The first legendary account of a Vestal Virgin is that of Rea Silvia, daughter of Numitor, king of Alba Longa, before the legendary foundation of Rome. Numitor had been defeated by his brother Amulius, who had seized the power in the city and expelled Numitor. Rea Silvia had been appointed a Vestal Virgin in order to make the possibility of her bearing a royal heir to Numitor nihil. The story tells us, that Silvia, as a priestess of Vesta, was not allowed to marry or get in close contact with any man and she was to lead her life in complete solitude. Nevertheless, she was miraculously visited by the god Mars and became pregnant. After giving birth to twin boys, she was deprived of them and the babies were thrown into the river Tiber. Many years thereafter, these little boys returned as Romulus and Remus, to avenge their mother and grandfather, to expel the usurper and to finally found a city of their own, Rome. It is quite certain that the Latins of those times worshipped the goddess Vesta. Not known from historical and archaeological data, however, is whether there already was a priesthood of unmarried females called Vestal Virgins.

In Rome, the first king to have installed, according to historical accounts, a college of female priests called Virgines Vestales is Numa Pompilius, a very religious aware king of Sabine descent. The Vestal Virgins were of royal birth, one of them allegedly was a daughter of Numa himself. At first, there seem to have been two Virgins only, later they became four and even later six. In the imperial period, this number was even enlarged, but the core of the priesthood contained of six priestesses. The priesthood of Vesta was the only pure female priesthood of a pure Latin goddess in Rome. It started in the 8th century BCE and ended in the 4th century CE.

The temple

The temple can still be partially seen on the Forum Romanum as a round structure, the shape it has always had. Why this shape had been chosen is not all that clear; most archaeologists think that the place of the fanum (i.e. the sanctuary) had always been there, very near to the lucus Vestae (the forest of Vesta)(1), a small bush next to the sanctuary and the Regia. The very first fanum seems to have had the shape of a hut, like most sanctuaries of the primitive Latin divinities did. Progressing time and culture, however, adopted new building shapes of temples for other gods, mainly those shapes brought along by the Etruscans and Greeks. But Vesta’s temple always remained a round structure in all its rebuilds, right to the last one, in 191 CE by order of Julia Domna, the wife of emperor Septimius Severus.

The entrance door of the temple was pointed towards the East, like the orientation of all ancient Greek and Roman temples. The remains of the building as they are nowadays, i.e. Julia Domna’s rebuild project, was performed on a podium in opus caementicium, with a diameter of a. 15 m. The coating was done in marble and the columns were made in the Corinthian style. The cella or internal part of the temple was round as well, to stress the focus on the central part of the temple, the hearth fire, which was eternally burning. It is actually believed that the temple contained no cult statue of the goddess Vesta. The burning fire, the sacred fire, was the cult statue and the sacred presence of Vesta, in a way. This belief comes from the fact that no mount or base for a cult statue has been found in the temple and from an ancient account that the worship of Vesta did not have a cult statue, but that its rituals were focused on the sacred fire by Ovidius (Fasti, book VI, 295-6). There was, however, a sort of vault in the temple, where sacred and other valuable objects were kept, the penus Vestae (or 'sancta sanctorum')(2). No one was allowed to see what was kept there, only the Vestal Virgins had access to it. These sacred objects were said to have been transported from Troy by Aeneas, the mythical ancestor of the Roman people, such as the palladium, an arcaic wooden cult statue of Pallas Athena. The penus can possibly be identified by a trapezoid cavity (2,4 by 2,4 m) within the podium of the temple, which was accessible from the cella only.

The Atrium Vestae

To the East of the temple, the House of the Vestal Virgins can be entered. To the left, there is a small aedicula with two Ionic columns and an inscription, saying that it had been built with public funds by decree of the Senate. It has been dated in the Hadrianic era and has been identified as a compitum, a crossroads sanctuary, dedicated to the Lares Compitales, special Roman divinities protecting the crossroads. Passing this little sanctuary, the inner part of the Atrium can be accessed. Here is a kind of peristylium, i.e. an open space, surrounded by walls and rooms with columns in front of them, which doesn’t have a roof. Large Roman domus used to have a peristylium as well. Under the walls of this structure, the remains of older structures have been found. They were oriented in a way different from the later structures and paved with mosaics formed by irregular pieces of marble (so called 'lithostroton'). The peristylium structure was the center of a large house, which must have had more than one floor. Two floors, at least, have been preserved on the southern side of the complex. Certain is, that the Atrium building, as we can see it today, has been the result of a long series of building stages, enlargements, rebuilds and so forth. It is known that Augustus Caesar, who became pontifex maximus in 12 BCE after the death of his predecessor Lepidus, transferred the pontifical activities, which had always taken place at the Regia or domus publica, to his house on the Palatine. By doing this, he simultaneously donated the area of the Regia building to the Vestal Virgins, so that this could be incorporated into the structure of the Atrium Vestae(3). Remains of this incorporation have been found along the Via Sacra side of the Atrium Vestae building.

