alcoves separated by a lintel but not a wall) typically opened off the sides of the atrium.

Small rural Roman buildings did not need atria; they were lit by windows and drew water from wells or watercourses. An urban house (domus), on the other hand, had to be built on a small, narrow lot, as urban land was expensive and street frontage was even more expensive. Theft was also a concern. Urban houses thus came to look inwards onto cortiles, enclosed courts,