A little farther to the south the basement of a round building is to be seen, which may very probably have been the ancient Temple of Vesta. This was a round building, as we conclude from Ovid and Plutarch’s notices, and was intended by Numa, the first founder, to denote the spherical shape of the earth which Vesta personified, or the original family hearth.[42] [Sidenote: Chapel of Julius Cæsar.] In front of the Temple of Castor a large block of substructions has been cleared, which is with great probability assigned to the chapel built in honour of Julius Cæsar, and called the Heroon of Cæsar. Ovid’s lines, in one of his letters from Pontus-- “Like the twin brethren whom in their abode Julius, the god, beholds from his high shrine,” seem to prove that the heroon was in front of that temple. The body of Cæsar was burnt in front of the regia and Temple of Vesta, which were at this end of the Forum, and the heroon was placed on the spot where it was burnt. The remains of two small staircases were found at the sides of the heroon, and a wider staircase in front. The epithet “high,” given by Ovid to its position, seems to be in accordance with the raised basement. The semicircle of masonry on the north side has not been satisfactorily explained. It is usually supposed to have belonged to the Julian rostra, but its shape is not such as to support this idea. [Sidenote: Temple of Antoninus and Faustina.] To the north-east of the heroon of Julius Cæsar, we find the ancient pavement of the road which ran along the north-eastern side of the Forum, and to this road descend the steps of a temple with a conspicuous row of six cipollino columns, and with two columns and a pilaster besides the corner column on each side. These columns have Attic bases and Corinthian capitals of white marble. The inscription upon the plain architrave in front shows that the temple was first dedicated to Faustina alone, and that the first three words, including the emperor’s name, were added after his death. The Faustina here commemorated was probably the elder Faustina, wife of Antoninus Pius, as a representation at this temple is given on one of the medals struck in her honour.[43] She died in A.D. 141, and Antoninus Pius in 161. The frieze of the temple is ornamented at the sides with a bold and finely-executed relief representing griffins with upraised wings, between which are carved elaborately-designed candelabra and vases. A considerable part of the side walls of grey peperino blocks anciently faced with marble is still standing. A church was built here at a very early time, but the present building which forms a strange contrast in the meanness of its style and proportions to the massive grandeur of the grey old ruin which embraces it, was built in 1602 by the guild of the Roman apothecaries.[44] [Sidenote: Extent of the Forum.] [Sidenote: Seven brick pedestals.] [Sidenote: Column of Phocas.]