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175-566: Notable examples of immurement as an established execution practice (with death from thirst or starvation as the intended aim) are attested. Women in the Roman Empire who were Vestal Virgins faced live entombment as punishment when they were found guilty of breaking their chastity vows. Immurement has also been well established as a punishment of robbers in Persia , even into the early 20th century. Some ambiguous evidence exists of immurement as

350-521: A Gaulish man and woman, possibly to avert divine outrage at the ritual killing of the Vestal priestesses involved. According to Erdkamp, this may have also been intended to restore divine support for Rome's success on the battlefield, evidenced by later successful auguries. The initial charges against the Vestals concerned were almost certainly trumped up, and may have been politically motivated. Pliny

525-472: A Latvian legend as many as three people might have been immured in tunnels under the Grobiņa Castle . A daughter of a knight living in the castle did not approve of her father's choice of a young nobleman as her future husband. Said knight also pillaged surrounding areas and took prisoners to live in the tunnels, among these a handsome young man whom the daughter took a liking to, helping him escape. Her fate

700-471: A prodigy , a warning that the pax deorum ("peace of the gods") was disrupted by some undetected impropriety, unnatural phenomenon or religious offence. Romans had a duty to report any suspected prodigies to the Senate, who in turn consulted the pontifex maximus , the pontifices and the haruspices to determine whether the matter must be tried or dismissed. Expiation of prodigies usually involved

875-412: A "dissolute life", stating that is common of historians wishing to paint an emperor in a bad light. Historian Mirosław Leszka attributes the action to a simple desire for power, and Twardowska theorizes that Verina supported him while Leo II was emperor because she would still retain influence as a close relative, which she would not wield over Zeno himself. Zeno had the option of raising another son from

1050-558: A Chalcedonian, and his ties to Timothy were seen as tacit approval of this murder. Basiliscus issued an encyclical on 9 April 475, which promoted the first three ecumenical councils of the church: Nicaea , Constantinople , and Ephesus , and condemned the Council of Chalcedon and the Tome of Leo . While enthusiastically received in Ephesus and Egypt, it resulted in outrage from

1225-556: A Vestal Virgin, and was chained and imprisoned when she gave birth. Dionysius also writes that the Roman king Tarquinius Priscus instituted live burial as a punishment for Vestal unchastity, and inflicted it on the Vestal Pinaria; and that whipping with rods sometimes preceded the immuration , and that this was done to Urbinia in 471 BCE, in a time of pestilence and plebeian unrest. Postumia, though innocent according to Livy,

1400-409: A Vestal in 85 and remained a Vestal until 61. The Vestals Arruntia, Perpennia M. f., and Popillia attended the inauguration of Lucius Cornelius Lentulus Niger as Flamen Martialis in 69. Licinia, Crassus' relative, was also present. Inscriptions record the existence of Vestals in other locations than the centre of Rome. The Vestals were used as models of female virtue in allegorizing portraiture of

1575-497: A Vestal put to death in 471. Livy names a Vestal Postumia, tried for inchastity in 420, but acquitted with a warning to take her position more seriously: Minucia was put to death for inchastity in 337: and Sextilia, put to death for adultery in 273. Some Vestals are said to have committed suicide when accused; Caparronia did so in 266: essential trial details are often lacking. Livy states that two Vestals, Floronia and Opimia, were convicted of unchastity in 216. One committed suicide,

1750-433: A Vestal, and then ultimately even from the daughters of freedmen for the same reason. The choosing ceremony was known as a captio (capture). 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

1925-622: A West Roman commander, was sent to capture Sardinia , and then to sail to link up with the Eastern armies near Carthage , the Vandal capital. Basiliscus was to sail with the bulk of the forces directly to Carthage, and the Eastern comes rei militaris Heraclius of Edessa , was to gather up Eastern forces in Egypt , disembark in Tripolitania , and then to approach Carthage by land; forcing

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2100-439: A broken oath. It was permanent, irreversible; no piaculum or expiation could restore it or compensate for its loss. A Vestal who committed incestum breached Rome's contract with the gods; she was a contradiction, a visible religious embarrassment. By ancient tradition, she must die, but she must seem to do so willingly, and her blood could not be spilled . The city could not seem responsible for her death, and burial of

