TEMPLE, NERO, Temple of Vesta

Silver denarius, S 1946, RIC 62, RSC 335, gVF, 3.42g, 16.8mm, 180o, Rome mint, 65 A.D.; obverse NERO CAESAR AVGVSTVS, laureate head right; reverse VESTA, domed temple of Vesta, showing six columns, seated goddess inside. The temple of Vesta in the Roman FORVM was destroyed in the great fire of 64 A.D. Nero was affected by the cult of Vesta, having felt faint during a visit to the temple shortly before the fire. Nero rebuilt the shrine. His structure, the sixth on the site, survived until another fire late in the reign of Commodus.