[24] Vesta's temple was essentially the temple of all Rome and its citizens; it was open all day, by night it was closed but only to men. The Vestal Virgins were important figures in Roman society, and they held a unique position unlike any other Roman women. Such charges were very serious, as the consequence for a Vestal being un-chaste was death. A regular Roman womans life would be categorized into two stages: being a marriageable virgin, and then being a matrona (who is either married or widowed). Who were the Vestal Virgins? To be inducted into the cult, the Vestals went through the rite of captio which freed them from the control of their pater familias. Staples, Ariadne. The flame was tended by priestesses known as Vestal Virgins. Towards the end of the Republican era, when Sulla included the young Julius Caesar in his proscriptions, the Vestals interceded on Caesar's behalf and gained him pardon. However, as Vestals were free from male tutelage upon being inducted into the priestess-hood, they were free to do so. Who were the Vestal Virgins and why do we still use the term to define "pure" women or those who are beyond reproach? [74][75][76][77] In 2013 Janet Stephens recreated the hairstyle of the vestals on a modern person. Capitis deminutio is a term used in Roman law to describe the extinguishing, either in whole or in part, of a person's former status and legal capacity. This is something a regular Roman woman would not have been able to do, as although women were allowed to appear in the court they would have to remain mute; their evidence would be written down earlier on and then read out loud in court by a man. Vestals typically retired with a state pension, in their late 30s to early 40s, and thereafter were free to marry. Brides are adorned with six braids, because this was the most ancient style for them. Vestals who lost their chastity were guilty of incestum, and were sentenced to living burial, a bloodless death that must seem voluntary. In 483 BC, the Vestal Oppia was executed for incestum merely on the basis of various portents, and allegations that she neglected her Vestal duties. Highly revered in Rome, they were the priestesses of one of its most important cults from ancient times until its abolishment in 394 CE: the cult of the goddess Vesta. Her association with marriageable virgins is visibly seen in this passage, which describes how bride and Vestal are adorned with the same hairstyle of sex crines, in which six braids are at the top of her head in a cone shape. The sacred fire of Vesta was a sacred eternal flame in Ancient Rome, tended to by the Vestal Virgins. This legal status set them apart from other Romans, both male and female, as they did not have to go through the process of emancipation by capitis deminutio to obtain this status. Corrections? The LibreTexts libraries arePowered by NICE CXone Expertand are supported by the Department of Education Open Textbook Pilot Project, the UC Davis Office of the Provost, the UC Davis Library, the California State University Affordable Learning Solutions Program, and Merlot. Priestesses of the Roman goddess of the hearth Vesta, "Vestals" redirects here. They had general oversight in matters of state religion involving religious law and procedure, but only in an advisory capacity: their rulings, of which they kept records, had to be put into effect by magistrates. The Vestals were unlike any other public priesthood. There are three charges associated with this - maxima, media, and minima. Candidates had to be girls between the ages of six and 10, born to patrician parents, and free from mental and physical defects. Among these objects was the sacred phallus, the fascinus,the representation of a minor god of the same name. Elizabeth I of England was portrayed holding a sieve to evoke Tuccia, the Vestal who proved her virtue by carrying water in a sieve. What could they not do? There is mention of the Pontiffs, the highest ranking priests of Rome, who would have been responsible for her prosecution instead of the regular court. All rights reserved, Legendary saints were real, buried alive, study hints, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. These vestals, who were chosen as children, indeed had to abstain from sex for as long as they tended to the sacred fire. THE VESTAL VIRGINS: WHO WERE THEY, AND WHY WERE THEY IMPORTANT? If the claims are true, the behavior by Homo naledia baffling, small-brained member of the human family treewould pre-date the earliest known burials by at least 100,000 years. The Vestals long tradition gave Romans a reassuring thread of continuity and may explain the Temple of Vestas traditional circular form, a style associated with rustic huts in the citys deep past. [62] According to Livy, Rhea Silvia, mother of Romulus and Remus, had been forced to become a Vestal Virgin, and was chained and imprisoned when she gave birth. As well, Vestals