Regia
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The Regia is one of the oldest buildings at the Roman Forum. It was originally the residence of the kings of Rome or at least their main headquarters, and later the office of the Pontifex Maximus, the high priest of Roman religion. It occupied a triangular patch of terrain between the Temple of Vesta, the Temple of Divus Julius and Temple of Antoninus and Faustina. According to ancient tradition it was built by the second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius who also built the Temple of Vesta and the Domus Publica. When Caesar became pontifex maximus he exercised his duties from the Regia.
The building had an irregularly formed enclosed courtyard that was paved in tufa with a wooden portico. The interior was divided into three rooms with entrance from the courtyard into the middle room. The West Room was the shrine of Mars, sacrarium Martis, in which the ancilia (shields) of Mars were stored. Here, too, stood the lances that were consecrated to Mars, the hastae Martiae. If these lances would ever start vibrating something terrible would happen. They are also said to have vibrated in the night of 14 March 44 BC. Caesar, High Priest at the time, in spite of the vibrating lances left the Regia to be present at the meeting of the Senate. It would be his last. He was assassinated by Brutus and Cassius. The East Room contained a sanctuary of Ops Consiva, so sacred that only the pontifex maximus and the Vestal Virgins were allowed to enter it.
The archives of the pontifices were kept here, the formulas of all kinds of prayers, vows, sacrifices, etc., the state calendar of sacred days, the Annales- the record of events of each year for public reference- and the laws relating to marriage, death, wills, etc.
The Regia was the place of assembly of the College of Pontiffs and at times of the Fratres Arvales.
Originally the Regia, the Temple of Vesta with the associated House of the Vestal Virgins, and the Domus Publica all formed a single religious and political complex. This relationship probably stems from the time when the Vestal Virgins were the king's daughters.
The Regia was burned and restored in 148 BC (for a possible burning by the Gauls in 390 BC, see Mem. Am. Acad. ii.59-60); and again in 36 BC, when the restoration was carried out in marble by Domitius Calvinus, the conqueror of Spain on the regal foundation. The curious trapezoidal shape was an attempt to maintain the building's orientation to the points of the compass and still fit behind the Temple of Caesar, still under construction.
The Regia was physically cut off from the main square of the forum when the Temple of Caesar was built. The importance of the Regia was largely symbolic in the imperial period, and was transferred into a private residence in the seventh or eight century.
[edit] Literature
- Joachim Losehand: Häuser für die Herrscher Roms und Athens? Überlegungen zu Funktion und Bedeutung von Gebäude F auf der Athener Agora und der Regia auf dem Forum Romanum, Dr. Kovac, Hamburg 2007. ISBN 3830033974
