from the Atrium to the interior of the house were called FAUCES. The
PERISTYLIUM, towards which these passages ran, was an open court
surrounded by columns, decorated with flowers and shrubs. It was
somewhat larger than the Atrium.

The floors were covered with stone, marble, or mosaics. The walls were
lined with marble slabs, or frescoed, while the ceilings were either
bare, exposing the beams, or, in the finer houses, covered with ivory,
gold, and frescoing.

The main rooms were lighted from above; the side rooms received their
light from these, and not through windows looking into the street. The
windows of rooms in upper stories were not supplied with glass until
the time of the Empire. They were merely openings in the wall, covered
with lattice-work. To heat a room, portable stoves were generally
used, in which charcoal was burned. There were no chimneys, and the
smoke passed out through the windows or the openings in the roofs.

The rooms of the wealthy were furnished with great splendor. The walls
were frescoed with scenes from Greek mythology, landscapes, etc. In
the vestibules were fine sculptures, costly marble walls, and doors
ornamented with gold, silver, and rare shells. There were expensive
rugs from the East, and, in fact, everything that could be obtained
likely to add to the attractiveness of the room.

Candles were used in early times, but later the wealthy used lamps,
which were made of terra-cotta or bronze. They were mostly oval, flat
on the top, often with figures in relief. In them were one or more
round holes to admit the wick. They either rested on tables, or were
suspended by chains from the ceiling.