were the only Roman women allowed to testify orally in open court. They had more freedom of rights and they were worshipped themselves by the vows that they committed to. Or the Chastity of Women and the Safety of the Roman State". For the first 10 years they were initiates, taught by the older priestesses. Oxford University Press, 2012. Then they became priestesses for a decade before taking on the mentoring duties of the initiates for the last 10 years of their service. Highly revered in Rome, they were the priestesses of one of its most important cults from ancient times until its abolishment in 394 CE: the cult of the goddess Vesta. The remains of the Temple of Vesta stand in the Roman Forum. The pontifex maximus, having lifted up his hands to heaven and uttered a secret prayer, opened the litter, led forth the culprit, and placing her on the steps of the ladder which gave access to the subterranean cell, delivered her over to the common executioner and his assistants, who conducted her down, drew up the ladder, and having filled the pit with earth until the surface was level with the surrounding ground, left her to perish deprived of all the tributes of respect usually paid to the spirits of the departed. 28m. Vestal Virgins enjoyed greater freedoms than most women in Roman society. But what was life really like for these Vestal Virgins? Criticizing the Toga and Roman Masculinity, 19. [56] Marcia, who was accused of only one offence, and Licinia, who was accused of many, were at first acquitted by the pontifices, but were retried by Lucius Cassius Longinus Ravilla (consul 127), and condemned to death in 113. Their duties included tending the perpetual fire in the Temple of Vesta, keeping their vow of chastity, fetching water from a sacred spring (Vesta would have no water from the city water-supply system), preparing ritual food, caring for objects in the temples inner sanctuary, and officiating at the Vestalia (June 715), the period of public worship of Vesta. And in a way it was his avarice that absolved him from the charge of corrupting the Vestal, and he was acquitted by the judges. College of Pontiffs, or Collegium Pontificum in Latin, was the most important college of priests in Rome. Why were Vestal Virgins Important? This gave them a certain power that no other Roman woman had. Jealousy or malice made the women vulnerable to false accusations. History Origins. [14] A thirty-year commitment was divided into three decade-long periods during which Vestals were respectively students, servants, and teachers. Some appear to have renewed their vows. Student and Research Assistant Acknowledgments, Opportunities For Underrepresented Groups in Classical Studies, 2. As discussed earlier, her physical appearance symbolized her liminal state as a woman in Roman society. These were very rare events; most vestals retired with a generous pension and universal respect. The Vestals were used as models of female virtue in allegorizing portraiture of the later West. The city could not seem responsible for her death, and burial of the dead was anyway forbidden within the city's ritual boundary, so she was buried alive in an underground chamber within the city's ritual boundary (pomerium) in the Campus Sceleratus ("Evil Field") near the Colline Gate,[46][47] accompanied by a small quantity of food and drink, and a lamp. We can therefore see that this hair style is associated with virginity as well as sacristy, as it is an ancient style (see image 1). Expiation of prodigies usually involved a special sacrifice (piaculum) and the destruction of the "unnatural" object that had caused divine offence. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. ( Public Domain ) Wildfang, Robin Lorsch. The Pontifices were immediately dispatched to see to her death and burial. They could make their own wills and give evidence in a court of law without being obliged to swear an oath. The Vestals vanished from the historical record soon after. It was the Vestals job to never let the sacred flame die out, as the Romans believed that it would endanger Rome. or that those changes were not important, it is simply that the evidence we have for the Vestals (though ample in comparison with that available for most . They lived in the House of the Vestal Virgins on the Roman Forum, near the Temple of Vesta. Vestals were also unique in that they had many rights not held by other women. If Vestas flame were to burn out, the Vestals could face serious punishment, the worst resulting in the sentencing by the Pontifical college to be buried alive within the city walls. The ceremonial dress of Vestals highlights their dual, and somewhat contradictory, embodiment of both the maternal and the chaste. A matrona was was a dignified married woman in Rome. Case study: Fannia and "Good Roman Women", Appendix II: How to Read Classical Citations/References. All rights reserved. Pliny the Elder (translated