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Vestal Virgin Vestal Virgin says that the priestesshood of Vesta had its origins at Alba Longa.[2] The 2nd century antiquarian Aulus Gel- lius writes that the first Vestal taken from her parents was led away in hand by Numa. Plutarch attributes the found- ing of the Temple of Vesta to Numa, who appointed at first two priestesses; Servius Tullius increased the num- ber to four.[3] Ambrose alludes to a seventh in late an- tiquity.[4] Numa also appointed the pontifex maximus to watch over the Vestals. The first Vestals, according to Varro, were named Gegania,[5] Veneneia,[6] Canuleia,[7] and Tarpeia.[8] In myth, Tarpeia, daughter of Spurius Tarpeius, was portrayed as traitorous. The Vestals became a powerful and influential force in the Roman state. When Sulla included the young Julius Cae- sar in his proscriptions, the Vestals interceded on Caesar’s behalf and gained him pardon.[9] Augustus included the Vestals in all major dedications and ceremonies. They were held in awe, and attributed certain magical powers. Pliny the Elder, for example, in Book 28 of his "Natural History" discussing the efficacy of magic, chooses not to refute, but rather tacitly accept as truth:[10] At the present day, too, it is a general be- lief, that our Vestal virgins have the power, by uttering a certain prayer, to arrest the flight of runaway slaves, and to rivet them to the spot, provided they have not gone beyond the precincts of the City. If then these opinions be Roman statue of a Virgo Vestalis Maxima once received as truth, and if it be admitted that the gods do listen to certain prayers, or are in- In ancient Rome, the Vestals or Vestal Virgins (Vestales, fluenced by set forms of words, we are bound singular Vestalis) were priestesses of Vesta, goddess of to conclude in the affirmative upon the whole the hearth. The College of the Vestals and its well-being question. was regarded as fundamental to the continuance and se- curity of Rome. They cultivated the sacred fire that was The urban prefect Symmachus, who sought to maintain not allowed to go out. The Vestals were freed of the usual traditional Roman religion during the rise of Christianity, social obligations to marry and bear children, and took a wrote: vow of chastity in order to devote themselves to the study and correct observance of state rituals that were off-limits The laws of our ancestors provided for the to the male colleges of priests.[1] Vestal virgins and the ministers of the gods a moderate maintenance and just privileges. This gift was preserved inviolate till the time of the degenerate moneychangers, who diverted 1 History the maintenance of sacred chastity into a fund for the payment of base porters. A public Livy, Plutarch, and Aulus Gellius attribute the creation famine ensued on this act, and a bad harvest of the Vestals as a state-supported priestesshood to king disappointed the hopes of all the provinces... Numa Pompilius, who reigned circa 717–673 BC. Ac- it was sacrilege which rendered the year bar- cording to Livy, Numa introduced the Vestals and as- ren, for it was necessary that all should lose that signed them salaries from the public treasury. Livy also which they had denied to religion.[11] 1 2 3 TERMS OF SERVICE The College of the Vestals was disbanded and the sacred 3.1 Selection fire extinguished in 394, by order of the Christian em- peror Theodosius I. Zosimus records how the Christian To obtain entry into the order, a girl had to be free of noblewoman Serena, niece of Theodosius, entered the physical and mental defects, have two living parents and temple and took from the statue of the goddess a neck- be a daughter of a free-born resident of Rome. From at lace and placed it on her own neck.[12] An old woman ap- least the mid-Republican era, the pontifex maximus chose peared, the last of the Vestals, who proceeded to rebuke Vestals between their sixth and tenth year, by lot from Serena and called down upon her all just punishment for a group of twenty high-born candidates at a gathering her act of impiety.[13] According to Zosimus, Serena was of their families and other Roman citizens. Originally, then subject to dreadful dreams predicting her own un- the girl had to be of patrician birth, but membership was timely death. Augustine would be inspired to write The opened to plebeians as it became difficult to find patri- City of God in response to murmurings that the capture cians willing to commit their daughters to 30 years as a of Rome and the disintegration of its empire was due to Vestal, and then ultimately even from the daughters of the advent of the Christian era and its intolerance of the freedmen for the same reason.