The inscription is cut on stone imported from Etruscan territory, and since the lettering is too archaic for the 4th century, when Rome captured the region from which it came, we must assume that it was brought here during the Etruscan period, i.e., before 509 B.C. The "black stone" was supposed by the Romans to mark the tomb of Romulus, of Faustulus or of Hostilius. The riddle has not yet been solved.
The Curia or senate chamber, which stands in the comitium, is the debased structure of Diocletian's day, much altered and converted into a church. The first senate house (attributed to the king Hostilius) stood farther back, leaving room for a large comitium between the Curia and the rostra. The original bronze doors of Diocletian's Curia may now be seen at the end of the nave of the Lateran basilica.
Crossing the narrow street, the Argiletum, which led into the Forum from the north, we come to the extensive remains of the Basilica Aemilia. This was a covered hall in which court could be held when the weather was too inclement for sessions in the open forum. When building it in 179 B.C. Aemilius Lepidus and Fulvius Nobilior also rebuilt the row of public shops (tabernae novae) and included these under the same roof with a covered arcade in front. There was a hasty reconstruction by Aemilius Lepidus in 79. About the year 54 when Caesar planned his basilica along the opposite side of the forum at a higher level he lent large sums to Aemilius Paullus to reconstruct the Aemilian basilica at a cor responding level and in an appropriate style. This rebuilding, fre quently interrupted, was not completed for 20 years. The founda tions now visible are chiefly of this period, though the shop walls reveal materials of all three periods. Augustus later provided money for lavish repairs and decorations after the structure had been damaged by fire. Most of the splendid marble decorations now to be seen date from the Augustan period, deriving partly from the Doric façade, partly from the interior porticoes dec orated with Ionic and Corinthian columns.
East of this basilica stands the temple which Antoninus Pius built in honor of his deified wife Faustina. After the emperor's death his name was added to the inscription. The columns are of the expensive and garish Carystian stone (cipollino) from Euboea, the walls are of peperino, a good fire-proof material, and were of course faced with marble slabs. The frieze has a charming design
of griffins grouped in pairs around a candelabrum.
In front of this temple are the remains of the Regia, one of the oldest buildings of Rome. It may have been the office of the early kings, and certainly was of the pontifex maximus throughout the republic. The cappellaccio podium of the main quadrangle may well date from the fifth century. Professor Huelsen, who excavated the site, has drawings of a decorated terracotta slab from its frieze which belonged to the 5th-century structure. The rear wall, however, contains materials of a reconstruction, prob ably made in 148 B.C., when the place was damaged by fire. In this building were kept the important pontifical records and lists of magistrates which provided the skeleton of facts that historians eventually used in writing the story of the early republic. And because of this historical association, Domitius Calvinus, when rebuilding the house in 36 B.C. in marble, had a complete list of magistrates and of triumphs inscribed on its walls. Some remains of these inscriptions, called Capitoline Fasti, are now preserved in the Capitoline museum. The few architectural remains that lie near by reveal the fact that even as late as 36 B.C. marble cutting was still very crude.' The pontifex himself had his home in the domus publics, the foundations of which, as it was when Caesar lived there, may still be seen a few yards to the south-east of the regia.
The extensive House of the Vestals,' as it appeared in the late empire, has many of its walls intact. They date from several re buildings and additions made at various times during the empire. A few of the Vestal statues and honorary inscriptions remain, but not on their original locations, since all were found in a confused heap ready for the limekiln. Of the small republican structure there are few remains except the simple mosaic floor visible at a low level near the entrance. The foundation of the round shrine of Vesta is visible between this Atrium and the Regia, and near by are remains of the marble entablature cut in the decadent work manship of Septimius' day.