Similar Temple of the gens Flavia, Porta Nomentana, Porta Collina, Baths of Constantine, Porta Salaria | ||
The Temple of Pudicitia Plebeia was an ancient Roman temple on the Quirinal Hill, along the Vicus Longus, on what is now via Nazionale. It was dedicated to 'plebeian chastity' and built in 296 BC by Virginia, wife of the future consul Lucius Volumnius, in a section of her own house. According to Livy, (10.23.6-10), it was built in opposition to a shrine or temple to Pudicitia Patricia (whose existence is not definite and may be a conflation with the Temple of Fortuna) after the patrician-born Virginia was excluded from the latter after her marriage to a plebeian. Livy states that the cult declined and was forgotten due to women's extreme openness and opposition to the concept of chastity, though Festus in the 2nd century AD stated that its cult was still active.