2275-536: A certain Plotius. Now Licinia was the owner of a pleasant villa in the suburbs which Crassus wished to get at a low price, and it was for this reason that he was forever hovering about the woman and paying his court to her until he fell under the abominable suspicion. And in a way, it was his avarice that absolved him from the charge of corrupting the Vestal, and he was acquitted by the judges. But he did not let Licinia go until he had acquired her property." Licinia became

2450-552: A church until Zeno promised not to execute them; exiled to Limnae in Cappadocia , they were either beheaded or imprisoned in a dried-up cistern and left to starve to death. Basiliscus was born at an unknown date, likely in the Balkans . He was the brother of future Empress Verina , the wife of East Roman Emperor Leo I ( r.   457–474). Historian Stefan Krautschick argues that since Basiliscus' nephew, Armatus ,

2625-478: A collegiate priesthood. He then added a second pair. Rome's sixth king, Servius Tullius , who was also said to have been miraculously fathered by the fire-god Vulcan or the household Lar on a captive Vestal, increased the number of Vestals to six; in the Imperial era, as attested by Plutarch, the college had six vestals at any given time. Claims by Ambrose and others that the college comprised seven vestals in

2800-732: A combination of heavy taxes and heretical ecclesiastical policies, as well as a natural disaster. A large fire broke out in the quarter of Chalkoprateia in 475/476, before quickly spreading. The fire destroyed the Basilica , a library containing 120,000 books, as well as the Palace of Lausus , the Aphrodite of Knidos , the Lindian Athene , and the Samian Here . Bury remarks that, as is common with "accidents in superstitious ages",

2975-422: A couch, a lamp, and a table with a little food. The pontifex maximus , having lifted up his hands to heaven and uttered a secret prayer, opened the litter, led forth the culprit, and placing her on the steps of the ladder which gave access to the subterranean cell, delivered her over to the common executioner and his assistants, who conducted her down, drew up the ladder, and having filled the pit with earth until

3150-673: A culture of human sacrifice in the construction of large buildings in East and Southeast Asia. Such practices ranged from da sheng zhuang (打生樁) in China, hitobashira in Japan, and myosade (မြို့စတေး) in Burma. The folklore of many Southeastern European peoples refers to immurement as the mode of death for the victim sacrificed during the completion of a construction project, such as a bridge or fortress (mostly real buildings). The Castle of Shkodra

3325-532: A daughter of a free-born resident of Rome. From at least the mid-Republican era, the pontifex maximus chose Vestals by lot from a group of twenty high-born candidates at a gathering of their families and other Roman citizens. Under the Papian Law of the 3rd century BC, candidates for Vestal priesthoods had to be of patrician birth. Membership was opened to plebeians as it became difficult to find patricians willing to commit their daughters to 30 years as

3500-560: A day. Gregory of Tours , in his writings, related two stories of immurement, including a story of a nun in Poitiers who was immured in a cell at her own request after supposedly receiving a vision as well as a story about Salvius of Albi who was immured for a period prior to becoming bishop. In Catholic monastic tradition, there existed a type of enforced, solitary confinement for nuns or monks who had broken their vows of chastity, or espoused heretical ideas. As Henry Charles Lea puts it,

3675-443: A drinking cup near each body, then the pit was immured, and covered with earth The Neo-Assyrian Empire is notorious for its brutal repression techniques, not the least of those reasons being because several of its rulers congratulating themselves upon the vengeance they wrought by going into detail of how they dealt with their enemies. Here is a commemoration Ashurnasirpal II (r. 883–859 BC) made that includes immurement: I erected

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3850-484: A few were walled up alive in pillars of mortar, there to perish miserably. The remains of these living tombs may still be seen outside Derwaze-i-kassah-khane ("Slaughter-house Gate") at Shiraz, while another series lines the road as it enters the little town of Abade ... Immurement was practiced in Mongolia as recently as the early 20th century. It is not clear that all thus immured were meant to die of starvation. In

4025-474: A folk song sung by a Herzegovinian storyteller named Old Rashko . The version of the song in the Serbian language is the oldest collected version of the legend, and the first one which earned literary fame. The three brothers in the legend were represented by members of the noble Mrnjavčević family , Vukašin , Uglješa and Gojko. In 1824, Karadžić sent a copy of his folksong collection to Jacob Grimm , who

