Image Details

Scala/Art Resource, NY

Beside the Temple of Vesta stood the now-ruined Atrium Vestae, or House of the Vestals, where the virgins ate, slept and conducted business. Shown here looking southward, toward the Arch of Titus, the House was nestled between Vesta’s temple and the markets of Vespasian. A substantial two-story dormitory complex with numerous bedrooms, several reception halls and a large courtyard lined with fountains and statues, it was continually remodeled and enlarged by the Roman emperors of the first and second centuries A.D. Unfortunately, much of the structure was destroyed during the medieval period, and almost no traces of the Vestals’ home remain today.