In ancient GreekJ.A. Dickmann. "The peristyle and the transformation of domestic space in Hellenistic Pompeii", Journal of Roman Archeology 1997. and Roman architecture,A. Frazer, "Modes of European Courtyard Design before the Medieval Cloister" Gesta, 1973; K.E. Meyer, "Axial peristyle houses in the western empire," Journal of Roman Archaeology, 1999; S. Hales, The Roman House and Social Identity 2003. a peristyle (; from Greek ). is a continuous porch formed by a row of columns surrounding the perimeter of a building or a courtyard. Tetrastoön (). is a rarely used archaic term for this feature. The peristyle in a Greek temple is a peristasis ().. In the Christian ecclesiastical architecture that developed from the Roman basilica, a courtyard peristyle and its garden came to be known as a cloister.