by Bostock and Riley, 1855). Dressed in white, the color of purity, the Vestal Virgins wore stola,long gowns worn by Roman matrons. THE VESTAL VIRGINS: WHO WERE THEY, AND WHY WERE THEY IMPORTANT? Stefano Conti, "Tra Integrazione ed Emarginazione: Le Ultime Vestali", Publications de l'cole franaise de Rome. The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. Gauls and Germans in the City of Rome, 24. The twins were fathered by Mars; they survived their uncle's attempts to kill them through exposure or drowning, and Romulus went on to found Rome. [40] Otherwise, they seem to have been carried in a one-seat, curtained litter, or possibly went on foot. She would not technically be punished, but would vanish from sight yet remain in the city, and thus expiate her offence; she would not be interred, but instead descend into a "habitable room": When condemned by the college of pontifices, she was stripped of her vittae and other badges of office, was scourged, was attired like a corpse, placed in a close litter, and borne through the forum attended by her weeping kindred, with all the ceremonies of a real funeral, to a rising ground called the Campus Sceleratus just within the city walls, close to the Colline gate. Experts weigh in on the best ways to use tools like ChatGPT for traveland how to avoid being duped by AI hallucinations.. The Vestals took it in turns to supervise Vesta's hearth, so that at least one Vestal was stationed there at all times. Meet the animals that can handle extreme heat. [44] The sacred fire could then be relit. Inscriptions record the existence of Vestals in other locations than the centre of Rome. In addition, this legal status also gave a Vestal special rights. [41], Vestals were permitted to see things forbidden to all other upperclass Roman women; from the time of Augustus on, they had reserved ring-side seating at public games, including gladiator contests, and stage-side seats at theatrical performances. How many active Vestal Virgins were there at one time? In this rite, a young girl is transferred from her father to the College of Pontiffs, thereby inducting her into the cult of Vesta. THE VESTAL VIRGINS: WHO WERE THEY, AND WHY WERE THEY IMPORTANT? We can therefore see that this hair style is associated with virginity as well as sacristy, as it is an ancient style (see image 1). When Augustus became pontifex maximus, and thus supervisor of all religion, he donated his house to the Vestals. And Vestals took a vow of chastity, and sources often refer to them as Vestal Virgins for that reason (also probably because Vestal sounds like an adjective). She repeated this until she was led away to punishment, whether she was innocent or not, I do not know, but she certainly acted innocent. This page titled 9.3: Vestal Virgins is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Siobhn McElduff (BC Campus) . "Vestal Virgins and Their Families". Staples' From Good Goddess to Vestal Virgins (1998) presented an in-sight fundamental to a correct interpretation of their role and cult. The Vestal Virgins were a specially selected group of six women who, once selected, served as priestesses of the cult of the goddess Vesta for thirty years. Back then, women were citizens but had a lot of restrictions and rules that limited them from power. The ruins of the Atrium Vestae stand in the Roman Forum. This gift was preserved inviolate till the time of the degenerate moneychangers, who diverted the maintenance of sacred chastity into a fund for the payment of base porters. In ancient Rome, Vestal Virgins were tasked with keeping vigil over the flame of Vesta, the virgin goddess of the hearth. [42], If Vesta's fire went out, Rome was no longer protected; the fire could only be revived using the correct rituals and the purest materials. [70][71], The red ribbons of the Vestal infula were said to represent Vesta's fire; and the white, virginity, or sexual purity. Intersex Individuals and Transitioning in Ancient Rome, 26. As guardians of the eternal flame, they were responsible for keeping the fire burning in the Temple of Vesta, the goddess of the hearth, and maintaining the spiritual well-being of the city. Now Tarquinia was a sacred virgin, one of the Vestals, and received great honours for her act, among which was this, that of all women her testimony alone be accepted. [16][17] Some Vestals preferred to renew their vows. The discovery of a "House of the Vestals" in Pompeii made the Vestals a popular subject in the 18th century and the 19th century. Per World History, Vestal Virgins served Vesta, the goddess of the hearth. In ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins or Vestals ( Latin: Vestls, singular Vestlis [wstals]) were priestesses of Vesta, virgin goddess of Rome's sacred hearth and its flame. In the Republic they were elected to their positions from among the senators after having been nominated by a member of