DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44944#0095
ATRIUM VESTAE
59
These excavations show some remains of the republican atrium, that
is, the house of the Vestals, immediately south of the temple, adjoining
the domus Publica on the east, with the same north and south orientation.
This indicates the antiquity of both, though almost no remains earlier
than the second century b.c. are now visible. They consist of a small
court with rows of rooms on the south and west sides, with walls and
pavements still visible at some points under the north-west corner of
the latest building ; that of the court is a lithostroton pavement of
the Sullan period (JRS 1922, 29). The domus Publica seems to have
been larger than the house of the Vestals, and to have occupied all the
space between the Sacra via and the earlier Nova via. Its remains,
forming virtually a part of the original atrium (there is, in any case, no
line of demarcation between the two), lie along the north side of the
latest building and were entirely covered up by the road that Nero built
here in front of the shops (see below) (TF 85-86; (Ill. 7)).
Close to the main entrance to the atrium, at its north-west corner,
is the podium, about 3 by 2 metres in dimensions, of a shrine, generally
called aedicula Vestae, and supposed to have been built to house a
statue of the goddess, as the temple itself did not contain any (Cic. de nat.
Deor. iii. 80 ; de or. iii. 10). This shrine was not built until the second
stage of the imperial atrium, for it blocked a door belonging to that
period (Van Deman, op. cit. 23). Some fragments of the marble lining
and plinth are in situ ; and the entablature with an inscription of the
time of Hadrian (CIL vi. 31578) which records a restoration, together
with numerous architectural bits, have been found. The entablature
has been placed upon a column and a brick pier (Jord. i. 2. 290-291 ;
Der Tempel d. Vesta 25-28 ; HC 203 ; Thedenat 315 ; LR 226).
The atrium Vestae was probably destroyed in the fire of Nero, and
was certainly rebuilt by him, when he remodelled the whole of this quarter
in a different form and with a different orientation. It now consisted
of a trapezoidal enclosure (in which the temple was included) approxi-
mately the size of the later building, with a central court surrounded
by rooms on three sides. Against the north enclosure wall was a row
of tabernae opening into the arcade leading up to the vestibule of the
Domus Aurea (q.v.) ; and the porticus occupied the whole intervening
space between the eastern enclosure wall and the street connecting the
Sacra and Nova via to the east (Vicus Vestae ?). There is thus no space
left for the garden, which, it was thought, might have been a survival
of the lucus (see Vesta, lucus) ; compare Van Deman, Atrium Vestae
pl. a, with AJA 1923, p. 421 and pl. iii., and Mem. Am. Acad. v. 124 and
pls. 61, 62.
This building was injured by fire, and restored by Domitian, who
erected a colonnade round the court, with a long, shallow piscina in the
centre, and entirely rebuilt the west end. Hadrian built a block of
rooms across the east end, thereby extending the area of the house as
59
These excavations show some remains of the republican atrium, that
is, the house of the Vestals, immediately south of the temple, adjoining
the domus Publica on the east, with the same north and south orientation.
This indicates the antiquity of both, though almost no remains earlier
than the second century b.c. are now visible. They consist of a small
court with rows of rooms on the south and west sides, with walls and
pavements still visible at some points under the north-west corner of
the latest building ; that of the court is a lithostroton pavement of
the Sullan period (JRS 1922, 29). The domus Publica seems to have
been larger than the house of the Vestals, and to have occupied all the
space between the Sacra via and the earlier Nova via. Its remains,
forming virtually a part of the original atrium (there is, in any case, no
line of demarcation between the two), lie along the north side of the
latest building and were entirely covered up by the road that Nero built
here in front of the shops (see below) (TF 85-86; (Ill. 7)).
Close to the main entrance to the atrium, at its north-west corner,
is the podium, about 3 by 2 metres in dimensions, of a shrine, generally
called aedicula Vestae, and supposed to have been built to house a
statue of the goddess, as the temple itself did not contain any (Cic. de nat.
Deor. iii. 80 ; de or. iii. 10). This shrine was not built until the second
stage of the imperial atrium, for it blocked a door belonging to that
period (Van Deman, op. cit. 23). Some fragments of the marble lining
and plinth are in situ ; and the entablature with an inscription of the
time of Hadrian (CIL vi. 31578) which records a restoration, together
with numerous architectural bits, have been found. The entablature
has been placed upon a column and a brick pier (Jord. i. 2. 290-291 ;
Der Tempel d. Vesta 25-28 ; HC 203 ; Thedenat 315 ; LR 226).
The atrium Vestae was probably destroyed in the fire of Nero, and
was certainly rebuilt by him, when he remodelled the whole of this quarter
in a different form and with a different orientation. It now consisted
of a trapezoidal enclosure (in which the temple was included) approxi-
mately the size of the later building, with a central court surrounded
by rooms on three sides. Against the north enclosure wall was a row
of tabernae opening into the arcade leading up to the vestibule of the
Domus Aurea (q.v.) ; and the porticus occupied the whole intervening
space between the eastern enclosure wall and the street connecting the
Sacra and Nova via to the east (Vicus Vestae ?). There is thus no space
left for the garden, which, it was thought, might have been a survival
of the lucus (see Vesta, lucus) ; compare Van Deman, Atrium Vestae
pl. a, with AJA 1923, p. 421 and pl. iii., and Mem. Am. Acad. v. 124 and
pls. 61, 62.
This building was injured by fire, and restored by Domitian, who
erected a colonnade round the court, with a long, shallow piscina in the
centre, and entirely rebuilt the west end. Hadrian built a block of
rooms across the east end, thereby extending the area of the house as