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Some authors have contended that the atrium formed partof the house; and that the vestibulum was the court whichpresented itself on entering from the street: others, on thecontrary, make the atrium the great court itself, and thevestibulum the portico immediately in front of the entranceinto the court. Although Vitruvius speaks of the vestibulumin general terms, he gives no account of its situation in thehouses of the Romans. He mentions the vestibulum amongstthose parts of a Greek house which constitute the andronitis;where it seems to mean that part corresponding to thepastas of the gynaeconitis. The word atrium, in its generalsignification, seems to mean any area comprehended betweenfour walls; and would therefore be equally applicable tothe great court of the house, or to any apartment ofconsiderable dimensions, under cover. In this latter senseit is frequently used by the Latin poets. The author of theLexicon Antiquitatum Romanarnm has discussed the subjectat some length, and is of opinion that the atrium, properlyso called, was a great court, surrounded by porticoes,corresponding to the aula of a Greek house. There cannotbe any doubt but that such was the atrium of Vitruvius;because the dimensions which he assigns to some are tooconsiderable for any apartment in the habitation of anindividual.

The proportions of the atrium were determined in threeseveral ways. In some the width was made three fifths ofthe length: in others it was two thirds: in others the lengthwas made the diagonal of a square, each of whose sides wasequal to the width. The least width, therefore, which an