4200-417: A form of punishment. According to Finnish legends, a young maiden was wrongfully immured into the castle wall of Olavinlinna as a punishment for treason. The subsequent growth of a rowan tree at the location of her execution, whose flowers were as white as her innocence and berries as red as her blood, inspired a ballad. Similar legends stem from Haapsalu , Kuressaare , Põlva and Visby . According to

4375-635: A former ally of Verina, to extort money from the church. Verina turned against Basiliscus after the execution of her lover and began to plot to return Zeno to power, and sought refuge in Blachernae . It is not known if she fled because of her support or began to support Zeno after she fled, as the source, Candidus, is unclear, but the Vita Danielis Stylite states that she remained there until after Basiliscus died. Basiliscus had Armatus made magister militum praesentalis , allegedly at

4550-513: A life of retirement at Heraclea on the Propontis . Aspar was suspected of inducing Basiliscus to betray the expedition, sympathizing with the Vandals, and promising to make him emperor in place of Leo. Friell and Williams also reject this, commenting that the need to find a scapegoat is common in such disasters and that the accusation is implausible. One source, Hydatius , states that Aspar

4725-513: A long history, and Francesca Medioli writes the following in her essay "Dimensions of the Cloister": At Lodi in 1662 Sister Antonia Margherita Limera stood trial for having introduced a man into her cell and entertained him for a few days; she was sentenced to be walled in alive on a diet of bread and water. In the same year, the trial for breach of enclosure and sexual intercourse against the cleric Domenico Cagianella and Sister Vincenza Intanti of

4900-638: A miaphysite, made magister officiorum , and he received the miaphysite patriarch Timothy Ailuros , who returned from his exile in Crimea after the death of Leo. By them Basiliscus was persuaded to attack the tenets of Chalcedonianism. Basiliscus had Timothy Ailuros restored as the Patriarch of Alexandria , and Peter the Fuller as Patriarch of Antioch . Under his reign the Third Council of Ephesus

5075-483: A newspaper report from 1914, it is written: ... the prisons and dungeons of the Far Eastern country contain a number of refined Chinese shut up for life in heavy iron-bound coffins, which do not permit them to sit upright or lie down. These prisoners see daylight for only a few minutes daily when the food is thrown into their coffins through a small hole. In 1906, Hadj Mohammed Mesfewi , a cobbler from Marrakesh ,

5250-457: A poor commander, to prevent Leo from becoming stronger by way of weakening the Vandals. Historians Gerard Friell and Stephen Williams dismiss this, but accept that Verina pushed for his appointment and that Aspar did not object. Historian Peter Heather points out that, at this point, Basiliscus had just returned from considerable success on the Balkan frontier of the empire. Marcellinus ,

5425-455: A popular subject for artists in the 18th century and the 19th century. The French painter Hector Leroux , who lived and worked in Italy for seventeen years, became famous for meticulously researched images of Vestals in all aspects of their daily life and worship, making some thirty paintings of Vestals between 1863 and 1899. Procol Harum 's famous hit " A Whiter Shade of Pale " (1967) contains

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5600-456: A practice of coffin-type confinement in Mongolia . One famous, but likely mythical, immurement was that of Anarkali by Emperor Akbar because of her supposed relationship with Prince Saleem . Isolated incidents of immurement, rather than elements of continuous traditions, are attested or alleged from numerous other parts of the world. Instances of immurement as an element of massacre within

5775-538: A previous marriage to the throne, or else his brother, Longinus , which would remove any remnant of Verina's influence. Byzantine chronicler John Malalas states that Verina put forth a request which Zeno denied, causing her conspiracy, but does not specify the request; historian Maciej Salamon has argued that this request would be to have Basiliscus and her other relatives placed in high positions. Verina conspired with others to remove him as emperor, and historians generally accept that she planned to install her lover,

5950-426: A prey to repentance and dejection for the rest of their lives, thereby inspiring the rest with superstitious fears, so that until old age and death they remained steadfast in their virginity". Some Vestals preferred to renew their vows. Occia was vestal for 57 years between 38 BC and 19 AD. To obtain entry into the order, a girl had to be free of physical, moral, and mental 'defects', have two living parents, and be

6125-444: A promise to make them both magister militum , but Leszka challenges this, arguing that Theophanes does not specify the promises because he invented them as the most likely explanation. Leszka questions that Basiliscus would entrust military command to men he had lied to, and argues that they were motivated instead by fear that Basiliscus would be overthrown, or else religious opposition. From February/March 476, Basiliscus remained in