When the great fire of 64 CE (the era of emperor Nero) destroyed large parts of the city, also the temple, Atrium and possibly the old Regia burnt to the ground(4). They were rebuilt on a higher level, as people used to rebuild houses which had burnt down on their old foundations. After many years of rebuilding, the Atrium Vestae gained its actual proportions, a reconstruction of which can be seen on the image above. A total rebuild is known from the era of emperor Traianus. Final attachments have been attested dating from the era of Septimius Severus, when his wife Julia Domna, as has been stated earlier, took care of embellishing the Vestal quarters.

As the popularity of mystic cults grew, the reliance on the State cult grew fainter and in the course of time Christianity gained ever more religious power, interest in the cult of Vesta got more and more lost. The temple and Atrium were closed in 391 CE by decree of the emperor Theodosius, following the ultimate abolition of pagan cults. The last Vestal Virgin, named Coelia Concordia, stepped down from her office in 394 CE. She was converted to Christianity.

In the peristylium garden, several rows of statues, some with their heads taken or chopped off, of female figures in long robes, can still be seen. On the bases of these statues, inscriptions have been engraved. These are the statues of several leading high priestesses of the college of Vestal Virgins, the so called Virgines Vestales Maximae. Most of the statues and inscriptions date from the latest rebuilding phase of the Atrium, the Severian era. We find names such as Numisia Maximilla, Terentia Flavula, Campia Severina, Flavia Mamilia, Flavia Publicia, Terentia Rufilla. These names do not really sound republican or early imperial. They reflect the days of the 3rd and 4th centuries CE.

The Vestal Virgins

The Vestals guarded the sacred fire of Vesta, once the spirit of the Roman hearth, later the goddess of the flame that symbolized the Roman State. Vesta has been compared to the Greek goddess Hestia, who was the hearth and home goddess in the Hellenic world. Yet, for the Romans, the spirit of the flame was more important than the looks of the goddess herself. Possibly through Etruscan religious influence(5), the Romans stressed the part of the mythology around Vesta which points out that she is the Guardian of the Flame of Life and in this function hardly has or needs any form. Juno, Ceres and Vesta were believed to be three sisters, born as offspring of Saturnus and Ops. Ceres was seen as the most earthly goddess of the three sisters, Juno as a divine being dwelling in heaven (next to Juppiter), yet married and a mother herself, and Vesta was believed to have declined married life, in order to be pure spirit, without any eartly attachments, symbolized by the flame, since no bodies were considered to be born of flame. And because Vesta was considered to be a virgin, the Vestals had also to be virgins in order to keep the cult of the divine virgin of the Latins pure and unadulterated.

The fire of Vesta in the temple was never permitted to go out and it was tended by the Vestals according to an ancient and intricate ritual. Originally, the Vestals were the daughters of the king(6), but after Rome became a republic, their members were usually drawn (by lot) from leading Roman families, at first patrician clans, but later on, other leading families produced Vestals as well. To be a Vestal was a great honor, but it also entailed sacrifices. A girl was chosen for the office between the ages of 6 and 10, remained a Vestal for 30 years and was sworn to chastity for the entire period of her service. After having been relieved from the service, she was allowed to marry, but it could well happen that women who had been a Vestal, remained unmarried for the rest of their life. If a Vestal broke her vow of chastity, she was buried alive in an underground chamber(7). It was said that a Vestal spent the first decade of her service learning her duties, the second decade practising them and the third teaching them to the novices. Among the duties of the Vestals was the keeping of the wills of important Romans, such as the emperor. These were kept in the Atrium Vestae and shown to no one else than the owner of the will. The vow of chastity was a very ancient aspect of the life of the Vestals. It was considered as exceptional as the very office these women held: to be female priests with the same general esteem for their office as if they had been male priests. In ancient Rome, women generally were not expected to lead a life of chastity, but to marry and give birth to many children, be a wife, true and faithful to her husband and a good mother for their children. They were expected to stay out of public life. For the Vestal, there was no married life during her office and she was expected to be present at numous religious rituals, sacrifices and festivals, to conduct ceremonies together with the pontifices. She could not love a man, give up the office during those thirty years, get married and become pregnant. For a Roman woman, this must have been a somewhat terrible thing. Some Vestals were known to have broken their vow and been severely punished. To rape a Vestal was considered one of the most terrible things that could happen to Roman society and the man who did this could expect a punishment at least as severe as the poor Vestal who had been raped and had to be put to death if she had not taken her own life already.

