"Numa erected a palace near the Temple of Vesta, called to this day
Regia" (Plutarch, "Numa"). Horace (O. i. 2) says: "We see the tawny
Tiber, its waves violently forced back from the Tuscan shore, proceed
to demolish the monumental Regia (Numæ) and the Temple of Vesta." It
was the residence of the Pontifex Maximus, or chief priest, down to
the time of Augustus. "Augustus presented the Regia to the Vestal
Virgins, because it adjoined their residence" (Dion Cassius, lxv. 27).
In the sixteenth century twelve inscriptions relative to the Virgins
were found near the church.
_Opposite the church_, on the level of the Forum, is the round podium
of