The Salii guarded and carried the twelve sacred ancilia shields during their March and October processions. The shields were stored in the Regia and entrusted to the Salii's care as pledges of Rome's safety.
The Ancile fell from heaven into Mars's keeping, a sacred pledge that Rome would endure so long as the shield survived. His Salii priests carried it through the streets each March, and it rested in his temple on the Palatine.
During Numa Pompilius's reign, the Ancile fell from heaven into the king's hands as a divine pledge of Rome's survival. Numa commissioned eleven copies from the smith Mamurius Veturius and entrusted all twelve to the Salii priests he established.
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