Glossary

Ala	Small side room off atrium
Amphitheatre	Round or oval shaped stadium for games, gladiatorial contests and other spectacles
Atrium	Central Hall
Basilica	Public building, used for meetings and Justice
Caldarium	Room used for hot baths
Casa	House
Caupona	Inn or tavern where hot meals were served to diners seated around a table.
Compitum	Crossroads
Compluvium	Hole in the roof of a building, that lets in light air and rainwater which was collected in the Impluvium directly below.
Cubiculum	Small bedroom
Dolia/Dolium	Large round pottery container with a wide mouth usually sunk into the floor or bar counter
Epigraph	An inscription
Exedra	Room for receiving guests or holding conversations
Forum	Main Square of a city
Frigidarium	Room in baths used for swimming and cooling off.
Fullonica	A place where clothes were washed and dyed.
Garum	Fish and salt sauce
Gemmarius	A cutter of gemstones
Hospitium	Guest house
Impluvium	Rainwater collection basin in the centre of the Atrium usually with a cistern underneath and collected rainwater coming through the Compluvium in the roof above
Insula	A block of houses bounded by roads.
Lararium	An altar, niche or apse used as a household shrine
Lares Compitales	Shrine to the guardian spirits of the crossroads
Macellum	Market
Necropolis	Cemetery outside the residential area
Nymphaeum	A monumental fountain often with mosaics or glass
Oecus	Living room
Officina	Shop/workshop
Palaestra	Large open courtyard building for athletics and training
Pensile	Hanging
Peristyle	Internal courtyard with columns on one or more sides and an ornamental garden
Pistrinum	Bakery
Popina	Bar, drinking house
Regio	An urban district consisting of several blocks of houses (Insulas)
Taberna	A workshop/shop
Tepidarium	Lukewarm area of the baths
Terme/Thermae	Bathhouse
Thermopolium	Café. A place where hot and cold food was sold usually located along the roads, and consisting of an L shaped masonry counter which contained terracotta vessels.
Triclinium	Dining room usually containing the three stone couches in a horseshoe layout which the family and guests used for eating
Vestibulum	Entrance hallway