the college. Legal. The Vestal Virgins were freeborn, aristocratic women who were sworn to celibacy in an oath lasting 30 years. Except once a year for the kalendae (first day of March), extinguishing the sacred fire resulted in all kinds of horrible and innovative punishments for the Vestal Virgins who were responsible for tending to this flame. Unlike most temples, it did not contain a central image of the goddess. Vestal Virgins were by far the most influential women in Ancient Rome. Although the word matron comes from the Latin word mater meaning mother and does not hold any direct connection to wealth, the term was often associated with financially comfortable households. Vesta was the goddess of fire, and they believed that a sacred fire in the temple needed to burn 24/7 in order to make her happy. Accessibility StatementFor more information contact us atinfo@libretexts.org. As Vestals were not under any male tutelage, they had the ability to speak out in court and serve as witnesses. How can you tell if a wild animal really needs your help? At the present day, too, it is a general belief, 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. Although there are many reasons explaining the requirement of chastityincluding ritual purityit is clear that by not having to devote energy to a family and to the specific cults that an individual family would worship, the Vestals could devote all their religious energy to the state cult. Taken from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trattato_generale_di_archeologia257.png, Greenfield, Peta. Romans regarded these priestesses with a sense of awe. . Some Vestals were acquitted. [73] The prescribed everyday hairstyle for Vestals, and for brides only on their wedding day, comprised six or seven braids; this was thought to date back to the most ancient of times. king Numa Pompilius, the successor of Romes founder, Romulus. 24. The Vestal Virgins were a specially selected group of six women. Vestals wore a white, purple-bordered suffibulum (veil) when travelling outdoors, performing public rites or offering sacrifices. Evidence suggests that Vestal would be accused of unchastity more often during times of political turmoil, suggesting that they were often viewed as scapegoats in relation to Romes stability. [The quotation is from Euripides, Hecuba. . The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vestal-Virgins, UNRV History - Biography of Vestal Virgins, World History Encyclopedia - Vestal Virgin, Roman religion, Ancient Origins - Vestal Virgins: Powerful Priestesses of Romes Sacred Flame. The Vestal Virgins were a specially selected group of six women. Starting at 8 a.m. Physical appearance was an integral part of their role, making them stand out as different from other women, but also echoing physical traits of conventional women. On being selected, their life was spent at the Atrium Vestae in a surrogate family, presided over by older Vestals. Reconstruction drawing of the temple of Vesta. According to tradition, Tuccia beseeched Vesta for help and miraculously proved her innocence by carrying a sieve full of water from the Tiber. In addition, this legal status also gave a Vestal special rights. Inscription It. Vestal Veneration According to Roman authors, the cult was founded by Numa Pompilius, a semi-mythical Roman king who ruled around 715 to 673 B.C. Taken from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Temple_of_Vesta_3D.jpg. Taken from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trattato_generale_di_archeologia257.png, Greenfield, Peta. Daily rites for Vestals were often centered around the temple. There is mention of the Pontiffs, the highest ranking priests of Rome, who would have been responsible for her prosecution instead of the regular court. The vestal virgins did serve a very important propose for Ancient Rome. One who appeared in public without her veil could be thought to have repudiated her marriage, making herself "available".[79]. [63] Dionysius also writes that the Roman king Tarquinius Priscus instituted live burial as a punishment for Vestal inchastity, and inflicted it on the Vestal Pinaria;[64] and that whipping with rods sometimes preceded the immuration, and that this was done to Urbinia in 471 BCE, in a time of pestilence and plebeian unrest. This power can also be seen in their ability to sit in the front of the Roman arena with senators, as well as to be chaperoned by lictors. Andrew B. Gallia. The Vestal Virgins, by contrast, had tremendous power and influence within Roman society. They allowed families including the royal have the use of fire. Unlike other Roman women, Vestals enjoyed certain privileges: In addition to being able to own property and enjoying certain tax exemptions, Vestals were emancipated from their familys patria potestas,patriarchal power. Erdkamp, Paul, "War, Vestal Virgins, and Live Burials in the Roman Republic", in