The podium is 4 feet 7 inches high, 9 feet 9 inches wide, 8 feet 2 inches deep. The fragments found are to be built up in their original sites, and so the shrine will be preserved. It was originally erected by Antoninus Pius, and is represented on a bronze coin of his--the pediment being supported by four Hermes (the Greek name for Mercury) busts. In the tympanum are the tortoise, cock, ram, winged cap, caduceus, and the magic purse. When it was restored in the consulship of Aurelian and Marcellino, columns and composite capitals took the place of the Hermes busts. _The travertine steps by the side of the Shrine of Mercury led into_ THE ATRIUM VESTÆ. After the destructive fire of 192, the Forum and edifices on the Sacra Clivus were rebuilt by Septimius Severus and Julia Domna (Spartianus, Dion Cassius, Eutropius), the empress taking upon herself the special work of rebuilding the temple and residence of the Vestal Virgins; and although the original podium of the temple was used, it was considerably raised by rubble being placed on the top of the ancient tufa platform. This was necessary owing to the raising of the level from _débris_. For the Atrium Vestæ a different site was selected, more to the south under the Palatine; in fact the whole disposition of the edifices about here was changed, as proved by comparing the earlier with the later classical notices, and the excavations of 1883-4. [Illustration: DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE.] To commemorate this rebuilding a silver coin was struck by the empress, bearing her head on the obverse; and on the reverse is the Temple of Vesta in the background, in front of which stands an altar, and on either side are three virgins, two of whom are pouring an oblation over the altar. This new arrangement of the buildings is thus exactly described by Servius (in "Æn." vii. 153): "By the Temple of Vesta was the Regia of Numa Pompilius, but near to the Atrium of Vesta, which was distinct from the temple." Standing just inside, at the top of the steps, we have the whole Atrium Vestæ, as their residence was named, uncovered before us--a large peristylium paved with black and white mosaic, 222 feet long by 76 feet wide. Standing out thirteen feet from the boundary wall of the Atrium, and extending all round the court, were forty-four columns of various marbles, whilst under the colonnade were the pedestals bearing honorary inscriptions and statues of High Vestals: sixteen on each side, six at the top, and six at the bottom. Of these, thirteen honorary inscriptions have been found dedicated to six different High Vestal Virgins, the Lady Superiors of the nunnery. Four slight fragments of other inscriptions were also found, making seventeen in all. Twelve of the statues, more or less perfect, have also been found: likewise an honorary pedestal to Caracalla; and a statue to Vettius Agorius Prætextatus, erected to this champion of paganism, 367 A.D., by Cœlia Concordia, the last of the High Vestal Virgins.