Full text: Vitruvius: The civil architecture of Vitruvius

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Some authors have contended that the atrium formed part 
of the house; and that the vestibulum was the court which 
presented itself on entering from the street: others, on the 
contrary, make the atrium the great court itself, and the 
vestibulum the portico immediately in front of the entrance 
into the court. Although Vitruvius speaks of the vestibulum 
in general terms, he gives no account of its situation in the 
houses of the Romans. He mentions the vestibulum amongst 
those parts of a Greek house which constitute the andronitis; 
where it seems to mean that part corresponding to the 
pastas of the gynaeconitis. The word atrium, in its general 
signification, seems to mean any area comprehended between 
four walls; and would therefore be equally applicable to 
the great court of the house, or to any apartment of 
considerable dimensions, under cover. In this latter sense 
it is frequently used by the Latin poets. The author of the 
Lexicon Antiquitatum Romanarum has discussed the subject 
at some length, and is of opinion that the atrium, properly 
so called, was a great court, surrounded by porticoes, 
corresponding to the aula of a Greek house. There cannot 
be any doubt but that such was the atrium of Vitruvius; 
because the dimensions which he assigns to some are too 
considerable for any apartment in the habitation of an 
individual. 
The proportions of the atrium were determined in three 
several ways. In some the width was made three fifths of 
the length: in others it was two thirds: in others the length 
was made the diagonal of a square, each of whose sides was 
equal to the width. The least width, therefore, which an
	        
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