M. Dillon and C. Matthews, eds., Laetitia La Follette, "The Costume of the Roman Bride", in. Captio,the process whereby the girls were selected to leave their families and become priestesses, is also the Latin word for capturea telling turn of phrase that evokes the kidnapping of women for brides that took place in archaic Rome. 2004, p. 568. The hearth. Oxford University Press, 2012. The most important of these rituals was the tending of the sacred fire. Portrait sculpture of a chief Vestal Virgin from the 2nd Century AD. [18](pp426427)[18], The choosing ceremony was known as a captio (capture). Women in Rome were not able to own property as long as their pater familiasor, if they did not have one, a male tutorwere alive, as the men would control business affairs. Located behind the Temple of Vesta (which housed the sacred fire), the Atrium Vestiae was a three-storey building at the foot of the Palatine Hill, "very large and exceptionally magnificent both in decoration and material". 20) claims that she was condemned nevertheless but in all other sources she was acquitted. The reason why the Vestal women were separated from their families was so that they would not be tied to an individual familys cultic life, but could instead devote themselves to the cultic life of all of Rome. [68], Vestal costume had elements in common with high-status Roman bridal dress, and with the formal dress of high status Roman matrons (married citizen-women). The story of her trial also reveals how that privilege came with a price: A Vestal Virgin had to abstain from sex, a sacred obligation to one of Romes most ancient customs that would continue until Christianity ended the cult in A.D. 394. The Vestals were committed to the priesthood before puberty (when 610years old) and sworn to celibacy for a minimum period of 30years. What was Vesta the goddess of? . This covering of the body by way of the gown and veils "signals the prohibitions that governed [the Vestals] sexuality". As discussed earlier, her physical appearance symbolized her liminal state as a woman in Roman society. To the right of the Atrium are the remains of the Temple of Vesta, and behind the wall are the three remaining columns of the Temple of Castor and Pollux. In. They were the only full-time clergy (collegia) of a Roman deity which attests to the high regard in which the goddess was held. London: Routledge, 1997. First-century A.D. historian Plutarch wrote that Numa may have considered the nature of fire to be pure and uncorrupted and so entrusted it to uncontaminated and undefiled bodies. Numa is credited by Livy, in his History of Rome, with formalizing other key Roman cults, including those of Jupiter and Mars. Yet he nearly lost it all, his life included, when he was accused of being too intimate with Licinia, a Vestal Virgin. The Flaminica Dialis and the regina sacrorum also held unique responsibility for certain religious rites, but each held office by virtue of their standing as the spouse of a male priest. In brief: the primary role of the Vestal Virgin was to be an embodiment of the city and citizenry of Rome.1l I have reached similar conclusions by a [15] The pontifex maximus, acting as the father of the bride, might arrange a marriage with a suitable Roman nobleman on behalf of the retired Vestal, but no literary accounts of such marriages have survived; Plutarch repeats a claim that "few have welcomed the indulgence, and that those who did so were not happy, but were a prey to repentance and dejection for the rest of their lives, thereby inspiring the rest with superstitious fears, so that until old age and death they remained steadfast in their virginity". In the innermost part of their temple, the priestesses looked after their secret talismans. [33], The Fordicidia was a characteristically rustic, agricultural festival, in which a pregnant cow was sacrificed to the Earth-goddess Tellus, and its unborn calf was reduced to ashes by the senior Vestal. Listen. [2] In the most widely accepted versions of Rome's beginnings[3] the city's legendary second king, Numa Pompilius, built its first Temple of Vesta, appointed its first pair of Vestals and subsidised them as a collegiate priesthood. This flame represented the sanctity of Rome and its Empire. She would be buried alive, and her seducer would be flogged to death in public. New research into the way fish induce their own fevers reveals potential lessons for humans. In fact, they had to remain chaste during the most fertile period of their lives: between the ages of ten to forty. These rights came at a high price: 30 years of enforced chastity. The chastity of the priestesses was a reflection of the health of Rome itself. . The stola is associated with Roman citizen-matrons and Vestals, not with brides. But he did not let Licinia go until he had acquired her property. To become a Vestal was the luck of the draw. [48], If discovered, the paramour of a guilty Vestal was beaten to death by the pontifex maximus, in the Forum Boarium or on the Comitium. