16 THE ATRIUM VEST. 
than one-half to two-thirds of a meter above that of the older building, the 
walls of which have been left standing to that height.’ The center of the 
court must have been somewhat higher, since almost a meter above the 
earlier level a small piece of the natural rock, the cappellaccio of the neigh- 
boring Palatine, has been left undisturbed.” 
Of the outer walls of the Atrium proper that on the north, which divided 
the shops® from the residence rooms, is still standing to a considerable height, 
except at the east end, where its presence is clearly indicated, however, by 
the remains of the division-walls between the shops. The front wall of the 
shops, as well as the corresponding wall on the opposite side of the street, 
has been torn down.’ The wall dividing the Atrium from the temple area 
also is in part traceable, though its course towards the west has been rendered 
uncertain by later reconstructions.® It may possibly have followed the line 
of the later outer wall,’ though no traces of it remain. Since, however, that 
portion which can still be identified is in line with the later column wall, 
it is more probable that the direction of its course did not in general differ 
from that of the latter. On the south a portion of the outer wall behind 
the rooms which remain is still standing several meters above the ground. 
Beyond the Tablinum® towards the west, however, it has been wholly re- 
built, though its earlier course is clear. The position of the wall bounding 
the Atrium on the east is, as has been said, not definitely fixed. On the west, 
between the precincts of Vesta and Juturna, the arches of the republican 
period® which support the ramp to the Palatine are in part still to be traced. 
The wall in their rear, which runs parallel to them, can not, therefore, at 
any time have varied much in position. The foundations of the earlier wall, 
moreover, are in certain places still visible beneath the restorations of the 
later periods. The walls’ of the room between the court and the garden on 
the east have been almost wholly destroyed. Their general position is, how- 
ever, certain. 
Plan and Arrangement of the Interior: The building as a whole is, so 
far as can be at present determined, composed of two architectural units, 
one of which is represented by the group of rooms on the north of the central 
court™ and the other by that on the south of it.” ‘These two groups probably 
were not distinct, when built, but were structurally united by the rooms 
1 No traces of the pavement of this period remain. 7 See plan B. 
2 The Jucus Vesta covered originally the site of the ° Plan A, 13. 
Atrium court. It is possible that a small ° For description of these arches, see Boni, Not. d. 
portion of this grove, including the /otus Scavi, 1901, 62ff. 
capillata, was left in the center of the court. Plate 1v, fig.1. (From a photograph taken ur- 
3 Plan A, m-m. ing the course of the excavations in 1903, 
4 Plan A, 1-9. by the courtesy of Director Boni.) The 
5 The foundations of the front wall of the shops walls are seen at the level of the foundations 
remain throughout their whole length. at the right side of the figure. Concerning 
Concerning the massive concrete founda- the period of this room, see p. 18, n. 8. 
tions of these two walls, see p. 18, n. Io. Plan A, 1-9. 
Plan E, 56a-56c. 12Plan A, 10-15. 
