38 THE ATRIUM VESTZ. 
sides of this basin were five niches for statues,! above which ran the stairs 
to the mezzanino.” In the north court also there are remains of a similar, 
though smaller, cellar, which was entered from the garden outside by a 
door cut in the earlier wall. In front of the cellar there was at a later time 
a small corridor, the level of which was the same as that of the later court, 
upon which it opened. From this corridor the furnace of the hypocaust 
underneath the rooms was fed. Inthe back wall of this court were built three 
niches for statues. At a later time others were added on the south side 
between the windows of the rooms. 
T he Mezzanino: A half story above the south court were three low rooms,* 
which were reached by a stairway built above the basin at the rear of the 
court. Adjoining these rooms towards the west was a low, windowless 
passage* 2.38 to 2.52 meters wide, upon the walls of which rest those of the 
upper story. At the eastern end of the passage a room® 2.82 meters long and 
3.10 meters high has been at some time cut off from it. Beyond this room the 
passage-way was at a very late period’ partially closed, leaving a furnace-like 
opening not more than 1.10 meters wide, inside of which the fire was made 
for the heating of the caldarium and the rooms connected with it in the story 
above. 
Purpose of the Rooms: In the rooms on the north but little remains by 
which their purpose can be determined. From their position and arrange- 
ment, however, it is probable that they were connected more immediately 
with the private life of the Vestals, and may very well have been used as 
triclinia or private reception rooms. It is possible also that the rooms for 
the entertainment of the guests who sought the protection of the Vestals’ 
may have been in this part of the house. 
In one of the rooms on the south® several structures were discovered in 
the earlier excavations,® which have been generally recognized as the foun- 
dations of ancient stoves. In the room” adjoining this on the west there 
were found also the remains of an ancient mill, and in the court on the other 
side" the vaulted cellar and the basin for water which have been described 
above. In the vaulted cellar were found at the same time many broken 
pottery vessels and three large dolia sunk in the earthen floor.” Earlier 
writers,” failing to recognize any difference in the periods of the objects 
1 See plate vur, fig. 2. 
2 Plan D, 24-30. 
’Plan D, 24-26. These rooms are 5.30 meters 
long and 4.77, 2.97, and 2.66 meters wide. 
4 Plan D, 27-30. 
S'Plan D527. 
6 The conversion of the passage-way into a furnace 
took place when the bath-rooms were added 
in the upper story. The construction is of 
a late type, as is that of the bath-rooms 
themselves. 
7 The Atrium as well as the temple possessed the 
rights of sanctuary. 
8 Plan D, 32. 
® Several of the structures now seen have been 
excavated recently. 
0Plan D, 33. 
Plan D, 23. 
12For a picture of the dolia at the time of their 
discovery, see Jordan, /.c., plate x11. 
18Jordan, Der Tempel der Vesta, 64ff. Lanciani, 
R. and Excav., 232. 