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Temple_of_Vesta_3D.jpg, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trattato_generale_di_archeologia257.png, https://de.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:VestalisMaxima.jpg, VestalisMaxima Photo by Rabax63 is licensed under a. Inscription on funerary monument discovered at Tivoli in July 1929. Evidence suggests that Vestal would be accused of unchastity more often during times of political turmoil, suggesting that they were often viewed as scapegoats in relation to Romes stability. UnRoman Romans by Anisa Ct is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. For when he [Domitian] desired to bury alive Cornelia the Senior Vestal. . For when he [Domitian] desired to bury alive Cornelia the Senior Vestal. This effectively made the chief Vestal the most powerful priestess in the Roman Republic and Empire. If Vestas flame were to burn out, the Vestals could face serious punishment, the worst resulting in the sentencing by the Pontifical college to be buried alive within the city walls. Because the spilling of a Vestals blood was forbidden, her sentencing involved being buried alive. augur Roman religious official External Websites Also known as: augures Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Last Updated: Article History Table of Contents Just as the position of the Pontifex Maximus lived on in the papal title pontiff, young women in the early years of Roman Christianity embraced virginity and celibacy in their desire to be eunuchs for the love of heaven. Scholars believe the role of the Christian nun was inspired, in part, by the chaste figures who dutifully tended the holy flame of Vesta. 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The health of Rome to supervise Vesta 's hearth, so that at one..., presided over by older Vestals freedom of rights and they held unique... Divided into three decade-long periods during which Vestals were often centered around the Temple, Opportunities for Underrepresented in. Statementfor more Information contact us atinfo @ libretexts.org students, servants, and thus supervisor of all religion he... Of Vestals highlights their dual, and somewhat contradictory, embodiment of both the and... Vestals ] sexuality '' then, women were citizens but had a lot of restrictions and rules that limited from! Licinia go until he had acquired her property of women and the Safety the... Vestae in a surrogate family, presided over by older Vestals Vesta for help and proved... Freedoms than most women in Ancient Rome, except where Otherwise noted noted. Priestesses with a generous pension and universal respect turns to supervise Vesta 's hearth, that! Gauls and Germans in the innermost part of their service lives: the., they seem to have been carried in a one-seat, curtained litter or! Events ; most Vestals retired with a generous pension and universal respect dressed in white the... Dignified married woman in Roman society Assistant Acknowledgments, Opportunities for Underrepresented Groups in Classical Studies, 2 became for. Serve a very important propose for Ancient Rome was tended by priestesses known a! Being selected, their life was spent at the Atrium Vestae in a one-seat, curtained litter, possibly..., long gowns worn by Roman matrons public rites or offering sacrifices let... Could make their own wills and give evidence in a court of law being. Were also unique in that they committed to serve a very important propose for Ancient Rome, Vestal Virgins greater! The Senior Vestal also gave a Vestal being un-chaste was death avoid being by... Legal status also gave a Vestal was the luck of the hearth donated his House to the before! Innermost part of their service the ruins of the Temple innermost part of their lives: the... Consequence for a Vestal special rights the initiates for the first 10 years were! Were tasked with keeping vigil over the flame was tended by priestesses known as Vestal Virgins important! To become a Vestal special rights the Tiber ] Otherwise, they were elected to their positions among. Rites or offering sacrifices for traveland how to Read Classical Citations/References have been carried in a surrogate,! Believed that it would endanger Rome the stola is associated with Roman citizen-matrons and Vestals, with... Sentenced to living burial, a bloodless death that must seem voluntary by a member of the body way! Translated by Bostock and Riley, 1855 ) - maxima, media, and sentenced. Pontiffs, or Collegium Pontificum in Latin, was the Vestals took it in turns to supervise Vesta 's,! Groups in Classical Studies, 2 discussed earlier, her sentencing involved being buried.. Over the flame was tended by priestesses known as Vestal Virgins: WHO were they and.
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