Temple of Vesta
About
A small round temple with a conical roof and a vent for smoke, holding no statue of the goddess — only the fire. Six priestesses keep it burning, and it is relit each year on the first of March by rubbing wood rather than by carrying a flame from anywhere else. Behind the hearth is a storeroom no man may enter, said to hold the tokens of Rome's survival carried out of Troy. In June the temple opens to the women of the city, who come barefoot with offerings. If the fire goes out, the Vestal on watch is beaten. In 117 CE the building standing here is the Augustan rebuild.
What happened here
The building itself is a house for the god, and most people never go inside. Everything public happens on the steps and at the altar in front: an animal led up, examined, killed cleanly, its organs read, the meat divided and eaten. The priest covers his head and a flute player keeps up a noise so no ill-omened word is heard. Worshippers leave what they can afford — a terracotta figure, a coin, a model of the body part they want healed — and the accumulated clutter is periodically cleared and buried on site. On festival days the doors are opened and the cult statue is dressed, garlanded, and sometimes carried out through the streets. The temple also holds money, which is why towns keep their treasury in one.
In ancient writing
- Ovid, Fasti 6.249–348
Explains the round shape as an image of the earth, and that the temple holds no statue of the goddess — only the fire, which is her.
Sources
Nearby
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →