Vestal Virgin
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A vestal Virgin, engraving by Sir Frederick Leighton, ca 1890: Leighton's artistic sense has won over his passion for historical accuracy in showing the veil over the Vestal's head at sacrifices, the suffibulum, as translucent, instead of fine white wool. |
In
Ancient Rome, the
Vestal Virgins (
sacerdos Vestalis), were the virgin
holy priestesses of
Vesta, the
goddess of the
hearth. Their primary task was to maintain the
sacred fire of Vesta. The Vestal duty brought great honor and afforded greater privileges to women who served in that role. They were the only female priests within the Roman religious system. Some speculate that the Roman Catholic practice of celibate nuns stems from Rome's Vestal Virgins.
In
mythology, the infamous
Tarpeia, daughter of
Spurius Tarpeius, was a traitorous Vestal Virgin.
Rhea Sylvia, who was raped by
Mars and conceived
Romulus and Remus, and
Tuccia, whose
chastity was questioned, were sometimes accounted prototypes of Vestal Virgins.
The discovery of a "House of the Vestals" in
Pompeii made the Vestal Virgins a popular subject in the
18th century and the
19th century.
The objects of the cult were essentially the hearth fire and pure water drawn into a clay vase.
The Vestal virgins were committed to the priesthood at a young age (before puberty) and were sworn to
celibacy for 30 years.
Vestals served for thirty years, ten as students, ten in service, and ten as teachers, after which they could marry if they chose.
Few took the opportunity to leave their respected role in luxurious surroundings to submit themselves to the authority of a man, with all the restrictions placed on women by
Roman law, though marrying a former vestal virgin was highly honoured.
Selection
There were six Vestal virgins. The high priest (
Pontifex Maximus) chose by lot from a group of young girl candidates between their sixth and tenth year. They were required to have impeccable bodies and two living parents to serve in the order. This high priest pointed to his choice with the words, "I seize you, beloved." They left the house of their father, were inducted by the Pontifex Maximus, and their hair was shorn. Now they were under the protection of the Goddess. Later, as it became more difficult to recruit Vestals,
plebeian girls were admitted, then daughters of freedmen (Young, Worsfold, 21-3.).
Tasks
Their task was to maintain the fire sacred to
Vesta, the goddess of the hearth and home. Letting the fire die out was a serious offense, and punishable by death.[
1] The fire was rekindled in this case by "the rays of the sun," though exact method is unclear. By maintaining Vesta's sacred fire, from which anyone could receive it for household use, they functioned as "surrogate housekeepers", in a religious sense, for all of Rome. Their sacred fire was treated, in Imperial times, as the Emperor's household fire. It burned until
394, when the Emperor
Theodosius I's decrees forbade public pagan worship, had the fire extinguished, closed the Temple of Vesta and disbanded the Vestal Virgins.
The Vestals were put in charge of keeping safe the wills and testaments of various people such as
Caesar and
Marc Antony. In addition, the Vestals also guarded some sacred objects, including the
Palladium, and made a special kind of flour called
mola salsa which was sprinkled on all public offerings to a god.
Punishments
The punishment for violating the oath of celibacy was to be
buried alive in the
Campus Sceleratus (an underground chamber near the
Colline gate) with a few days of food and water.
Ancient tradition required that a disobedient Vestal Virgin be buried within the city, that being the only way to kill her without spilling her blood, which was forbidden. Unfortunately, this practice contradicted the Roman law, that no person may be buried within the city. To solve this problem, the Romans buried the offending priestess with a nominal quantity of food and other provisions, not to prolong her punishment, but so that (only in fiction of course) the Vestal would not technically die in the city, but instead descend into a "habitable room" (Staples 152). Moreover, she would (in fiction) die willingly. Records show that during the course of 11 centuries, at least 22 vestals were accused of breaking the chastity vow. Rhea Sylvia was thrown into the river
Tiber by orders from her uncle
Amulius after she gave birth to
Romulus and Remus; another account indicates that she was whipped to death. The Vestal Tuccia was accused of
fornication, but she carried water in a
sieve to prove her chastity.
The method by which it was established that a Vestal had committed an offense would be considered uncivilized by today's standards. Because a Vestal's virginity was thought to be directly correlated to the sacred burning of the fire if the fire was extinguished, it might be assumed that either the Vestal had acted wrongly or the Vestal had simply neglected her duties. The final decision was the responsibility of the Pontifex Maximus, or the head of the pontifical college, as apposed to a judicial body (Staples 152). It is possible that at some point during the time when Vestal Virgins were still present, a municipal crisis arose which prompted the Vestals to be used as scapegoats; the problem was the result of a deed which the Vestal had most likely not committed (Staples 138).
