Left side edge
On the inside of the left edge there are the Vestals, six in total, represented with their heads covered: they are the virgines appointed by the pontifex maximus, the highest priestly office, chosen among the aristocratic girls between six and ten years old to be keepers of the sacred fire for 30 years.
Here we see them during the ceremony accompanied by helpers.
![](https://arapacis.it/sites/default/files/storage/images/musei/museo_dell_ara_pacis/percorsi/altare2/sponda_laterale_sinistra/478249-1-ita-IT/sponda_laterale_sinistra.jpg)
![](https://arapacis.it/sites/default/files/storage/images/musei/museo_dell_ara_pacis/percorsi/altare2/sponda_laterale_sinistra/478249-1-ita-IT/sponda_laterale_sinistra.jpg)
A fragment with two figures, remain of the freize facing the Vestals' one, the first representing a priest, more exactly a flamen, while in the following one we wanted to recognise the same Augustus, perhaps represented in the guise of pontifex maximus, a position he assumed in 12 BC, just as the Ara Pacis was under construction.