CUBICULUM. – This is a common term among the Romans for the sleeping rooms that opened onto the sides of the atrium of the house.
It frequently occurs in epigraphy to designate a family burial chamber or one for the members of a collegium, or else the upper room (c. superius) for funeral rites (CIL, VI, 18423; XIV, 158). Among Christians it is used for a burial chamber (G. B. De Rossi, Roma sotterranea, III, Rome 1877, p. 46 and pl. 5, 3; c. duplex (ibid., p. 464; id., Iscriptiones christianae, I, there 1856–61, p. 45).
BIBL.: H. Leclercq, s. V. in DACL, III, 2, cols. 3167–71. Enrico Josi.