by Aulus Gellius, if the lances started vibrating something terrible would happen. According to Cassius Dio (XLIV.17.2), they are said to have vibrated on the night of 14 March 44 BC when, in spite of the vibrating lances, Caesar, Pontifex Maximus at the time, left the Regia to attend a meeting of the Senate, where he was assassinated. The East Room contained a sanctuary of Ops Consiva, so sacred that only the pontifex maximus and the Vestal Virgins were allowed to enter it. The site of the Regia has been investigated via archaeological excavation for some time, although a comprehensive publication of the site is still forthcoming. The site was first cleared between 1872 and 1875. In 1876 F. Dutert discussed the site in his volume on the Forum Romanum, and, subsequently, Nichols identified the site as being the Regia in 1886. The site was explored again by Hülsen in 1889. The Italian archaeologist Giacomo Boni conducted excavations at the site in 1899. The American archaeologist Frank Brown dug at the site in the 1930s and again in the 1960s. The architectural terracottas from the Brown excavations were published in 1995. References Sources Brown, F. E. 1935. "The Regia." Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 12:67–88. Carnabucci, E. 2012. Regia : nuovi dati archeologici dagli appunti inediti di Giacomo Boni. Rome: Edizioni Quasar. Downey, S. B. 1995. Architectural terracottas from the Regia. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. External links The Regia (from Samuel Ball Platner, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, 1929) Roman Forum Ancient Roman buildings and structures in Rome Rome R. X Campitelli