6300-474: A sacred spring; preparing substances used in public rites, presiding at the Vestalia and attending other festivals. Vesta's temple was essentially the temple of all Rome and its citizens; it was open all day, by night it was closed but only to men. The Vestals regularly swept and cleansed Vesta's shrine, functioning as surrogate housekeepers, in a religious sense, for all of Rome, and maintaining and controlling

6475-669: A senior vestal but chosen and governed by Rome's leading male priest, the Pontifex maximus ; in the Imperial era, this meant the emperor. Vesta's acolytes vowed to serve her for at least thirty years, study and practise her rites in service of the Roman State, and maintain their chastity throughout. In addition to their obligations on behalf of Rome, Vestals had extraordinary rights and privileges, some of which were granted to no others, male or female. The Vestals took turns to supervise Vesta's sacred hearth so that at least one Vestal

6650-495: A shared link to various public, and possibly some private cults. The Fordicidia was a characteristically rustic, agricultural festival, in which a pregnant cow was sacrificed to the Earth-goddess Tellus , and its unborn calf was reduced to ashes by the senior Vestal. The ashes were mixed with various substances, most notably the dried blood of the previous year's October horse , sacrificed to Mars . The mixture

6825-462: A significant portion of the city to support Zeno's return. The popular stylite (pillar monk) Daniel the Stylite , whom Basiliscus had been attempting to sway to his side, rejected his efforts after the publication of the encyclical, and descended from his pillar to pray alongside Acacius, branding Basiliscus as a "second Diocletian " for his attacks on the church. There is some debate over

7000-503: A slender pittance of food and water was deposited in it and the awful words Vade in pace , were the signal for immuring the criminal. It is not likely that, in latter times, this punishment was often resorted to; but, among the ruins of the abbey of Coldingham were some years ago discovered the remains of a female skeleton which, from the shape of the niche, and the position of the figure seemed to be that of an immured nun. The practice of immuring nuns or monks on breaches of chastity has

7175-416: A son, Marcus . Zenonis' origins are unknown, but she may have been a miaphysite , as some authors credit her for pushing Basiliscus's religious policies. Basiliscus was also related by marriage to Emperor Julius Nepos ( r.   474–475/480), as the uncle of Julius Nepos's wife. Zenonis is alleged to have taken Armatus, Basiliscus's nephew, as a lover. Byzantist J.B. Bury , summarizing sources from

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7350-445: A special sacrifice ( piaculum ) and the destruction of the "unnatural" object that had caused divine offence. Extinction of Vesta's sacred fire through Vestal negligence could be expiated by the scourging or beating of the offender, carried out "in the dark and through a curtain to preserve their modesty". The sacred fire could then be relit, using the correct rituals and the purest materials. Loss of chastity, however, represented

7525-407: A state pension in their late 30s to early 40s and thereafter were free to marry. The pontifex maximus , acting as the father of the bride, might arrange a marriage with a suitable Roman nobleman on behalf of the retired Vestal, but no literary accounts of such marriages have survived; Plutarch repeats a claim that "few have welcomed the indulgence, and that those who did so were not happy, but were

7700-646: A stream is created. Vestal Virgins In ancient Rome , the Vestal Virgins or Vestals ( Latin : Vestālēs , singular Vestālis [wɛsˈtaːlɪs] ) were priestesses of Vesta , virgin goddess of Rome's sacred hearth and its flame. The Vestals were unlike any other public priesthood. They were chosen before puberty from several suitable candidates, freed from any legal ties and obligations to their birth family, and enrolled in Vesta's priestly college of six priestesses. They were supervised by

7875-408: A treasonous Vestal Virgin. Most Vestals named in Roman historical accounts are presented as examples of wrongdoing, threats to the well-being of the state, and punishment. While Tarpeia's status as a virgin is common to most accounts, her status as a vestal was likely the mythographer's invention, to cast her lust, greed and treason in the worst possible light. Dionysius of Halicarnasus names Orbinia,

8050-498: A virgin daughter of the king, forced by her usurper uncle to become a Vestal, miraculously gave birth to twin boys, Romulus and Remus . The twins were fathered by Mars ; they survived their uncle's attempts to kill them through exposure or drowning, and Romulus went on to found Rome. In the most widely accepted versions of Rome's beginnings the city's legendary second king, Numa Pompilius , built its first Temple of Vesta , appointed its first pair of Vestals and subsidised them as

