Vestal Virgins
Raffaele Monti (1818–1881)
From Wiki: “In ancient Rome, the Vestals or Vestal Virgins (Latin: Vestālēs, singular Vestālis [wɛsˈtaː.lɪs]) were priestesses of Vesta, goddess of the hearth. The College of the Vestals and its well-being were regarded as fundamental to the continuance and security of Rome.
They cultivated the sacred fire that was not allowed to go out. The
Vestals were freed of the usual social obligations to marry and bear
children, and took a vow of chastity
in order to devote themselves to the study and correct observance of
state rituals that were off-limits to the male colleges of priests.
Selection
To
obtain entry into the order, a girl had to be free of physical and
mental defects, have two living parents and be a daughter of a free-born
resident of Rome. From at least the mid-Republican era, the pontifex maximus
chose Vestals between their sixth and tenth year, by lot from a group
of twenty high-born candidates at a gathering of their families and
other Roman citizens. Originally, the girl had to be of patrician birth, but membership was opened to plebeians
as it became difficult to find patricians willing to commit their
daughters to 30 years as a Vestal, and then ultimately even from the
daughters of freedmen for the same reason.
The choosing ceremony was known as a captio (capture). Once a girl was chosen to be a Vestal, the pontifex
pointed to her and led her away from her parents with the words, “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 terms as her who was a Vestal ‘on the
best terms’” (thus, with all the entitlements of a Vestal). As soon as
she entered the atrium of Vesta’s temple, she was under the goddess’s
service and protection….
Tasks
House of the Vestals and Temple of Vesta from the Palatine
Their tasks included the maintenance of the fire sacred to Vesta,
the goddess of the hearth and home, collecting water from a sacred
spring, preparation of food used in rituals and caring for sacred
objects in the temple’s sanctuary. By maintaining Vesta’s sacred fire, from which anyone could receive
fire 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.
The Vestals were put in charge of keeping safe the wills and testaments of various people such as Caesar and Mark 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.
Privileges
The dignities accorded to the Vestals were significant.
- in an era when religion was rich in pageantry, the 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 and performances they had a reserved place of honour;
- unlike most Roman women, they were not subject to the patria potestas and so were free to own property, make a will, and vote;
- they gave evidence without the customary oath, their word being trusted without question;
- 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 they had escorts to protect them from assault;
- they could free condemned prisoners and slaves by touching them – if
a person who was sentenced to death saw a Vestal on his way to the
execution, he was automatically pardoned.
- they participated in throwing the ritual straw figures called Argei into the Tiber on May 15.
Punishment
Allowing the sacred fire of Vesta to die out was a serious
dereliction of duty. It suggested that the goddess had withdrawn her
protection from the city. Vestals guilty of this offense were punished
by a scourging or beating, which was carried out “in the dark and
through a curtain to preserve their modesty”
The chastity of the Vestals was considered to have a direct bearing on the health of the Roman state. When they entered the collegium,
they left behind the authority of their fathers and became daughters of
the state. Any sexual relationship with a citizen was therefore
considered to be incestum and an act of treason. The punishment for violating the oath of celibacy was to be buried alive in the Campus Sceleratus or “Evil Field” (an underground chamber near the Colline Gate)
with a few days of food and water. Ancient tradition required that an
unchaste Vestal be buried alive within the city, that being the only way
to kill her without spilling her blood, which was forbidden. However,
this practice contradicted the Roman law
that no person might 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
the Vestal would not technically be buried in the city, but instead
descend into a “habitable room”. Moreover, she would die willingly.[citation needed] The actual manner of the procession to Campus Scleretatus has been described like this:
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. There a small vault underground had been
previously prepared, containing a couch, a lamp, and a table with a
little food. 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….” via: wikipedia
:-/