In his
History of Rome,
Livy writes of
Postumia, a Vestal Virgin who was put on trial for a sexual offense. Even though she was innocent,
the fact that she dressed well and talked rather more freely and wittily than a young girl should, up to a point justified the suspicion against her. She was remanded, and afterwards acquitted, with a warning from the Pontifex Maximus, in the name of the college of priests, to stop making jokes and to dress in future with more regard to sanctity and less to elegance.
The paramour of a guilty Vestal was whipped to death in the
Forum Boarium or on the
Comitium.
Privileges
The dignities accorded to the Vestals were significant.
*in an era when religion was rich in pageantry, the awesome presence of the College of Vestal Virgins was required in numerous public ceremonies and wherever they went, they were transported in a carpentum, a covered two-wheeled carriage, preceded by a
lictor, and had the right-of-way;
*at public games they had a reserved place of honor;
*unlike most Roman women, they were not subject to the
pater potestas of their father and so were free to own property, make a will, and vote;
*they gave evidence without the customary oath;
*they were, on account of their incorruptible character, entrusted with important wills and state documents, like public treaties;
*their person was sacrosanct: death was the penalty for injuring their person and their escorts protected anyone from assault;
*they could free condemned prisoners and slaves by touching them - if a person who is sentenced to death met a vestal virgin on his way to the execution, he was automatically pardoned.
*they alone were allowed to throw ritual straw figurines called
Argei, into the
Tiber on May 15;
*in national crises the advisory power of the Senior Vestal, (
Virgo Vestalis Maxima), was undisputed[
2].
*special seats in the front row at the games and theatre
*Their blood cannot be spilt.
*frequent dinner parties where the menu featured such delicacies as pâté, boiled
ostrich,
dormice stuffed with nuts, and fricassee of roses in pastry shells [
3].
The priestly office of the College of Vestal Virgins was created by the second King of
Rome,
Numa Pompilius (Plutarch,
Life). The second century Roman antiquarian
Aulus Gellius writes that the first vestal virgin taken from her parents was led away in hand by Numa Pompilius . Originally, there were two, then four (in
Plutarch's time), and then six Vestal Virgins. Numa also appointed the
Pontifex Maximus to preside over rites, prescribe rules for public ceremony, and watch over the Vestals.
The first Vestals, according to
Varro, were Gegania, Veneneia, Canuleia, and Tarpeia. [Grimm, 275]. The earliest Vestals at
Alba Longa were said to have been whipped to death for having sex. This was the fate of Rhea Sylvia, the ancestral mother of Rome, even though her virginity was taken through rape. The Roman king
Tarquinius Priscus instituted the punishment of live burial, which he inflicted on the priestess Pinaria. But whipping with rods sometimes preceded the immuration, as was done to Urbinia in
471 BC. [Worsfold, 62].
Spurious accusations were leveled at Vestals for a variety of reasons. Minucia fell under suspicion for her rich dress, and so did
Postumia, who also got in trouble "for her wit" unbefitting a maiden, according to
Livy. Postumia was sternly warned "to leave her sports, taunts and merry conceits," but Minucia was buried alive. [Worsfold, 62, 66; Goodrich 283] Aemilia, Licinia, and Martia were executed after being denounced by the servant of a barbarian horseman. A few Vestals were acquitted. Some cleared themselves through ordeals [
4].
O Vesta, if I have always brought pure hands to your secret services, make it so now that with this sieve I shall be able to draw water from the Tiber and bring it to Your temple (Vestal Virgin Tuccia in
Valerius Maximus 8.1.5 absol).
The Chief Vestal (
Virgo Vestalis Maxima) oversees the efforts of the Vestals, and is present in the
Collegium Pontificum. Occia presided over the Vestals for 57 years, according to
Tacitus. The last known chief Vestal was Coelia Concordia in
380 AD. The College of Vestal Virgins ended in 391, when the fire was extinguished and the Vestal Virgins disbanded by order of Theodosius I.
The chief festivals of Vesta were the Vestalia celebrated
June 7 until
June 15. On June 7 only, her sanctuary (which normally no one except her priestesses, the Vestal Virgins, entered) was accessible to mothers of families who brought plates of food. The simple ceremonies were officiated by the Vestals and they gathered grain and fashioned salty cakes for the festival. This was the only time when they themselves made the
mola salsa, for this was the holiest time for Vesta, and it had to be made perfectly and correctly, as it was used in all public sacrifices.
*
Aquilia Severa, whom Emperor
Elagabalus married amid considerable scandal.
*
Coelia Concordia, the last head of the order.
*
Rhea Silvia, a possibly mythical mother of Rome's founders.
*
Tarpeia, who betrayed Rome to the
Sabines, and whom the
Tarpeian Rock is named after.
*Harry Thurston Peck,
Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898)
*Samuel Ball Platner and Thomas Ashby,
A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome*
article Vestales in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities*
The Code of Patria Potestas*
House of the Vestal Virgins
