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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 (beloved), 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 ...
The priestesses of Vesta, known as Vestal Virgins, administered her temple and sustained its sacred fire. The existence of Vestal Virgins in Alba Longa is connected with early Roman traditions, for the mother of Romulus' and Remus, Silvia, was a priestess of Vesta, impregnated by either Mars or Hercules. [16]
The sacred fire of Vesta was a sacred eternal flame in ancient Rome.The Vestal Virgins, originally numbering two, later four, and eventually six, were selected by lot and served for thirty years, tending the holy fire and performing other rituals connected to domestic life—among them were the ritual sweeping of the temple on June 15 and the preparation of food for certain festivals.
It was tended by the Vestal Virgins, a college of priestesses said to have been instituted by Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome. Like the goddess herself, the Vestals swore an oath of celibacy, which they were obliged to keep for the duration of their service, a term of thirty years, although they were free to marry afterward.
Reverse of a denarius (89 BCE) depicting the torture of Tarpeia Reverse of a denarius (19-18 BCE) of Augustus showing Tarpeia crushed by the soldiers' shields. In Roman legend, Tarpeia (/ t ɑːr ˈ p iː ə /; mid-8th century BCE), daughter of the Roman commander Spurius Tarpeius, was a Vestal Virgin who betrayed the city of Rome to the Sabines at the time of their women's abduction for what ...
The Temple of Vesta, the Atrium of the Vestal Virgins (House of the Vestal Virgins), and the Regia are the earliest evidence of the Cult of Vesta. The original Temple of Vesta stood on the east end of the forum near the house of the Vestal Virgins and the Regia. Beyond that cluster of buildings is the Via Sacra (Sacred Way) which ran uphill. [11]
Aemilia, Licinia and Marcia were Roman vestal Virgins, who were prosecuted for having broken the vow of chastity in two famous trials between 115 and 113 BC. [2] The first trial was conducted by the Pontifex Maximus Metellus Delmaticus, who sentenced Aemilia to death in 114 BC.
Postumia was a vestal virgin (Latin: sacerdos vestalis) of Rome accused of the crime of incestum in 420 BC and acquitted of the crime. [1] Other than Postumia's trial, little is known about her life. She was born in the Postumii family, who were Roman patricians and held high offices in the late 5th century BC.