Vestalis
edition published: 2023
language: en
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Vestal

The Vestals (lat.: sacerdotes Vestales or virgines Vestales) formed a college of Priestesses, which provided the public cult of the Roman Goddess Vesta.

Term

The term Vestal Virgins derives from the goddess Vesta, whose cult servant they were. Vesta was the patron goddess of the Roman state hearth (Cic. leg. 2,20; Ov. fast. 6,258) and as such she functioned as the protector of Rome. Possibly her cult arose from the domestic worship of Penates. She was described by Roman authors either as the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Hestia (Cic. De nat. Deo. 2, 67) or as the personification of the earth (Dion. Hal. Ant. 2, 66, 3; Ov. Fast. 6, 267-8). On the nature of the goddess see: Vesta.

Evolution

The time and circumstances of the founding of this priesthood can only be conjectured. In any case, the antiquarian tradition assumes that the cult already existed in prehistoric times. The Greek-speaking Roman historiographer Dionysius of Halicarnassus reports of Aeneas, who is said to have brought the cult of Vesta together with the worship of Penates from Troy and attributes the mother of Romulus as Vestal Virgins (Dion. Hal. Ant. 1,69,4; 1,77,4):

τὰ μὲν οὖν εἰς Ἰταλίαν ὑπ᾽ Αἰνείου κομισθέντα ἱερὰ τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἀνδράσι πειθόμενος γράφω τῶν τε μεγάλων θεῶν εἰκόνας εἶναι, οὓς Σαμοθρᾷκες Ἑλλήνων μάλιστα ὀργιάζουσι, καὶ τὸ μυθευόμενον Παλλάδιον, ὅ φασι τὰς ἱερὰς φυλάττειν παρθένους ἐν ναῷ κείμενον Ἑστίας, ἔνθα καὶ τὸ ἀθάνατον διασώζεται πῦρ: ὑπὲρ ὧν ἐν ὑστέρῳ λεχθήσεται λόγῳ. εἴη δ᾽ ἂν καὶ παρὰ ταῦτα τοῖς βεβήλοις ἡμῖν ἄδηλα ἕτερα. καὶ περὶ μὲν τῶν Τρωικῶν ἱερῶν τοσαῦτα εἰρήσθω. I say, therefore, upon the authority of the men abovementioned, that the holy objects brought into Italy by Aeneas were the images of the Great Gods, to whom the Samothracians, of all the Greeks, pay the greatest worship, and the Palladium, famous in legend, which they say is kept by the holy virgins in the temple of Vesta, where the perpetual fire is also preserved ; but concerning these matters I shall speak hereafter. And there may also be other objects besides these which are kept secret from us who are not initiated. But let this suffice concerning the holy objects of the Trojans.

The late republican writer Varro, on the other hand, in his antiquarian writing on the Latin language, attributed the origin of the goddess Vesta and thus also of her priestesses to a Sabine origin (Var. l.l. 5, 75):

Feronia, Minerva, Novensides a Sabinis. Paulo aliter ab eisdem dicimus haec: Palem, Vestam, Salutem, Fortunam, Fontem, Fidem. Feronia, Minerva, the Novensides are from the Sabines. With slight changes, we say the following, also from the same people: Pales, Vesta, Salus, Fortune, Fons, Fides ‘Faith.'

The postulation of the origin of the collegium from mythical early times and the close connection of the goddess to the Roman ancestors, interweaves the service of the vestal virgins and the fate of Rome.

The highest priesthood after the office of the flamen dialis is said to have been standardised by the legendary king Numa in the seventh century BC in the form of a collegium made up of four virgins (Gell. 1, 12,10; Ov. Fast. 6, 259; Liv. 1,20,3; Dion. Hal. Ant. 2,67; Plut. Num. 9,5). According to tradition, the number of vestal virgins was increased once. Their number is said to have been increased from four to six women under the legendary regal time of ancient Rome (Dion. Hal. Ant. 3,68,2: Tarquinius Priskus; Plut. Num. 10,1: Servius Tullius). Since both are credited with increasing the college to the canonical number of six, and Plutarch certainly knew the quoted passage in Dionysius of Halicarnassus but decided against it, it can be assumed that at the end of the Republic it was uncertain to whom the increase should be attributed. This expresses the fact that the beginnings of the college were already insufficiently known to the Roman authors and that different variants of the history of the expansion existed, which nevertheless all agree, insofar as they thought the beginning and the order of the college in ancient times.

