Here the human and divine inhabitants originally lived together.

Here was the hearth, "the natural altar of the dwelling-room of man," as Aust beautifully expresses it;[379] this was the seat of Vesta, and behind it was the _penus_ or store-closet, the seat of the Penates; thus Vesta and the Penates are in the most genuine sense the protecting and nourishing deities of the household.

Here, too, was the Lar of the familia with his little altar, behind the entrance, and here was the _lectus genialis_,[380] and the Genius of the paterfamilias.

As you looked into the atrium, after passing the _vestibulum_ or space between street and doorway, and the _ostium_ or doorway with its _janua_, you saw in front of you the impluvium, into which the rainwater fell from the _compluvium_, i.e.the square opening in the roof with sloping sides; on either side were recesses (_alae_), which, if the family were noble, contained the images of the ancestors.

Opposite you was another recess, the _tablinum_, opening probably into a little garden; here in the warm weather the family might take their meals.
This is the atrium of the old Roman house, and to understand that house nothing more is needed.