Location on Forum Plan
Via Sacra
Lapis Niger
Curia (Senate House)
Basilica Aemilia
Templum Antonini et Faustinae
Basilica Constantini
Templum Veneris et Romae
Arcus Titi
Regia
Atrium Vestae
Templum Vestae
Templum Juli
Templum Castoris
Basilica Julia
Templum Saturni
Tabularium
Templum Divi Vespasiani
Templum Concordiae
Lacus Curtius
Rostra
Miliarium Aureum
Arcus Septimii Serveri
Carcer (Prison) |
 Temple of Vesta
The round temple of Vesta, at the eastern end of the Forum,
like the Regia, was said to have been built by the king Numa, who legend
proclaims established the sisterhood known as the Vestal Virgins. This temple
was the most sacred building in Rome, containing as it did, the sacred fire
(the "hearth fire" of the city) and the Palladium, a wooden statue
of Pallas Athena, which is said to have been brought from Troy to Italy
by Aeneas. Suetonius and Tacitus tell us that the Vestals guarded public
treaties, imperial wills, and other state documents. This shrine continued
to be the city altar, and the fire was kept burning until after Christianity
had become the religion of the Empire. The emperor Theodosius about 395
A.D. ordered the temple closed and the Vestals banished from the Atrium.
Tradition says that with sorrowful hears the priestesses watched the flames
flicker and die, then destroyed the inmost shrine; but no one knows what
became of the sacred emblems which they guarded. |
