Welcome to the 3rd and 5th phase Regias

The Regia was first excavated in the late nineteenth century. Its earliest levels were subsequently explored by the American Academy in Rome in the mid-1960s, although the reports from these excavations have yet to be fully published. The Regia is a relatively small building on the Via Sacra across the street from the Temple of Vesta in the Roman Forum. Its construction has been attributed to Numa, Rome’s second king, but it is unlikely that it functioned as a domestic residence for an extended period of time, if at all. By the middle of the sixth century, multiple religious spaces occupied the structure.

Interactive Model

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Phases

The Regia likely underwent five different phases of reconstruction, not including several minor periods of remodeling. Each of these five phases exhibit cappellaccio foundations and probably had mud-brick walls with terracotta roofs.

For our virtual reconstruction of the Regia, we have decided to focus on two phases: the third and the fifth. Although the Regia’s third phase offers scanty archaeological evidence concerning its structure, its roof, which was adorned by a variety of architectural terracottas, provides compelling reconstruction possibilities. By contrast, the Regia’s fifth phase persisted for at least 800 years. For this reason, our reconstruction of the Regia’s fifth phase emphasizes the structure’s social functions while highlighting the building’s physical materiality.

In this map, the Regia is circled in red and a green arrow points to the Temple of Vesta.

Regia map

Bibliography

Aicher, Peter J. "Regia." Rome Alive: A Source-Guide to the Ancient City. By Peter J. Aicher. Vol. 1. Wacounda: Bolchazy-Carducci, 2004. 135-36. Print.

Andersen, Helle Damgaard. Etruscan Architecture from the Late Orientalizing to the Archaic Period (C. 640-480 B.C.). Diss. Disputats, Københavns Universitet, Institut for Arkæologi Og Etnologi, 1998. Copenhagen: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, 1998. Print.

Brown, Frank E. "The Regia." Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 12 (1935): 67-88. Print.

Brown, Frank E. "New Soundings in the Regia: The Evidence for the Early Republic." Ed. Einar Gjerstad. Les Origines De La République Romaine. Vandoeuvres-Genève: Les Origines De La République Romaine, 1967. 47-64. Print.

Brown, Frank E. "La Protostoria Della Regia." Rendiconti Della Pontificia Accademia Di Archaeologia. Vol. 47. N.p.: Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana, 1974-1975. 15-36. Print.

Downey, Susan B. "Architectural Terracottas from the Regia." The Papers and Monographs of the American Academy in Rome. Vol. 30. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1995. Print.

Hodge, A. Trevor. The Woodwork of Greek Roofs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1960. Print.

Hopkins, John N. "The Topographical Transformation of Archaic Rome: A New Interpretation of Architecture and Geography in the Early City." Diss. The University of Texas at Austin, 2010. Print.

Rystedt, Eva. "The Archaic Frieze Plaques from the Regia in Rome: Some Preliminary Observations on Style and Iconography." Munuscula Romana: Papers Read at a Conference in Lund, October 1-2, 1988 (1991): 29-41. Print.

Scheffer, Charolette. ""Domus Regiae" - A Greek Tradition?" Opuscula Atheniensia 18.13 (1990): 185-91. Print.

Scott, R. T. "Regia." Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae. Ed. E. M. Steinby. Vol. IV. Roma: Edizioni Quasar, 1999. 189-92. Print.

Turfa, Jean M., and Alwin G. Steinmayer. "The Comparative Structure of Greek and Etruscan Monumental Buildings." Papers of the British School at Rome 64 (1996): 1-39. Print.

Wikander, Orjan. "Archaic Roof Tiles: the First Generations." Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 59.1 (1990): 285-90.

Winter, Nancy A. "Gorgons, Minotaurs and Sibyls: A Shared Early Archaic Terracotta Roofing System at Pithecusae, Cumae and Rome." Across Frontiers - Etruscans, Greeks, Phoenicians and Cypriots: Studies in Honour of David Ridgway and Francesca Romana Serra Ridgway. Ed. Edward Herring, Irene Lemnos, Fulvia Lo Schiavo, Lucia Vagnetti, Ruth Whitehouse, and John Wilkins. London: Accordia Research Institute, University of London, 2006. 249-55. Print. Accordia Specialist Studies on the Mediterranean.

Winter, Nancy A. Symbols of Wealth and Power: Architectural Terracotta Decoration in Etruria and Central Italy, 640-510 B. C. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 2009. Print.