Analysis Of The Vestal Virgins

The cultural summation of Ancient Rome can be found in its religious rites, decrees, politics, and cultural norms – and nothing fused nor separated these spheres more that the Vestal Virgins. The Vestal Virgins were a cult of six women in charge of worshipping the goddess Vesta whose eternal flame represented the “heart and hearth of Rome” (Parker 567). Chosen by lot, the Virgo Vestalis Maxima and five other Vestals sacrificed a minimum of thirty years of service to keeping Vesta’s fire burning: the first ten years learning the responsibilities and rituals of their sacred position, the next ten years actively serving the goddess Vesta, and the final ten years passing on the knowledge to the next generation of Vestals (Heaton). Though given …show more content…
Unlike the other goddesses of Rome, Vesta was not embodied in the archetypical human female form but instead a flame. (Kroppenberg 418-19). This was at odds with how a Vestal Virgin was “wrested” by the Pontifex Maximus (Kroppenberg 423-427). Girls between the ages of six and ten were chosen with perfection in mind: beautiful virgins with no physical or mental afflictions, no speech or hearing impairments, who came from patrician families (Schultz 1505). Once selected, a complicated ritual was involved where the Pontifex seized the chosen child from the authority of the pater familias and transferred her to the guardianship of the state (Kroppenberg …show more content…
If a Vestal Virgin broke her oath, she was condemned to death by being buried alive. For example, by breaking her vow of purity, Cannutia Crescentia died via tradition in 213 B.C.E. (Lightman 51). Due to their connection with Vesta and recognized virgin blood, Vestals were considered sacred and any assault to their person was an offense punishable by death. Because the priestesses were considered inviolable, the emperor’s personal armed guard – known as lictors – accompanied the Vestals during travel. For example, should a Vestal be traveling to either the Coliseum or the Circus Maximus to spectate the chariot races or gladiatorial games, she would have rode in the carpentum – a special two-wheel carriage, surrounded by lictors who carried with them long poles with bulbous ends (Pomeroy 213). A Vestal’s virginity was viewed with such significance; it was believed that as long as she remained “unpenetrated” so would the walls of Rome (Parker 568). In this way, a Vestal’s virginity was a double-edged sword, allowing her support of the Republic and the veneration of the people, while never allowing her to have proper control of her own body. Nevertheless, it was her virginity that allowed a Vestal Virgin to relieve herself of the ownership of any man outside of the Pontifex Maximus and granted her privileges that no other Roman woman was