place

Temple of Vesta

Destroyed templesHestiaPersecution of pagans in the late Roman EmpireRoman temples by deityRome R. X Campitelli
Temples of the Roman Forum
Temple of Vesta (Rome)
Temple of Vesta (Rome)

The Temple of Vesta, or the aedes (Latin Aedes Vestae; Italian: Tempio di Vesta), is an ancient edifice in Rome, Italy. The temple is located in the Roman Forum near the Regia and the House of the Vestal Virgins. The Temple of Vesta housed Vesta's holy fire, which was a symbol of Rome's safety and prosperity. The temple's most recognizable feature is its circular footprint. Since the worship of Vesta began in private homes, the architecture seems to pay homage to the architecture of early Roman homes. The temple used Greek architecture with Corinthian columns, marble, and had a central cella. The surviving structure indicates that there were twenty Corinthian columns built on a podium fifteen meters in diameter. The roof probably had a vent at the apex to allow smoke to release.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Temple of Vesta (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Temple of Vesta
Via di San Teodoro, Rome Municipio Roma I

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Temple of VestaContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 41.8917 ° E 12.4862 °
placeShow on map

Address

Forum Romanum

Via di San Teodoro
00184 Rome, Municipio Roma I
Lazio, Italy
mapOpen on Google Maps

Temple of Vesta (Rome)
Temple of Vesta (Rome)
Share experience

Nearby Places

Sacred fire of Vesta
Sacred fire of Vesta

The sacred fire of Vesta was a sacred eternal flame in ancient Rome. The Vestal Virgins, originally numbering two, later four, and eventually six, were selected by lot and served for thirty years, tending the holy fire and performing other rituals connected to domestic life—among them were the ritual sweeping of the temple on June 15 and the preparation of food for certain festivals. By analogy, they also tended the life and soul of the city and of the body politic through the sacred fire of Vesta. The eternal burning of the sacred fire was a sign that determined eternal Rome. The fire was renewed every year on the Kalends of March. Plutarch's (c. 1st century AD) Parallel Lives records the Vestal Virgins use of burning mirrors to relight the fire: If it (the fire) happens by any accident to be put out ... it is not to be lighted again from another fire, but new fire is to be gained by drawing a pure and unpolluted flame from the sunbeams. They kindle it generally with concave vessels of brass, formed by hollowing out an isosceles rectangular triangle, whose lines from the circumference meet in one single point. This being placed against the sun, causes its rays to converge in the centre, which, by reflection, acquiring the force and activity of fire, rarefy the air, and immediately kindle such light and dry matter as they think fit to apply. (tr. Langhorne 1821 1: 195) Allowing the sacred fire to die out was a serious dereliction of duty; it suggested that the goddess had withdrawn her protection from the city. Vestals guilty of this offence were punished by a scourging or a beating.The sacred fire burned in Vesta's circular temple, built in the Roman Forum below the Palatine Hill in pre-republican times. Among other sacred objects in the temple was the Palladium, a statue of Pallas Athena supposedly brought by Aeneas from Troy. The temple burned completely on at least four occasions and caught fire on two others. It was last rebuilt in AD 191 on the orders of Julia Domna, the wife of the emperor Septimius Severus.

Puteal Scribonianum
Puteal Scribonianum

The Puteal Scribonianum (Scribonian Puteal) or Puteal Libonis (Puteal of Libo) was a structure in the Forum Romanum in Ancient Rome. A puteal was a classical wellhead, round or sometimes square, placed atop a well opening to keep people from falling in. The Scribonian Puteal was dedicated or restored by a member of the Libo family, perhaps the praetor of 204 BC, or the tribune of the people in 149 BC. The praetor's tribunal was convened nearby, having been removed from the comitium in the 2nd century BC. It thus became a place where litigants, money-lenders and business people congregated. According to ancient sources, the Scribonian Puteal was a bidental—a spot that had been struck by lightning. It took its name from its resemblance to the stone curb or low enclosure around a well (puteus) that was between the Temple of Castor and Pollux and the Temple of Vesta, near the Porticus Julia and the Arcus Fabiorum (arch of the Fabii). No remains of this puteal, however, have been discovered. It was once thought that an irregular circle of travertine blocks found near the Temple of Castor formed part of the puteal, but this idea was abandoned in the early 20th century. A coin issued in 62 BC by Lucius Scribonius Libo (praetor 80 BC) depicts this puteal, which he had renovated. It resembles a cippus (sepulchral monument) or an altar, with laurel wreaths, two lyres and a pair of pincers or tongs below the wreaths. The tongs may be those of Vulcan, emblematic of him as a forger of lightning.