Beyond this personal expansion, the College of the Vestal Virgins was characterised by immense continuity throughout the directly attested period in terms of way of life, organisation, function, legal and social status until its end. With the prohibition of all pagan cults in 391/2, the College of the Vestal Virgins was also dissolved (CTh. 16, 1010).

Inauguration and Way of Life

At the prepubertal age of 6 to 10 years, girls were taken out of their respective families by means of a ceremony called captio. The selected girl had to meet some other criteria besides her age: Father and mother had to be alive, she must not have any physical impairments, neither she nor her father must be mancipated or even enslaved, neither she nor her parents must be engaged in dishonourable employment, her sister must not be a vestal virgin and her father could not hold a higher priesthood, he had to live in Italy and must not have more than three daughters (Gell, 1, 12, 1-8).

The chosen girl was addressed by the Pontifex Maximus sitting on her father's lap and then admitted as a vestal virgin with the following formula reproduced by Aulus Gellius, quoting Fabius Pictor (Gell. 1, 12, 14):

Sacerdotem Vestalem, quae sacra faciat quae ius siet sacerdotem Vestalem facere pro populo Romano Quiritibus, uti quae optima lege fuit, ita te, Amata, capio I take thee, Amata, as one who has fulfilled all the legal requirements, to be priestess of Vesta, to perform the rites which it is lawful for a Vestal to perform for the Roman people, the Quirites.

The Vestal Virgins lived on the Roman forumin the atrium Vestae, which was in the immediate vicinity of the goddess’s temple. This area was inaccessible to everyone except the Pontifex Maximus. Due to their exposed place of residence, they led a largely public life.

Central to the lifestyle of the vestal virgins was their obligation to live in celibate chastity. Researchers assume that there were various reasons for this: One is that this special status was thought to have its reason in an outward sign of the sacredness of the office (Guizzi 1968, 102-108; Mustakallio 1992, 62). Another reason may lie in the family ties that were thus prevented (Cancik-Lindemaier 1990, 14). Furthermore, the suppression of sexuality and fertility gave the vestal virgins a peculiar power (Staples 1998, 147 f.). With reference to Cic. Leg. 2,29, chastity can furthermore be understood as an expression of personal purity and the only way of representing the entire Roman people, since in this way they shared a status that was in no way equal with anyone else, but shared a characteristic of every free Roman personal status figure (Lorsch Wildfang, 2006).

In any case, chastity was condicio-sine-qua-non for the vestals. If this rule was not followed, the vestal virgin had committed the offence of crimen incesti, a severe crime which was punishable by death. The trial was originally held by the Pontifex Maximus from the imperial period onwards by the quaestor. In contrast to numerous other rule violations in Roman sacral or profane law, this transgression was inexcusable. Plutarch describes (Plut. Num. 10, 4-7) the punishment as follows:

