porting walls are left. The stairway“ on the south divides at a short distance 
1 Plan D, 33-34. ® For further description of these coins, see Not. 
e Pian D, 35. d. Scavi, 1899, 327f. 
3 Plan D, 36 (front part of room) and 43. Plan D, 51. 
“Plan D, 38-40. Too little remains to make any decision concern- 
5 Plan D, 37 and 42. ing them possible. 
ei Pian.D) 42. 12Plan F a; see plate vin, fig. 2 and plate 1x, fig. 1. 
* See p. 33. Plan D, adjoining 9 and 13. 
8 The number of niches in both rooms is the same. Plan D, 35-37. 