[18][19] old gods who had defended the city for over a thousand The choosing ceremony was known as a captio (capture). years. Once a girl was chosen to be a Vestal, the pontifex pointed to her and led her away from her parents with the words, 1.1 Vestalis Maxima “I take you, Amata, to be a Vestal priestess, who will carry out sacred rites which it is the law for a Vestal priestess to perform on behalf of the Roman people, on the same The chief Vestal (Virgo Vestalis Maxima or Vestalium terms as her who was a Vestal 'on the best terms’" (thus, Maxima, “greatest of the Vestals”) oversaw the efforts of with all the entitlements of a Vestal). As soon as she en- the Vestals, and was present in the College of Pontiffs. tered the atrium of Vesta’s temple, she was under the god- The Vestalis Maxima Occia presided over the Vestals for dess’s service and protection.[20] 57 years, according to Tacitus. The last known chief vestal was Coelia Concordia, who stepped down in 394 To replace a Vestal who had died, candidates would be with the disbanding of the College of the Vestals. presented in the quarters of the chief Vestal for the se- lection of the most virtuous. Unlike normal inductees, The Vestalium Maxima was the most important of Rome’s these candidates did not have to be prepubescents, nor high priestesses. The Flaminica Dialis and the regina even virgins (they could be young widows or even di- sacrorum each held unique responsibility for certain re- vorcees, though that was frowned upon and thought un- ligious rites, but came into her office as part of a couple. lucky), though they were rarely older than the deceased Vestal they were replacing. Tacitus (Annals ii.86) re- counts how Gaius Fonteius Agrippa and Domitius Pol- 2 Number of Vestals lio offered their daughters as Vestal candidates in AD 19 to fill such a vacant position. Equally matched, Pollio’s According to Plutarch, there were only two Vestal Virgins daughter was chosen only because Agrippa had been re- when Numa began the College of the Vestals. This num- cently divorced. The pontifex maximus (Tiberius) “con- ber later increased to four, and then to six.[14] It has been soled” the failed candidate with a dowry of 1 million ses- suggested by some authorities that a seventh was added terces. later, but this is doubtful.[15] 3.2 Tasks 3 Terms of service Their tasks included the maintenance of the fire sacred The Vestals were committed to the priestesshood before to Vesta, the goddess of the hearth and home, collect- puberty (when 6–10 years old) and sworn to celibacy for ing water from a sacred spring, preparation of food used [16] in rituals and caring for sacred objects in the temple’s a period of 30 years. These 30 years were divided in [21] turn into decade-long periods during which Vestals were sanctuary. By maintaining Vesta’s sacred fire, from respectively students, servants, and teachers. Afterwards, which anyone could receive fire for household use, they they were retired and replaced by a new inductee. Once functioned as “surrogate housekeepers”, in a religious retired, a former Vestal was given a pension and allowed sense, for all of Rome. Their sacred fire was treated, in to marry.[17] The Pontifex Maximus, acting as the father Imperial times, as the emperor’s household fire. of the bride, would typically arrange a marriage with a The Vestals were put in charge of keeping safe the wills suitable Roman nobleman. A marriage to a former Vestal and testaments of various people such as Caesar and was highly honoured, and – more importantly in ancient Mark Antony. In addition, the Vestals also guarded some Rome – thought to bring good luck, as well as a comfort- sacred objects, including the Palladium, and made a spe- able pension. cial kind of flour called mola salsa which was sprinkled 3.4 Punishments 3 Early 18th-century depiction of the dedication of a Vestal, by House of the Vestals and Temple of Vesta from the Palatine Alessandro Marchesini on all public offerings to a god. the city, was a serious offence and was punishable by scourging.[24] 3.3 Privileges The chastity of the Vestals was considered to have a di- rect bearing on the health of the Roman state. When The dignities accorded to the Vestals were significant. they entered the collegium, they left behind the authority of their fathers and became daughters of the state. Any • in an era when religion was rich in pageantry, the sexual relationship with a citizen was therefore consid- [25] presence of the College of Vestal Virgins was re- ered to be incestum and an act of treason.
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