[4] ὑπὸ τὸ φορεῖον ἀποθνήσκει, κόλασις δὲ τῶν μὲν ἄλλων ἁμαρτημάτων πληγαὶ ταῖς παρθένοις ἰς, τοῦ μεγίστου Ποντίφικος κολάζοντος ἔστιν ὅτε καὶ γυμνὴν τὴν πλημμελήσασαν, ὀθόνης ἐν παλινσκίῳ παρατεινομένης: ἡ δὲ τὴν παρθενίαν καταισχύνασα ζῶσα κατορύττεται παρὰ τὴν Κολλίνην λεγομένην πύλην ἐν ᾗ τις ἔστιν ἐντὸς τῆς πόλεως ὀφρὺς γεώδης παρατείνουσα πόρρω: [5] καλεῖται δὲ χῶμα διαλέκτῳ τῇ Λατίνων, ἐνταῦθα κατασκευάζεται κατάγειος οἶκος οὐ μέγας, ἔχων ἄνωθεν κατάβασιν. κεῖται δὲ ἐν αὐτῷ κλίνη τε ὑπεστρωμένη καὶ λύχνος καιόμενος, ἀπαρχαί τε τῶν πρὸς τὸ ζῆν ἀναγκαίων βραχεῖαί τινες, οἷον ἄρτος, ὕδωρ ἐν ἀγγείῳ, γάλα, ἔλαιον, ὥσπερ ἀφοσιουμένων τὸ μὴ λιμῷ διαφθείρειν σῶμα ταῖς μεγίσταις καθιερωμένον ἁγιστείαις. [6] αὐτὴν δὲ [p. 344] τὴν κολαζομένην εἰς φορεῖον ἐνθέμενοι καὶ καταστεγάσαντες ἔξωθεν καὶ καταλαβόντες ἱμᾶσιν, ὡς μηδὲ φωνὴν ἐξάκουστον γενέσθαι, κομίζουσι δι᾽ ἀγορᾶς, ἐξίστανται δὲ πάντες σιωπῇ καὶ παραπέμπουσιν ἄφθογγοι μετά τινος δεινῆς κατηφείας οὐδὲ ἔστιν ἕτερον θέαμα φρικτότερον, οὐδ᾽ ἡμέραν ἡ πόλις ἄλλην ἄγει στυγνοτέραν ἐκείνης, [7] ὅταν δὲ πρὸς τὸν τόπον κομισθῇ τὸ φορεῖον, οἱ μὲν ὑπηρέται τοὺς δεσμοὺς ἐξέλυσαν, ὁ δὲ τῶν ἱερέων ἔξαρχος εὐχάς τινας ἀπορρήτους ποιησάμενος καὶ χεῖρας ἀνατείνας θεοῖς πρὸ τῆς ἀνάγκης, ἐξάγει συγκεκαλυμμένην καὶ καθίστησιν ἐπὶ κλίμακος εἰς τὸ οἴκημα κάτω φερούσης. εἶτα αὐτὸς μὲν ἀποτρέπεται μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἱερέων τῆς δὲ καταβάσης ἥ τε κλίμαξ ἀναιρεῖται καὶ κατακρύπτεται τὸ οἴκημα γῆς πολλῆς ἄνωθεν ἐπιφορουμένης, ὥστε ἰσόπεδον τῷ λοιπῷ χώματι γενέσθαι τὸν τόπον, οὕτω μὲν αἱ προέμεναι τὴν ἱερὰν παρθενίαν κολάζονται.

[4] He who passes under the litter on which they are borne, is put to death. For their minor offences the virgins are punished with stripes, the pontifex maximus sometimes scourging the culprit on her bare flesh, in a dark place, with a curtain interposed. But she that has broken her vow of chastity is buried alive near the Colline gate. Here a little ridge of earth extends for some distance along the inside of the city-wall; the Latin word for it is ‘agger’. [5] Under it a small chamber is constructed, with steps leading down from above. In this are placed a couch with its coverings, a lighted lamp, and very small portions of the necessaries of life, such as bread, a bowl of water, milk, and oil, as though they would thereby absolve themselves from the charge of destroying by hunger a life which had been consecrated to the highest services of religion. [6] Then the culprit herself is placed on a litter, over which coverings are thrown and fastened down with cords so that not even a cry can be heard from within, and carried through the forum. All the people there silently make way for the litter, and follow it without uttering a sound, in a terrible depression of soul. No other spectacle is more appalling, nor does any other day bring more gloom to the city than this. [7] When the litter reaches its destination, the attendants unfasten the cords of the coverings. Then the high priest, after stretching his hands toward heaven and uttering certain mysterious prayers before the fatal act, brings forth the culprit, who is closely veiled, and places her on the steps leading down into the chamber. After this he turns away his face, as do the rest of the priests, and when she has gone down, the steps are taken up, and great quantities of earth are thrown into the entrance to the chamber, hiding it away, and making the place level with the rest of the mound. Such is the punishment of those who break their vow of virginity.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus depicts this process more soberly, but no less impressively (Dion. Hal. Ant. 2,67,4). Although undated crimen incesti-trials are often subject of ancient accounts, a datable trial report gives only the younger Plinyof the year 62 (Plin. Ep. 4, 11, 6-9). The circumstances of the killing are reminiscent of the atonement of prodigia. Why this type of execution was chosen is disputed. One possibility is that it was simply to preserve the sanctitas of the Vestal (Staples 1998, 151). On the other hand, it is assumed that the special closeness of the priestess to the earth deity Vesta was brought to bear (Lorsch Wildfang 2006, 58 f.). In any case, the offerings given to the condemned woman in the underground chamber (water, bread, milk and oil) were not only everyday food, but were also found in Roman purification rites and sacrificial rites.

