§214. Roofs.--The construction of the roofs (_tēcta_) differed very little from the modern method, as may be seen in the illustration shown in §196. They varied as much as ours do in shape, some being flat, others sloping in two directions, others in four. In the most ancient times the covering was a thatch of straw, as in the so-called hut of Romulus (_casa Rōmulī_) on the Palatine Hill preserved even under the Empire as a relic of the past (Fig. 61). Shingles followed the straw, only to give place in turn to tiles. These were at first flat, like our shingles, but were later made with a flange on each side (Fig. 62) in such a way that the lower part of one would slip into the upper part of the one below it on the roof. The tiles (_tēgulae_) were laid side by side and the flanges covered by other tiles, called _imbricēs_ (Fig. 63) inverted over them. Gutters also of tile ran along the eaves to conduct the water into cisterns, if it was needed for domestic purposes. The appearance of the completed roof is shown in Fig. 49, §202. [Illustration: FIGURE 64. DOOR OF ROMAN HOUSE] §215. The Doors.--The Roman doorway, like our own, had four parts: the threshold (_līmen_), the two jambs (_postēs_), and the lintel (_līmen superum_). The lintel was always of a single piece of stone and peculiarly massive. The doors were exactly like those of modern times, except in the matter of hinges, for while the Romans had hinges like ours they did not use them on their doors. The door-hinge was really a cylinder of hard wood, a little longer than the door and of a diameter a little greater than the thickness of the door, terminating above and below in pivots. These pivots turned in sockets made to receive them in the threshold and lintel. To this cylinder the door was mortised, their combined weight coming upon the lower pivot. The cut (Fig. 64) makes this clear, and reminds one of an old-fashioned homemade gate. The comedies are full of references to the creaking of these doors. §216. The outer door of the house was properly called _iānua_, an inner door _ōstium_, but the two words came to be used indiscriminately, and the latter was even applied to the whole entrance (§195). Double doors were called _forēs_, and the back door, usually opening into a garden (§208), was called the _postīcum_. The doors opened inwards and those in the outer wall were supplied with bolts (_pessulī_) and bars (_serae_). Locks and keys by which the doors could be fastened from without were not unknown, but were very heavy and clumsy. Finally it should be noticed that in the interiors of private houses doors were not nearly so common as now, the Romans preferring portières (_vēla_, _aulaea_). [Illustration: FIGURE 65. WINDOW]