
The Atrium of the House of the Vestals

Statues at the House of the Vestals
''This refers to the house in the Roman Forum. The name has also been used as a
a specific house excavated at
Pompeii.''
The 'House of the Vestal Virgins' (
Latin: ''Atrium Vestae'') was the place where
Vestal Virgins lived. It was located just behind their circular
Temple of Vesta at the eastern edge of the
Roman Forum, between the
Regia and the
Palatine Hill, in
Rome. The ''domus publicae'' where the
Pontifex Maximus dwelled, was located near the Atrium until that role was taken up by the emperors.
The ''Atrium Vestae'' was a three-story 50-room palace in the ancient Roman Forum built around an elegant elongated
atrium or court with a double pool. To the very east is an open vaulted hall with a statue of
Numa Pompilius, the mythological founder of the cult. Today, remains of the statues of the Vestals can be seen in the ''Atrium Vestae''.
The complex lay at the foot of the Palatine Hill, where a
sacred grove that was slowly encroached upon lingered into Imperial times, when all was swept away by the
Fire of Rome in
64. The House of the Vestals was rebuilt several times in the course of the Empire.