Peristyle (redirected from Peristylium)

peristyle [′per·ə‚stīl]

(architecture)

A surrounding series of columns; the space enclosed by such columns.

---

peristyle

1. A colonnade surrounding either the exterior of a building or an open space, e.g., a courtyard.

2. The space so enclosed.

---

Peristyle 

a rectangular court, garden, hall, or similar space enclosed on all four sides by a roofed colonnade. Beginning in the fourth century B.C., the peristyle was an element of ancient Greek dwellings and public buildings (for example, the little courtyards of dwellings in the city of Olynthus). The peristyle was especially popular in Hellenistic Greece (some buildings had two peristyles) and in ancient Rome.