Ala (architecture)

Roman atrium house. The alae are numbered 7.

The Ala (plural: Alae ) is part of the Roman atrium house and, as a wing wall, can also be part of an Etruscan and Roman temple.

In the atrium house the two alae are adjacent to the atrium in front of the tablinum . In contrast to the ideal cubicula, which are also arranged on both sides of the tablinum, they are open to the main room. Vitruvius mentions suitable proportions ( de architectura 6.3.4). A function is not precisely defined. The Alae were often used as a site for representative household items, the lararium (cult shrine) and the ancestral portraits of the landlord. They can also be designed as passageways through which one can get to other areas of the house.

literature

• August Mau : Ala 1 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 1, Stuttgart 1893, Col. 1223 f.