In this respect, one could say that Vestals were considered to be a sort of Brides of the State or being 'married to the State'(8). Therefore, the clothing they wore daily is a reflection of that of a Roman bride, with the addition of a purple rim, which the Vestals as only Roman women were allowed to wear.

As Vestals were expected to be part of public life to some extent, they had the same rights as male Roman citizens had. They had the right to vote and were even treated as Roman magistrates, like the praetor or the consul. They were escorted by lictores when on the streets and it was said that a Vestal had the power to free slaves at sight.

Ancient accounts of Vesta and the Virgins

Quite a bit of accounts have been written about Vesta and her priestesses in ancient times. The longest and perhaps most interesting account relating to the intrinsic meaning of the cult of Vesta is from the poet Ovidius in his Fasti, which is, in fact, a Roman religious calendar in elegiac distichon verse. I hereby quote Ovidius’ text related to the 9th of June, the day of the Vestalia, the religious festival day of Vesta:

Ovid. Fast. 6.249-270

Vesta, fave! Tibi nunc operata resolvimus ora,

Ad tua si nobis sacra venire licet.

In prece totus eram: caelestia numina sensi,

Laetaque purpurea luce refulsit humus.

Non equidem vidi –valeant mendacia vatum!-

Te, dea, nec fueras aspicienda viro.

Sed quae nescieram, quorumque errore tenebar,

Cognita sunt nullo praecipiente mihi.

Dena quater memorant habuisse Parilia Romam,

Cum flammae custos aede recepta dea est,

Regis opus placidi, quo non metuentius ullum

Numinis ingenium terra Sabina tulit.

Quae nunc aere vides, stipula tum tecta videres,

Et paries lento vimine textus erat.

Hic locus exiguus, qui sustinet atria Vestae,

Tunc erat intonsi regia magna Numae.

Forma tamen templi, quae nunc manet, ante fuisse

Dicitur, et formae causa probanda subest.

Vesta eadem est et terra –subest vigil ignis utrique-

Significantque deam terra focusque suam:

Terra pilae similis nullo fulcimine nixa,

Aere subiecto tam grave pendet onus.

Par facies templi: nullus procurrit in illo

Angulus; a pluvio vindicat imbre tholus.

-Cur sit virginibus, quaeris, dea culta ministris?

Inveniam causas hac quoque parte suas.

Ex Ope Iunonem memorant Cereremque creatas

Semine Saturni, tertia Vesta fuit.

Utraque nupserunt, ambae peperisse feruntur,

De tribus impatiens restitit una viri.

Quid mirum, virgo si virgine laeta ministra

Admittit castas ad sua sacra manus?

Nec tu aliud Vestam quam vivam intellege flammam:

Nataque de flamma corpora nulla vides.

Iure igitur virgo est, quae semina nulla remittit

Nec capit et comites virginitatis amat.-

Esse diu stultus Vestae simulacra putavi,

Mox didici curvo nulla subesse tholo.

Effigiem nullam Vesta nec ignis habet.

Translation (by J.G. Frazer):

