18 THE ATRIUM VEST. 
the east' was 7.43 meters wide, while the corresponding room,’ though, in 
all probability, of the same width originally, was at a later time 15 cen- 
timeters narrower. ‘The latter room, which at least later contained the shrine 
of the household gods,’? may be held to be the /ararium of the house. It is 
probable, therefore, that the two rooms were throughout the early periods 
of the Atrium’s history regarded as the ale. Their position is, however, 
unusual. Beyond the ala on the east is a smaller room,’ which is entered 
from the court by a door 2.50 meters wide. On either side of this room 
there were doors 3 meters wide and 3.70 meters high. Still further to the 
east was another room® 5.10 meters long, which was entered from a narrow 
corridor or directly from the garden. Whether there were other rooms 
beyond this, opening upon the garden, it is not possible to determine. At 
the east end of the court, extending into the garden, was a single room,’ 
which resembles in its position the tablinum of the Graeco-Roman house. 
It is possible that this room® was open towards both the atrium and the 
garden, though no proof exists, since the walls have been in large part 
destroyed. The garden, which was a part of the earlier /ucus Vesta, occupied 
the remaining part of the Atrium on the east. Concerning the rooms on the 
west no data are now obtainable. The existence of a wall on the west of the 
court may, however, be assumed as certain. The position suggested in 
the plan is that of the later wall, which is the same distance, within a few 
centimeters, from the tablinum as the corresponding wall on the east of 
the court. Next to the temple there were doubtless, as later, rooms for the 
use of the cult. 
With the exception of the tablinum and ale on the south, the purpose of 
the various rooms is not clear. The rooms adjoining the entrance on the 
north were, probably, more public in their character. It is probable that 
the kitchen and the rooms connected with it were in the more remote part 
of the house east of the tablinum. ‘The sleeping rooms were doubtless, as 
later, in the upper story, if there was one. 
The small rooms, or shops, on the north,® which are a part structurally 
of the building, are eleven at least in number, exclusive of the one’? which 
was used as an entrance vestibule to the Atrium. They are 4.50 meters 
long and correspond in width to the adjoining rooms in the Atrium. The 
front wall of these shops, as well as the corresponding wall on the opposite 
side of the street, has been, as stated above, destroyed to its foundations.” 
Of the travertine posts in front of the shops portions of but two remain. 
1 Plan A, 12. 
2 Plan A, 14. 
3 See plan D, 42, and p. 33. 
4 There are no clearly defined ale elsewhere. The 
rooms suggested must, therefore, be ac- 
cepted as such. 
’Plan A, 1. This room is 5.50 meters wide. 
6 Plan A, 10. 
7 Plan A, pv. 
8 It is possible that this room and the walls adjoin- 
ing it on either side are to be assigned to 
the next period. Cf. p.17,n. 3. 
®Plan A, m-m. 
10Plan A, room adjoining 3. 
1A full discussion of these concrete foundations, 
which rise in certain parts more than a 
meter above the republican level, will be 
presented by the writer at a later time. 
