Some words in English carry this tinge of theatrical feeling of grandeur with them when pronounced. They sound imposing and carry more charisma as a result of their historical, etymological or psychological implications. The word extraterrestrial is one of such words to me, although we utilize it in many cases to describe aliens with bulbous heads and frail, small bodies, which obviously isn’t a beautiful sight. As an individual who has listened to countless alien abduction stories, to me, the word conveys a feeling of superiority that we humans aren’t capable of yet. Recently I have come to believe that what we deem aliens and UFOs from outer space could be the output of some kind of secret government technology, but the word still maintains its awe in my mind. As a person interested in historical issues, there is also another word which I find fascinating although it probably has nothing to do with extraterrestrial life. This word is atrium, which refers to an architectural style in early Roman houses. The word has its roots in Latin, but the Latin root could have been derived from Etruscan, as the names for many things in early Roman history associated with Etruscans could have been. If there are real aliens, we don’t know if they have atria within their crafts and buildings, yet I am sure we would witness the fact that they would have achieved feats as impressive as atria or even more magnificent than them if we had the chance to witness their cultural framework.

We use the word atrium today to refer to the wide open space between the two main inner sides of a building where the offices or shops are located. Atria, with their glass tops, let light penetrate deep into the building and create a hub for social interaction. We see them commonly in universities, cultural buildings, hospitals and health centers and corporate headquarters. They allow us to find our way in complex buildings, help with ventilation and acclimatization and create an environment where we could relax. All in all, it is a popular and significant element in today’s architecture. While strolling along an enormous atrium illuminated by abundant sunlight, I feel as if I were in a world spiritually and technologically much more advanced than ours, one which is not dystopian and could be home to beings that harbour supreme feelings of peace, cooperation and deserved grandeur; on the rare occasions when I am able to take a respite from all the rat race that distracts us from our inherent heritage and find myself relaxed and focused enough to make out the love, benevolence and untainted happiness inside me and other humans.

Atrium as an architectural design seems to be originally Etruscan. Etruscan homes used to have an open space in the middle and this space was directly under a hole at the roof which allowed the rainwater to be collected. Then the people living in the home used this collected water for the purpose of fulfilling their cleaning needs. This architectural style was handed down to Romans from the Etruscan society.

The atrium also occasionally showed the family status and prestige. It  communicated social status if there were paintings, water taps and terracotta ornaments on the walls, effectively making it clear that the family was a wealthy one. Offerings to gods and religious celebrations used to take place here, too. The atrium also communicated the importance of air and water in the Etruscan Cosmology.

We don’t know the exact Etruscan word which could have given birth to the word atrium that we use today. Although there are various theories on its origin, I believe it is most probably Indo-European. When we look at the possible Etruscan origins, one theory is that the word originated from the name of the Etruscan city Atria / Adria, where this architectural style was supposedly born. This claim was made by Roman scholar Varro, whom I also mentioned in my previous article A City Born on Hills. Roman architect Vitruvius described what is called atrium tuscanicum, an architectural style associated with Etruscans. Even the expression itself bears the word tuscanicum, which is derived from how Romans called Etruscans, which is tusci and alternatively etrusci. Vitruvius believed that this type of atria originated from Etruscans, who didn’t prefer to use columns in the middle of the house for the purpose of supporting the atrium. The absence of columns is a clear indication of Etruscan construction style, which relied heavily on timber framing and emphasized large interior space. While the notable Romans mentioned here claimed an Etruscan origin for the word ( which I find quite reasonable ) , speaking strictly etymologically, it is more probable that the word have a Proto-Indo-European one. We don’t have a clearly demonstrable word of origin in the Etruscan language within our knowledge, even if there were one in any uninterpreted Etruscan text. Thus, it is possible that the word be associated with Latin word ater, which meant black, since Etruscan and early Roman atria had darkened walls and ceilings as a result of the fire burning in the middle near the impluvium, the basin that collected the water coming in through the compluvium, the opening at the roof. Ater in Latin had gloomy implications of ill omen, while the word niger meant a colour of natural black. In turn, Latin ater had been derived from atro- in Proto-Italic, which also meant dark, black or gloomy.

Because the atria in Etruscan and Roman houses were functional for the purpose of people gathering and being engaged in social activity, this led to the naming of the two upper chambers of the human heart in anatomy. Just as the ancient atria hosted people, these chambers of the heart host the blood before it goes deeper into the heart to be cleaned and before it is pumped into the body upon being cleaned.

During the era of the Villanovan culture, which roughly falls between 1000 and 700 BC, the people used to construct houses with one single centralized living room. There used to be a hearth placed in the middle of the house, which signified the hearth was the center of the family life in the Villanovan hut. We can see this structure of the earliest Etruscan homes reflected in funerary urns. While these urns reflected the shape of real Villanovan accommodation, they also signified the social importance of the dead person. Villanovans and early Etruscans believed that death was not the end of a person’s life and the urn symbolized the new home of the person who had died, whose ashes were put into the urn upon being cremated. This earliest Proto-Etruscan home design evolved into the atrium in the later Etruscan accommodation and ultimately found its way into the Roman home organization. Since then, atria have been an indispensable element in our buildings for their function and beauty.