 Bill Thayer   [Link to a series of help pages] [Link to the
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ALT: A view of the House of the Vestals, as excavated, taken in
about 1925.]  6 Atrium Vestae  Article on pp58‑60 of
A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, London: Oxford
University Press, 1929.   Atrium Vestae: * the house of the
Vestal Virgins at the foot of the Palatine, just east of the
forum proper. By the end of the republic this term had come to
mean their dwelling-house, in which sense it is ordinarily used
in extant literature (Fest. 333; Gell. I.12.9;
Plin. Ep. VII.19.2; Prud. Peristeph. II.528), but originally it
included the whole precinct of Vesta (cf. Ov. Fast. VI.263;
Serv. Aen. VII.153). This precinct contained the temple of
Vesta (q.v.), the dwelling of the Vestals, the sacred grove, and
the Regia (q.v.) or house of the king. This group was called
both Regia and atrium Vestae (Ov. Fast. VI.263‑264: hic locus
exiguus qui sustinet atria Vestae | tunc erat intonsi re