In ancient Greek[1] and Roman architecture,[2] a peristyle (/ˈpɛrɪstaɪl/; from Greekπερίστυλον)[3][4] is a continuous porch formed by a row of columns surrounding the perimeter of a building or a courtyard. Tetrastoön (τετράστῳον or τετράστοον, 'four arcades')[5] is a rarely used archaic term for this feature.[6] The peristyle in a Greek temple is a peristasis (περίστασις).[7] In the Christian ecclesiastical architecture that developed from the Roman basilica, a courtyard peristyle and its garden came to be known as a cloister.
^J.A. Dickmann. "The peristyle and the transformation of domestic space in Hellenistic Pompeii", Journal of Roman Archeology 1997.
^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.