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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44944#0092
58 ATRIUM TITIUM—ATRIUM VESTAE
Atrium Titium : see Atrium Maenium.
Atrium Vestae :* the house of the Vestal Virgins at the foot of the Palatine,
just east of the forum proper. By the end of the republic this term
had come to mean their dwelling-house, in which sense it is ordinarily
used in extant literature (Fest. 333 ; Gell. i. 12. 9 ; Plin. Ep. vii. 19. 2 ;
Prud. Peristeph. ii. 528), but originally it included the whole precinct
of Vesta (cf. Ov. Fast. vi. 263 ; Serv. Aen. vii. 153). This precinct
contained the temple of Vesta (q.v.), the dwelling of the Vestals, the
sacred grove, the domus Publica or official residence of the pontifex
maximus, and the Regia (q.v.) itself or house of the king. This group
was called both Regia and atrium Vestae (Ov. Fast. vi. 263-264 : hie
locus exiguus qui sustinet atria Vestae | tunc erat intonsi regia magna
Numae ; cf. the confused terms atrium regium (Liv. xxvi. 27. 3 ; xxvii.
II. 16, in reference to the fire of 210 b.c.) and regia Vestae (CIL vi. 511).
The grove, lucus (Cic. de div. i. 101 ; BC 1905, 208-210 ; Mel. 1908,
238-240), originally covered the space between the atrium and the
Palatine, but was gradually encroached upon, and finally disappeared
entirely, as it would seem. The domus Publica (Suet. Caes. 46) still
continued to be the residence of the pontifex maximus until Augustus,
on assuming that office in 12 b.c., transferred it to the Palatine (Cass. Dio
liv. 27) and presented the domus Publica to the Vestals (Jahrb. d. Inst.
1889, 247). In 36 b.c. Domitius Calvinus built the marble Regia, an
entirely separate structure. After the republic, therefore, the precinct
of Vesta included the temple, the grove, and the actual dwelling of the
Vestals, to which the name atrium was generally restricted. This name
would lead us to infer that the court, atrium, was the most prominent
part of the precinct, and it was certainly large enough for meetings of
the senate (Serv. Aen. vii. 153 : ad atrium Vestae conveniebat (senatus)
quod a templo remotum fuerat—a disputed passage, cf. Van Deman,
Atrium Vestae 10).
Knowledge of the history of the atrium must be derived from the
evidence of the ruins themselves. Some discoveries were made in 1549
(Lanciani, Storia ii. 203), and extensive excavations were carried out in
1883 and 1899-1902 (for the results in 1883 see Lanciani, NS 1883, 468-470,
480-486 ; Ruins 228-234 ; Jordan, Der Tempel der Vesta u. d. Haus der
Vestalinnen, 1886, 25-40 ; Top. i. 2. 292, 427 ; Auer, Der Tempel der
Vesta u. d. Haus der Vestalinnen, Denkschr. d. Wiener Akademie, 1886,
209-222 ; Middleton, Ancient Rome i. 307-329 ; Gilbert i. 304-305 ;
iii. 408-410 ; for those of 1899-1902, NS. 1899, 325-333 ; 1900, 159-191 ;
BC 1899, 253-256 ; 1902,30; 1903, 70-78; AA 1900, 8-9; CR 1899, 467;
1900, 238; 1901, 139; 1902, 284; Mitt. 1902, 90-92; 1905, 94; Atti
539-547 5 HC 204-217; Thedenat 316-334; RE i. A. 502-504; DR
275-293. All previous work has been superseded by Dr. Esther B. Van
Deman’s The Atrium Vestae, Washington, the Carnegie Institution,
1909). Cf. also ASA 154, 155; HFP 46-48.
Atrium Titium : see Atrium Maenium.
Atrium Vestae :* the house of the Vestal Virgins at the foot of the Palatine,
just east of the forum proper. By the end of the republic this term
had come to mean their dwelling-house, in which sense it is ordinarily
used in extant literature (Fest. 333 ; Gell. i. 12. 9 ; Plin. Ep. vii. 19. 2 ;
Prud. Peristeph. ii. 528), but originally it included the whole precinct
of Vesta (cf. Ov. Fast. vi. 263 ; Serv. Aen. vii. 153). This precinct
contained the temple of Vesta (q.v.), the dwelling of the Vestals, the
sacred grove, the domus Publica or official residence of the pontifex
maximus, and the Regia (q.v.) itself or house of the king. This group
was called both Regia and atrium Vestae (Ov. Fast. vi. 263-264 : hie
locus exiguus qui sustinet atria Vestae | tunc erat intonsi regia magna
Numae ; cf. the confused terms atrium regium (Liv. xxvi. 27. 3 ; xxvii.
II. 16, in reference to the fire of 210 b.c.) and regia Vestae (CIL vi. 511).
The grove, lucus (Cic. de div. i. 101 ; BC 1905, 208-210 ; Mel. 1908,
238-240), originally covered the space between the atrium and the
Palatine, but was gradually encroached upon, and finally disappeared
entirely, as it would seem. The domus Publica (Suet. Caes. 46) still
continued to be the residence of the pontifex maximus until Augustus,
on assuming that office in 12 b.c., transferred it to the Palatine (Cass. Dio
liv. 27) and presented the domus Publica to the Vestals (Jahrb. d. Inst.
1889, 247). In 36 b.c. Domitius Calvinus built the marble Regia, an
entirely separate structure. After the republic, therefore, the precinct
of Vesta included the temple, the grove, and the actual dwelling of the
Vestals, to which the name atrium was generally restricted. This name
would lead us to infer that the court, atrium, was the most prominent
part of the precinct, and it was certainly large enough for meetings of
the senate (Serv. Aen. vii. 153 : ad atrium Vestae conveniebat (senatus)
quod a templo remotum fuerat—a disputed passage, cf. Van Deman,
Atrium Vestae 10).
Knowledge of the history of the atrium must be derived from the
evidence of the ruins themselves. Some discoveries were made in 1549
(Lanciani, Storia ii. 203), and extensive excavations were carried out in
1883 and 1899-1902 (for the results in 1883 see Lanciani, NS 1883, 468-470,
480-486 ; Ruins 228-234 ; Jordan, Der Tempel der Vesta u. d. Haus der
Vestalinnen, 1886, 25-40 ; Top. i. 2. 292, 427 ; Auer, Der Tempel der
Vesta u. d. Haus der Vestalinnen, Denkschr. d. Wiener Akademie, 1886,
209-222 ; Middleton, Ancient Rome i. 307-329 ; Gilbert i. 304-305 ;
iii. 408-410 ; for those of 1899-1902, NS. 1899, 325-333 ; 1900, 159-191 ;
BC 1899, 253-256 ; 1902,30; 1903, 70-78; AA 1900, 8-9; CR 1899, 467;
1900, 238; 1901, 139; 1902, 284; Mitt. 1902, 90-92; 1905, 94; Atti
539-547 5 HC 204-217; Thedenat 316-334; RE i. A. 502-504; DR
275-293. All previous work has been superseded by Dr. Esther B. Van
Deman’s The Atrium Vestae, Washington, the Carnegie Institution,
1909). Cf. also ASA 154, 155; HFP 46-48.