8225-410: A wall in front of the great gate of the city. I flayed the chiefs and covered this wall with their skins. Some of them were walled in alive in the masonry; others were impaled along the wall. I flayed a great number of them in my presence, and I clothed the wall with their skins. I collected their heads in the form of crowns, and their corpses I pierced in the shape of garlands ... My figure blooms on

8400-463: A will of their own volition, and dispose of their property without the sanction of a male guardian. They could give their property to women, something forbidden even to men, under Roman law. As they embodied the Roman state, Vestals could give evidence in trials without first taking the customary oath to the State. They had custody of important wills and state documents, which were presumably locked away in

8575-420: Is Coelia Concordia, a Virgo Vestalis Maxima who in 385 AD erected a statue to the deceased pontiff Vettius Agorius Praetextatus . Zosimos claims that when Theodosius I visited Rome in 394 AD, his niece Serena insulted an aged Vestal, said to be the last of her kind. It is unclear from Zosimos's narrative whether Vesta's cult was still functioning, maintained by that single Vestal, or moribund. Cameron

8750-523: Is common in Balkan poetry, cf. Miorița or the Song of Çelo Mezani ), leave Rozafa, the wife of the honest brother, to die. She accepts her fate, but asks to leave exposed her foot (to rock the infant son's cradle), the breast (to feed him) and the hand (to stroke his hair). One of the most famous versions of the same legend is the Serbian epic poem called The Building of Skadar (Зидање Скадра, Zidanje Skadra ) published by Vuk Karadžić , after he recorded

8925-472: Is now Latvia. In book 3 of his History of the Peloponnesian War , Thucydides goes into great detail on the revolution that broke out at Corfu in 427 BC. Book three, chapter 81, passage five reads as follows: Death thus raged in every shape; and, as usually happens at such times, there was no length to which violence did not go; sons were killed by their fathers, and suppliants dragged from

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9100-408: Is skeptical of the entire tale, noting that Theodosius did not visit Rome in 394. The Vestals were committed to the priesthood before puberty (when 6–10 years old) and sworn to celibacy for a minimum period of 30 years. A thirty-year commitment was divided into three-decade-long periods during which Vestals were respectively students, servants, and teachers. Vestals typically retired with

9275-403: Is that of anchorites , who typically allowed themselves to be immured, and subsisting on minimal food. For example, in the 4th century AD, one nun named Alexandra immured herself in a tomb for ten years with a tiny aperture enabling her to receive meager provisions. Saint Jerome ( c.  340–420 ) spoke of one follower who spent his entire life in a cistern, consuming no more than five figs

9450-580: Is the subject of such stories in both the Albanian oral tradition and in the Slavic one : the Albanian version is The Legend of Rozafa , in which three brothers uselessly toiled at building walls that disappeared at night: when told that they had to bury one of their wives in the wall, they pledge to choose the one that will bring them luncheon the next day, and not to warn their respective spouse. Two brothers do, however (the topos of two fellows betraying one

9625-528: The Suda , Candidus , and Malchus states that: Basiliscus permitted Armatus, inasmuch as he was a kinsman, to associate freely with the Empress Zenonis. Their intercourse became intimate, and as they were both persons of no ordinary beauty they became extravagantly enamoured of each other. They used to exchange glances of the eyes, they used constantly to turn their faces and smile at each other; and

9800-409: The magister militum , selected him for this position, much as he had selected Marcian himself. Despite being half- Alanic and half- Gothic , Aspar held much influence in the empire since the mid fifth century, and wielded significant power over Marcian and Leo. Basiliscus served as a military officer under Leo, and was made consul of the East for 465, with Flavius Hermenericus as consul of

9975-399: The magister officiorum Patricius , as emperor and to marry him. She was supported in this plot by Theoderic Strabo, angered by Zeno's coronation, and Basiliscus, who succeeded in recruiting Illus and Trocundes , Isaurian brothers, as well as her nephew Armatus. The plot had the backing of the military, bolstered by Basiliscus' popularity, and that of Illus and Trocundes, and also

