<p>An irregular polygonal monument in the *Forum square for which the Romans had a number of explanatory traditions (La Regina). Excavations have revealed three layers of pavement, the lowest of cappellacio, the middle of tufa (2nd c. B.C.), and the uppermost of travertine (1st c. B.C.; Giuliani and Verduchi). Within the area of the Lacus Curtius, enclosed in antiquity by a marble parapet, there sits a circular plinth, probably used to support a <i>puteal</i> (well-head). Suetonius notes that the people threw coins into the Lacus Curtius annually as an offering to Augustus’ health (<i>Aug</i>. 57.1), but there does not seem to have been any water here in the Augustan period (Ov., <i>Fast</i>. 6.403-4).</p>