History
According to ancient tradition it was built by the second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius as a royal palace. Indeed, the Latin term regia can be translated as royal residence. It is said that he also built the Temple of Vesta and the House of the Vestal Virgins as well as the Domus Publica. This created a central area for political and religious life in the city and Kingdom. When Caesar became Pontifex Maximus he exercised his duties from the Regia.
The archives of the pontifices were kept here, the formulas of all kinds of prayers, vows, sacrifices, etc., the state calendar of sacred days, the Annales- the record of events of each year for public reference- and the laws relating to marriage, death, wills, etc.
The Regia was the place of assembly of the College of Pontiffs and at times of the Fratres Arvales. It was burned and restored in 148 BC (for a possible burning by the Gauls in 390 BC, see Mem. Am. Acad. ii.59-60); and again in 36 BC, eight years after the death of Julius Caesar, when the restoration was carried out in marble by Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus, on the regal foundation.
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—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)
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