Temple of Vesta and the House of the Vestal Virgins

Dear Gentle Readers,

This blog post was composed by powerhouse students Jess Gero and Julie Settembrino. Enjoy!

Residence of the Vestal Virgins from a spur of the Palatine.

The Vestal Virgins were a group of six women chosen from a young age to carry out specific duties to the Roman state, especially the preservation of the city’s central hearth fire. This fire represented the health and safety of the city’s existence, so preserving it was essential to the Roman way of life. The House of the Vestal Virgins was located within the Forum Romanum, the political, social, and religious center of the city. Also in the forum, next to this house, is the Temple of Vesta, the goddess of the hearth to whom the Vestals were dedicated. Although they occasionally attended public events such as those at the Colosseum, most of their time was spent within this home, where all of their needs were met. The Vestals were committed to a thirty-year service, starting usually between the ages of six and ten, a service which came with both restrictions and advantages.

Temple of Vesta, where the sacred fire burned. The House is to the right.

Here is a map of the forum with these buildings (see right hand side):

These priestesses were required to commit themselves to a life of chastity. Failure to maintain virginity was severely punished with being buried alive. The men who helped them commit this crime were also punished by being flogged publically in the forum. Even though these restrictions seem harsh, there were also many benefits to being a Vestal Virgin. The Vestals had rights at the time that most women did not, such as the right to their own property and autonomy not granted to other contemporary women. These rights consisted of privileges such as front row seats in the Colosseum, accompanying the emperor to events, and other honors not bestowed upon the average Roman women. During this time, this sort of freedom for women was very unusual. However, this freedom could be chosen by the women themselves. In Rome fathers were in charge of their daughters until they were married, so a fathers had the right to choose the path of a Vestal for their daughter. The fathers of the Vestals were usually wealthy and powerful, and the daughters were under the control of their fathers like normal roman girls until the point at which they obtained their service as a Vestal Virgins. Though the freedom of these virgins seemed advanced for the time, you can still see the patriarchal structure of Roman society in the way that their services were chosen for them by their fathers.

Statue of a (non-buried-alive) Vestal Virgin.

The sexuality of the Vestal Virgins is still debated among historians. It is thought that the women could be perceived as either matrons of the Roman empire, or rather symbols of the state with no sexual presentation.  In the terms of a matron, some historians believe that the virgins were not perceived as sterile, but as “stored up potential procreative power,” and can often be seen in tradition garb like that of a bride.  This is comparable to the Catholic tradition of nuns “marrying” God through their service.  In contrast, other classicists think that the Romans wanted the Vestals to be perceived as sexless figures, representing the power and elegance of the empire. 

The Vestal Virgins play an important role in Roman life within the forum.  Not only did they represent the resilience and strength of the empire, but they also carried out important duties and lived a life in honor within society. While there are still many aspects of the Vestals’ lives that we do not know for certain, we do know that their service was so important to society that it came with its own set of rules, rights, and consequences.