Term

Dionysius of Halicarnassus reports a threefold division of the at least thirty years of service. Ten years each were spent on their own training, the service, and the training of new priestesses (Dion. Hal. Ant. 2, 67). This seems to be a rough schematisation based on the thirty-year minimum period of service. However, this scheme is the only representation of the internal organisation or hierarchy of the college. Nothing further can be discerned. Inscriptions (ILS 4923 to 4938) and statues, especially from the 3rd century AD, give evidence of a special honouring of the senior virgo Vestalis maxima. However, it cannot be made clear whether she had only an appreciation or also leading functions.

Task and Function

The main task of the Vestals was to tend the eternal flame of the state hearth (Cic. Leg. 2,20; Ov. fast. 6,297) within the aedes vestae. Its extinction was interpreted as a negative prodigium for the res publica and its continued existence. This task was thus constitutive for the Roman polity. On New Year's Day, 1st March each year, it was said to be renewed by fire-drilling with wood from the arbor felix. The laurel that adorned the aedes was taken down, burnt and then renewed (Ov. Fast. 3,141-144).

Vesta quoque ut folio niteat velata recenti, cedit ab Iliacis laurea cana focis. adde, quod arcana fieri novus ignis in aede dicitur, et vires flamma refecta capit. the withered laurel is withdrawn from the Ilian hearth, that Vesta also may make a brave show, dressed in fresh leaves. Besides ’tis said that a new fire is lighted in her secret shrine, and the rekindled flame gains strength.

Furthermore, the Vestals were involved in several other annually recurring public cults and rites At the fordicidia on 15th April, it was the task of the virgo vestalis maxima to burn the nasciturus of cows sacrificed to Jupiter and to keep their ashes in the aedes (Ovid. Fast. 4,629-640). The Vestalia (9th June) included a purification not only of the aedes, but also the ritual disposal of the cut hair and nails of flamen dialis and flaminica (Ov. Fast. 6, 226-234). During this period (7th to 15th June) women could visit the penus, which was probably a repository within the aedes. Furthermore, they had the task of collecting the blood of the euquus octobersacrificed to Mars on 15 October (Ov. Fast. 4,733 Fest. P. 190 L), in order to then process it with the ashes of the fordicidia and bean straw into incense - suffimen. This was distributed to the population at the parilia, an Italic shepherds' festival on 21st April (Ov. Fast. 4,721-734). At the agrei on 15 May, vestal virgins hurled straw dolls from a bridge into the Tiber (Dion. Hal. Ant. 1,38,3; Fest. p. 14 L; Ov. Fast. 5,621 f.).

In addition to these pufification rites (Lorsch Wildfang 2006, 22-28), the Vestals also had functions that involved the production and actual or symbolic storage of goods. They produced the mola salsa; a paste mixed from salt, water and flour, which was needed for the purification of sacrificial animals (Serv. Verg. Ecl. 8,82). At the consualia, on 21st August and 15th December, the first harvest of the year was offered to the god Consus at an underground altar. Possibly vestal virgins had a function at a festival mentioned by Varro in honour of the goddess Ops (Varr. Ling. 6,21).

Finally, according to Cicero, the vestal virgins had to perform an unspecified sacrificial act at the festival of Bona Dea on 4th December (Cic. Har. 37). This ritual, attended by women only, took place in the house of a magistrate and, apart from the scandal caused by Publius Claudius Pulcher, who in 62 BC intruded the ceremony dressed as a woman, was probably not witnessed by any men. This instance must not be forgotten when reading ancient sources dominated by men.

The task of the Vestal was therefore neither a separate female cult nor the representation of femininity in the religious sphere of Rome, but the service of the deity Vesta as representatives of the res publica, the production of substances needed for sacrifices and the fulfilment of their purificatory functions.

