peristyle

thumb|Reconstruction of a Roman peristyle surrounding a courtyard in Pompeii, Italy

In ancient Greek and Roman architecture, a peristyle (; ) is a continuous porch formed by a row of columns (a colonnade) 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.