VESTA, AEDES
* the temple of Vesta at the east end of the forum, near
the fountain of Juturna and the temple of Castor (
Dionys. ii. 66;
vi. 13;
Mart. i. 70. 3-4; Hor.
Sat. i. 9), originally within the precinct of the
Vestals (
ATRIUM VESTAE, q.v.; Van Deman, Atrium Vestae, 9-11).
The building of this shrine was ascribed by some to Romulus, but wrongly
according to the Roman antiquarians, who attributed it to Numa (
Dionys.
ii. 65-66; Fest. 262; Plut. Numa ii). It was, however, outside the
Palatine pomerium, and cannot have antedated the second stage of the
city's growth. It was a round, tholus-shaped, structure (Ov.
Fast. vi.
265-282; Fest. Plut. locc. citt.), probably in imitation of the ancient
Italic hut (Altm. 14), and said to have been built originally of wattles
with a thatched roof (Ov.
Fast. vi. 261-262). It was not an inaugurated
templum (
Gell. xiv. 7. 7; Serv.
Aen. vii. 153:
non augurio consecratum
ne illuc conveniret senatus), although it was sometimes called templum
by the poets (e.g. Ov.
Fast. vi. 265, 281). It contained the sacred fire
(Ov.
Fast. vi. 297; see
PORTA STERCORARIA), the Palladium brought
by Aeneas from Troy (Ov. Trist. iii. I. 29;
Dionys. ii. 66), and other
sacra (Dionys. loc. cit.), which were kept in a secret recess called the penus
Vestae (Fest. 250:
penus vocatur intumus in aede Vestae tegetibus
Saeptus; Serv.
Aen. iii. 12; cf. Fest. 158, 161; Altm. 59-60), but no
statue of the goddess herself (Ov.
Fast. vi. 295-298; see
AEDICULA
VESTAE, S. ATRIUM VESTAE, ad fin.).
This temple was undoubtedly burned when the Gauls sacked the city
in 390 B.C. (
Liv. v. 42; Plut. Cam. 21), and again in 241 when Caecilius
Metellus rescued the Palladium at the cost of his sight, which was miraculously restored (Liv. ep. 19; Oros. iv. ii. 9; Ov.
Fast. vi. 437-454;
Dionys. ii. 66; Plin.
NH vii. 141; Val.
Max. i. 4. 5). In 210 it was saved
from burning by the devotion of thirteen slaves (
Liv. xxvi. 27), and again
in 14 it was threatened and the sacra removed (Cass.
Dio liv. 24). In the
great fire of 64 A.D. it was burned, but soon restored, probably by Nero
(Tac.
Ann. xv. 41;
Hist. i. 43; cf. Cohen, Nero, n. 334, 335; BM.
Nero ioi-io6; cf. Introd. clxxv), and later in 191 (
Herod. i. 14. 4: Cass.
Dio lxxii. 24), when it was restored by Julia Domna, the wife of Septimius
Severus. It is mentioned in the Regionary Catalogue (Reg. VIII), and
was closed by Theodosius in 394.
This temple is represented on coins dating from the end of the republic
(gens Cassia 60 B.C.,
Babelon i. 333, Nos. 8, 9; BM.
Rep. i. 482. 3781-5)
to the restoration by Julia Domna (see a discussion of all these coins
1 by
Dressel, Zeitschrift f. Numismatik, 1900, 20-31;
Mitt. 1892, 284-287;
1893, 285-286), and on fragmentary reliefs-one in the Uffizi at Florence
(catalogue No. 325; NS 1883, pi. xix. b; DS fig. 2944, and freq.), another
in the Lateran in the fifteenth century, now lost, but known from a
drawing in the Destailleur collection (M61. 1891, 136),
2 and a third formerly
in the Villa Negroni, copied by Winckelmann, and now lost (NS 1883,
pl. xix. a).
The excavations of 1883 and 1899-1900 brought to light various
architectural fragments and the podium (
NS 1883, 434-468;
1900,
159-191; NA
Aug. 1900, 437-456;
BC 1900, 281-284;
1903, 57-69;
CR 1899, 185;
1901, 139;
Mitt. 1902, 88-92; Atti 525-530; for discoveries in 1549, see
LS ii. 203). This podium consists of four strata
of concrete with facings of opus incertum and brick. The lowest stratum
is a circular foundation set in the soil, 15.05 metres in diameter and
2.17 thick. On this rest the three others. On the east side and here
and there on the other sides of these strata are tufa blocks which were
the foundation of the marble steps. Almost in the centre of this podium
is a cavity of trapezoidal shape, extending to the bottom of the foundation, a depth of 5 metres. The sides measure between 2.30 and 2.50
metres in length. This cavity, or favissa, was entered from the floor of
the cella, and may have been the receptacle of the stercus (Fest. 344;
AA 1899, 3) or ashes of the sacred fire which were removed once a year
and emptied out of the porta Stercoraria. Most of this foundation and
podium dates from Augustus (
AJA 1912, 393), but the favissa belongs
to the early part of the principate of Domitian (ib. 413), and the highest
stratum to the time of Septimius Severus (ib. 426).
The coins of Augustus (Cohen, Aug. 250-25 ), probably struck towards
the end of Tiberius' reign (BM. Tib. 142; cf. Introd. cxxxii, cxxxix;
Num.
Chron. 1917, 258, for dating), represent a round structure with a
conical roof (of bronze, according to Pliny
NH xxxiv. 13), standing on a
base of three steps, with columns surmounted by Ionic capitals as is also
the case on the Florence relief. The existing architectural fragments
belong to the final restoration by Julia Domna, and these, together with
the coins and reliefs, enable us to restore the temple with some degree
of accuracy. The change from Ionic to Corinthian capitals seems to
have been made during the first century, probably by the Flavians, but
it is not probable that the temple of the third century differed materially
from that of the first except in this respect and in the greater height of
the podium. It was of white marble, peripteral, with twenty columns
connected by metal gratings. The roof was dome-shaped, with an
opening in the centre for the exit of smoke of the sacred fire. This
opening must have been protected by metal work of some kind, which
would allow the entrance of light. There are indications of at least
one window in the cella wall. The shafts of the columns were fluted,
0.51 metre in diameter and about 4.45 in height. The door was on a
level with the top of the podium, and not approached by steps as on the
coins of Augustus.
(For restorations, discussion and literature of this temple, see
Jord.
i. 2. 293, 421-423;
Gilb. i. 301-310;
iii. 405-415; Jordan, Der Tempel
d. Vesta u. d. Haus d. Vestalinnen, 1886; Auer, Der Tempel d. Vesta
u. d. Haus d. Vestalinnen, Denkschrift d. Wiener
Akad. 1888, 209-228;
Mitt. 1889, 245-247; Altm. 51-60; HC 197-204; Thedenat 83-92,
312-314;
Middleton i. 289-299; DR 126-137; RE
Suppl. iv. 474-476;
Capitolium ii. 219-224; HFP 44-46).