Legal Status

Personal

The captio and its legal consequences generated a legal institution sui generis. Vestals were exempt from any male guardianship, could own property, mancipate slaves, and testate (Gai. Inst. 1,145; Cic. Leg. 3,10,17; Plu. Num. 10,5). This exemption from tutelage was unique to women in Roman antiquity. This may be explained with an inscription of masculine characteristics (Beard 1980, 17; Mustakallio 1992, 75) or with the simple lack of necessity, since the vestal virgin stood outside a familia, her financial conduct could not harm a familia (Gardner 1995, 33). Furthermore, vestal virgins were also capable of litigation (Tac. ann. 2,34). According to Plutarch, the jurisdiction laid in the hands of the Pontifex Maximus (Plut. Num. 10,7). Legally, the Vestal was without relatives. However, biological kinship relations were nevertheless maintained, as shown by the behaviour of the Vestal Claudia, who protected her father Appius Claudius Pulcher from attackers in the triumphal procession in 143 BC by virtue of her sanctitas.

Financial

Since they had left the familia, they were not called to legal succession according to their natal family but could certainly inherit in intestate succession. If they did not make a will, their property fell to the res publica. In Gellius Noctes Atticae the commentary of the Augustan jurist Labeo is handed down, which states as follows (Gell. 1,12,18):

Praeterea in Commentariis Labeonis, quae ad Duodecim Tabulas composuit, ita scriptum est: "Virgo Vestalis neque heres est cuiquam intestato, neque intestatae quisquam, sed bona eius in publicum redigi aiunt. Id quo iure fiat, quaeritur." Furthermore, in the Commentaries on the Twelve Tables compiled by Labeo we find this passage: "A Vestal virgin is not heir to any intestate person, nor is anyone her heir, should she die without making a will, but her property, they say, reverts to the public treasury. The legal principle involved is an unsettled question."

As a result, they were also no longer favoured by family support obligations. Therefore, they received a stipend from the res publica, although it is unclear whether the college as a whole or each vestal was maintained individually. If the college as a whole received this stipend, it cannot have been neither a sort of dowry (Mommsen 1887, 64) nor a peculium(Gardner, 1995, 33). Nothing can be said about the amount and use of the stipendium.

Social Status

Costume

The vestal virgin was always recognisable in public by a peculiar white costume. She wore her hair like Roman brides in sex crines. She also wore the stolae matronae, a floor-length overgarment. If she was involved in a ritual act, she also wore the vittaereserved for matrons and the priestly infulae. These elements combined the costume of brides, matrons and (male) priests without any clear assignment to one of these groups. What they all have in common is that they make it clear that they belonged to the Roman elite.

Privilege

The special position of the Vestal was underlined by some privileges. They were accompanied in public by a lictor. If she met a consul on the street, he sidestepped and his lictores lowered the fasces (Sen. Contr. 6,8,1). Furthermore, she had the right to sit in the Circus in the seats designated for the senators. Whoever insulted her was put to death, whoever she happened to meet on the way to his execution, she could pardon, (Plu. Num. 10,6). For the latter privilege, however, there are no other records of deeds.

Immortalisation (Statues)

Statues of the virgines vestalis maximae were made in the 3rd century and can be found today in the atrium Vestae. Furthermore, there are about 30 honorary inscriptions (ILS 4923-4938). Here, above all, the election, the satisfaction of the deity with the service of the Vestal and the correct performance of the service are emphasised and made clear for the priestess and all others.

Criticism

The vestal virgins were unchallenged in popularity within the res publica until the rise of Christianity. Like every pagan priesthood and cult, they were subject to vehement criticism from the Christian side. Especially in the inner-Christian debate about chastity in order to freely follow Christ and serve God, the Vestals and their way of life were held up as a negative example. The confirmation of vestal privileges by the city prefect of Rome Quintus Aurelius Symmachusin 384, eleven years before the binding end of all pagan cults (Symm. Ep. 9,147 f.), testifies to the dispute between Christianity and vestal cult servants. Ambrose of Milan, who already made his opinion clear in his treatise on virginity and attested Vestals a life in falsehood (Ambr. De virg. 15), polemicised that Vestals only had material interests and did not live chastity for the sake of divinity and eternal life (Ambr. Epist. 10,73,11 f.).

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Guizzi, Francesco,Aspetti Giuridici del Sacerdozio Romano. Il Sacerdozio di Vesta, Napoli 1968.

Lorsch Wilfang, Robin, A Study of Rome’s Vestal Priestesses in the Late Republic and Early Empire, London/New York 2006.

Mekacher, Nina, Die vestalischen Jungfrauen in der römischen Kaiserzeit (= Palilia 15), Wiesbaden 2006.

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Staples, Ariadne, From Good Goddess to Vestal Virgins. Sex and Category in Roman Religion, London/New York 1998.