ABSTRACT
The principle of building a house with rooms surrounding a courtyard has been in use since the beginning of human civilisation. In ancient Egypt, temples were built with courtyards and most houses included one or more courtyards. In the east, the Mesopotamian civilisations over the years-the Sumarians, the Babylonians and the Assyrians, whose empires included the area around the modern state of Kuwait-have also used courtyards in their houses, temples and palaces. Later, in the Greek and Roman architectures, courtyards were usually surrounded by a row of columns in public buildings, and by rooms and stores in private houses.
