Julia Domna & The Temple of Vesta

Susann S. Lusnia (Tulane University)

In A.D. 192, a massive fire swept through the heart of Rome, destroying many buildings in or adjacent to the Roman Forum. Among the structures affected by this fire was the Temple of Vesta. The cult of Vesta played an important role in the welfare of the Roman state, and therefore, repair of the temple and its annex was essential. Because of the temple’s appearance on coins issued for Julia Domna, the wife of the emperor L. Septimius Severus, restoration of the Temple of Vesta and the Atrium Vestae, residence of the Vestal Virgins, has traditionally been assigned to her. In this paper I investigate the basis of this attribution and find that there is no literary or epigraphic evidence to support the assumption that Julia Domna was responsible for restoring the Temple of Vesta. In fact, Julia Domna is portrayed as actively restoring buildings in only two inscriptions from Rome (CIL 6.883 & 997). To understand the use of the Temple of Vesta on Julia Domna’s coinage, I argue that we must look at her role as both wife and mother of emperors and her status as the leader of the matronae at Rome. In this way, we can see that the association of Julia Domna with the Temple of Vesta continued a trend begun in the early empire that connected imperial women to the cult of Vesta.