The+Temple+of+Vesta

The temple of Vesta, often confused with the temple of Hercules victor, due to it s round shape, is one of the earliest building constructed in the Roman Forum. The temple is located in the Roman Forum between the Temple of Castor and Pollux, the Temple of Caesar, the Regia and the Ho  use of the Vestal Virgins. Legal wills and documents of Roman Senators and cult objects such as the Palladium were all kept in the temple. Instead of a cult statue in the inner most temple there was a hearth which the sacred fire (the "hearth fire" of the city). Romans believed that the sacred fire of Vesta tied to the fortune of the city and was kept burning, by the Vestals, until after Christianity had become the religion of the Empire. In 395 A.D. the emperor Theodosius ordered the temple to be closed and for the Vestals to be banished, the inner most shrine was destroyed.  What is left of the temple indicates the use of Greek architecture with Corinthian columns, marble, and a central temple there were twenty Corinthian columns built on a podium fifteen meters wide. All temples to Vesta were round with their entrances facing east to show connection between Vesta’s (a goddess) fire and the sun as sources of life. 
 * Temple of Vesta **[[image:http://lh5.ggpht.com/_aJGf8A3SXZc/Rn795TCtscI/AAAAAAAAAMc/Jj1b9T-9-9w/june+8+2007+033.jpg width="320" height="238" align="right"]]