'O Vesta, grant me thy favour! In thy service now I open my lips, if it is lawful for me to come to ty sacred rites. I was wrapped up in prayer; I felt the heavenly deity, and the glad ground gleamed with a purple light. Not indeed that I saw thee, O goddess (far from me be the lies of poets!), nor was it meet that a man should look upon thee; but my ignorance was enlightened and my errors corrected without the help of an instructor. They say that Rome had forty times celebrated the Parilia when the goddess, Guardian of Fire, was received in her temple; it was the work of that peaceful king, than whom no man of more god-fearing temper was born in Sabine land. The buildings which you now see roofed with bronze you might then have seen roofed with thatch, and the walls were woven of tough osiers. This little spot, which now supports the Hall of Vesta, was then the great palace of unshorn Numa. Yet the shape of the temple, as it now exists, is said to have been its shape of old, and it is based on a sound reason. Vesta is the same as the Earth; under both of them is a perpetual fire; the earth and the hearth are symbols of the home. The earth is like a ball, resting on no prop; so great a weight hangs on the air beneath it. Its own power of rotation keeps it orb balanced; it has no angle which could press on any part; and since it is placed in the middle of the world (litt. 'things') and touches no side more or less, if it were not convex, it would be nearer to some part than to another, and the universe would not have the earth as its central weight. The form of the temple is similar: there is no projecting angle in it; a dome protects it from the showers of rain. You ask why the goddess is tended by virgin ministers. Of that also I will discover the true causes. They say that Juno and Ceres were born of Ops by Saturn’s seed; the third daughter was Vesta. The other two married; both are reported to have had offspring; of the three one remained, who refused to submit to a husband. What wonder if a virgin delights in a virgin minister and allows only chaste hands to touch her sacred things? Conceive of Vesta as naught but the living flame, and you see that no bodies are born of flame. Rightly, therefore, is she a virgin who neither gives nor takes seeds, and she loves companions in her virginity. Long did I foolishly think that there were images of Vesta: afterwards I learned that there are none under her curved dome. An undying fire is hidden in that temple; but there is no effigy of Vesta nor of the fire.'

This passage really tells us a lot about Vesta, her temple, cult, its origin and possible founder and answers the question why Vesta is a virgin and attended by virgins. We also get a glimpse of contemporary insights into the cosmology of the days of the early Roman empire: the earth is considered a sphere, hanging in space, yet it is seen as the center of the visible universe. Ovidius compares the round shape of Vesta’s temple to the round earth. Both the goddess and the known world are earthly and celestial at the same time. Both are supported by an immense fire. This prime version of modern natural science still looks and sounds quite mystical, but that was the way for nature scientists of those days to put things in writing, because they did not yet have the means and skills to research what was really going on in nature. And we must not forget that Ovidius was a poet and put his information down in poetical verse language. In the Fasti, his poetry often comes very close to the didactical poetry work de rerum natura by Lucretius. It simply is his way to explain an ancient and, as far as its meaning is concerned, quite a bit concealed cult to his contemporaries.

Other accounts, which can be found in the notes of this article, give a more practical informative account of the temple of Vesta, the Atrium Vestae and the life of the Vestal Virgins. Some of them focus on the chastity of the virgins, the lack of chastity that some virgins showed and the punishment that was given for this, because the want for sensation has never been new to mankind and certainly not to the Romans. Some speak of the origin and history of the cult, others of how the cult began to die out and disappeared in the end, by the coming of another state religion, namely Christianity. In spite of the, sometimes, ambiguous stories that circulated in ancient Roman literature about the Vestal Virgins, they seem to have been highly regarded and esteemed for the most part of Roman history. For a Roman woman, becoming a Vestal Virgin was the highest honor she could ever attain, for some women the price was even a bit too high. But this can happen to any religious person of any belief, in any country or era.

Notes:

1. Ovid. Fast. 6.395-402

2. H.A. Heliog. 6.7-8

3. Serv. A. 7.153

4. There are various accounts of the Vesta temple burning through a city fire. See also Liv. Per. 19; Plin. N.H. 7.141, Ovid.Fast.6.437-54 on the destruction of the temple by a fire during the pontificate of Caecilius Metellus.

5. See various works on the Etruscans and their culture, basically: Pallottino, M., Etruscologia, Milan, 1968, on the religious perception of the Etruscans.

6. Liv. 1.20.3 (around 700 BCE).

7. See the account of the unchaste Vestal Minucia in Liv. 8.15.7-8. She was left to die in a cellar under the porta Collina. Another passage accounts of two Vestals, Opimia and Floronia, who underwent the same fate (Liv. 22.57.2-3).

8. Various accounts of Vestals and their chastity can be found in Plin. Ep. 4.11.6-9 and Prud. Symm. 2.1064-90

Bibliography:

Coarelli, F., Guida archeologica di Roma, Milano, 1994, p. 96-100.

Frazer, J.G., Ovid, Fasti, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1976, p. 338-41

Hadas, M., Imperial Rome, Time-Life Books, 1966, p. 125.