Vestal Virgins

In Practice

Girls were chosen young and served for thirty years, bound to chastity. A Vestal who broke her vow was buried alive. Roman writers credit King Numa with founding the order. Livy says he chose virgins as priestesses of Vesta, gave them a public stipend, and made their persons sacred by a vow of chastity (Ab Urbe Condita 1.20.3).

Their purpose was to keep the public hearth of Vesta, the Roman goddess of the hearth, burning. Plutarch says Numa is credited with consecrating the Vestals and with the worship and care of the perpetual fire entrusted to them (Life of Numa 9.5). Dionysius of Halicarnassus adds that the extinction of the fire was the chief sign of a priestess not serving with purity. The Romans dreaded it above all misfortunes, taking it as an omen for the city's destruction (Roman Antiquities 2.67.5). Plutarch and Dionysius disagree about what else the temple held. Some said only the fire, others said hidden sacred objects (Life of Numa 9.8; Roman Antiquities 2.66.2-2.66.3).

The Vestals were chosen as children. Aulus Gellius, citing the jurist Labeo, says a girl under six or over ten could not be taken, and both her parents had to be alive. She could have no speech or hearing defect and no bodily blemish (Attic Nights 1.12.1-1.12.3). The chief pontiff "took" her by the hand, as if she had been taken in war (Attic Nights 1.12.13). Once chosen, she left her father's authority without formal emancipation and gained the right to make a will (Attic Nights 1.12.9). Numbers changed. Plutarch names four early Vestals, Gegania, Verenia, Canuleia and Tarpeia, and two more added by Servius (Life of Numa 10.1). Dionysius says there were first four and later six (Roman Antiquities 2.67.1).

Service ran thirty years in three stages. Plutarch and Dionysius agree on the shape: ten years learning the duties, ten performing them, ten teaching others (Life of Numa 10.1; Roman Antiquities 2.67.2). After thirty years a Vestal could lay down her office and marry. Both writers add that few did, and that those who did were unhappy, so most stayed virgins until death (Life of Numa 10.2; Roman Antiquities 2.67.2). Vestals also held honours. Plutarch lists the fasces carried before them and freedom to manage their affairs without a guardian. A condemned criminal they met on the way to execution was spared if the meeting was accidental (Life of Numa 10.3).

The punishment for broken chastity is described in detail. A minor fault earned a beating by the pontiff, but a Vestal who broke her vow was buried alive near the Colline Gate (Life of Numa 10.4). Plutarch describes an underground chamber with a couch, a lamp, bread, water, milk and oil, and a silent procession through the Forum (Life of Numa 10.5-10.7). Dionysius says the pontiffs judged the case and that she was carried on a bier as at a funeral, then shut in a cell without a tomb or funeral rites (Roman Antiquities 2.67.3-2.67.4). Livy records one case by name. Minucia was suspected because of an improper love of dress, then accused on a slave's evidence, found guilty and buried alive in the Campus Sceleratus (Ab Urbe Condita 8.15.7-8.15.8).

The order is also woven into Rome's origin story. Livy says Amulius made his niece Rhea Silvia a Vestal to deprive her of children, and she bore twins whose father she named as Mars (Ab Urbe Condita 1.3.11, 1.4.2). That is the birth of Romulus and Remus, told in the founding of Rome. Dionysius reports that some credit Romulus with the temple. He rejects this, because Romulus, remembering what happened to his mother, would not have appointed virgins he might have to punish (Roman Antiquities 2.65.3). Old Roman festivals such as the Lupercalia and Saturnalia belong to the same religious calendar, but the Vestals ran their own rites.

Their goddess and her Greek counterpart are compared in Hestia vs Vesta: Greek cities kept a civic hearth for Hestia, while Rome tended one state fire through the Vestals.

Where Accounts Differ

• who founded the Vestal order
• how many Vestals there were
• what the temple of Vesta held
• the punishment for broken chastity

• Who founded the order: Livy and Plutarch credit Numa (Ab Urbe Condita 1.20.3; Life of Numa 9.5). Livy also has Rhea Silvia a Vestal at Alba before Rome existed (1.3.11), and the order's Alban origin is why he says it belonged with the founder's race (1.20.3). Dionysius reports that some ascribed the temple to Romulus, and he argues against them, giving Numa the temple and the virgins (Roman Antiquities 2.64.5, 2.65.1-2.65.3, 2.66.1).
• How many Vestals: Plutarch counts two founding names plus two more from Numa, then two added by Servius (Life of Numa 10.1). Dionysius says four at first, later six (Roman Antiquities 2.67.1). The two agree on the later number.
• The punishment: Plutarch and Dionysius agree on burial alive at the Colline Gate but differ on detail. Plutarch describes provisions and a silent procession (Life of Numa 10.5-10.7). Dionysius says the victim was buried without a monument or funeral rites and adds no provisions (Roman Antiquities 2.67.4). Neither says what became of the man. Dionysius's account of two acquitted Vestals, Aemilia and Tuccia, shows that the goddess was believed to defend the falsely accused (Roman Antiquities 2.68.3-2.69.3).
• What the temple kept: Plutarch says some thought only the fire was guarded, others that sacred objects were hidden (Life of Numa 9.8). Dionysius says some hold that only the visible fire is kept, but he thinks other things are kept as well and declines to inquire (Roman Antiquities 2.66.2-2.66.3).
• The minor offence: Plutarch says lesser faults were punished by the pontiff with stripes (Life of Numa 10.4), and Dionysius likewise says the pontiffs scourged those guilty of lesser misdemeanours with rods (Roman Antiquities 2.67.3).
• Verification: Livy 1.3.11, 1.4.2, 1.20.3 and 8.15.7-8.15.8 were read in the Perseus English text. Plutarch's Life of Numa (9.5, 9.8, 10.1-10.7) and Dionysius 2.64-2.69 were read in the Loeb translations on LacusCurtius (Perrin; Cary). Aulus Gellius 1.12 was read there in Rolfe's Loeb translation. Numa and Gellius are not yet in the site's citation registry, and Dionysius is registered but not machine-checked. The date of Minucia's burial is not given in the passage; the conventional Livian year (337 BCE) is not asserted here.

Where This Appears

• Character Vesta
• Character Romulus
• Character Remus
• Character Mars
• Term Lupercalia
• Term Saturnalia
• Mythology Roman Mythology
• Story The Founding of Rome
• Character Numa Pompilius
• Comparison Hestia vs. Vesta

Referenced By

• Term Lares and Penates

Sources