10150-480: The penus . Their person was sacrosanct ; anyone who assaulted a Vestal was, in effect, assaulting an embodiment of Rome and its gods, and could be killed with impunity. As no magistrate held power over the Vestals, the lictors of magistrates who encountered a Vestal had to lower their fasces in deference. The Vestals had unique, exclusive rights to use a carpentum , an enclosed, two-wheeled, horse-drawn carriage; some Roman sources remark on its likeness to

10325-768: The Sardar i Kull , or military high commander, Aziz Khan. Eastwick notes that he "did not strike me as one who would greatly err on the side of leniency". Eastwick was told that just recently, Aziz Khan had ordered 14 robbers walled up alive, two of them head-downwards. Staying for the year 1887–1888 primarily in Shiraz , Edward Granville Browne noted the gloomy reminders of a particularly bloodthirsty governor there, Firza Ahmed, who in his four years of office (ending circa 1880) had caused, for example, more than 700 hands cut off for various offences. Browne continues: Besides these minor punishments, many robbers and others suffered death; not

10500-644: The Hebdomon , out of fear of the capital's populace; this news may have motivated them, along with letters received from ministers of the capital. These letters informed them that the city was now ready to restore Zeno, as the people had become even less supportive of Basiliscus due to the "fiscal rapacity of his ministers", as Bury puts it. Illus, possibly buoyed by his hold over Zeno, by way of his imprisonment of his brother, arranged to ally him and they began to march towards Constantinople with their combined forces. Basiliscus ordered Armatus to take command of all

10675-502: The Moravian Přemyslid dynasty immured the abbot Deocar and 20 monks in the refectory in the monastery of Rhadisch , where they starved to death. Ostensibly this was because one of the monks had fondled his wife Duranna when she had spent the night there. However, Otto III confiscated the monastery's wealth, and some said this was the motive for the immurement. In the ruins of Thornton Abbey , Lincolnshire , an immured skeleton

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10850-515: The miaphysites , restoring Timothy Ailuros as the Patriarch of Alexandria and Peter the Fuller as Patriarch of Antioch . He heeded their advice and issued an encyclical on 9 April 475 which promoted the first three ecumenical councils of the church: Nicaea , Constantinople , and Ephesus , and condemned the Council of Chalcedon and the Tome of Leo . The Patriarch of Constantinople , Acacius , strongly opposed him, and together with Daniel

11025-489: The 5th century, a central religious issue was the debate concerning how the human and divine nature of Jesus Christ were associated, following the Arian controversy . The School of Alexandria , including theologians such as Athanasius , asserted the equality of Christ and God, and therefore focused upon the divinity of Christ. The School of Antioch , including theologians such as Theodore of Mopsuestia , determined not to lose

11200-515: The Christian emperor Gratian confiscated the public revenues assigned to the cult of Vesta in Rome. Soon after, the Vestals vanished from the historical record. Priesthoods with similar functions to the Vestals of Rome had an ancient and deeply embedded religious role in various surrounding Latin communities. According to Livy, the Vestals had pre-Roman origins at Alba Longa , where Rhea Silvia ,

11375-498: The Colline gate. A small vault underground had been previously prepared, containing a couch, a lamp, and a table with a little food. The pontifex maximus, having lifted up his hands to heaven and uttered a secret prayer, opened the litter, led forth the culprit, and placed her on the steps of the ladder which gave access to the subterranean cell. He delivered her over to the common executioner and his assistants, who led her down, drew up

11550-644: The Eastern Empire 130,000 pounds (59,000 kg) of gold, causing the empire to hover above bankruptcy for 30 years. When Basiliscus returned to Constantinople , he sought refuge in the Hagia Sophia . His sister, Empress Verina , secured him a pardon and he left the church to retire in Neapolis . When Emperor Leo died in 474, his grandson Leo II ( r.   474) took power, but soon died; his father, Zeno ( r.   474–475, 476–491) ascended

11725-592: The Elder tacitly accepted these powers as fact: At the present day, too, it is a general belief, that our Vestal virgins have the power, by uttering a certain prayer, to arrest the flight of runaway slaves, and to rivet them to the spot, provided they have not gone beyond the precincts of the City. If then these opinions be once received as truth, and if it be admitted that the gods do listen to certain prayers, or are influenced by set forms of words, we are bound to conclude in

11900-580: The Impaler of Wallachia in folklore . She was allowed to live in immurement until she died, four years after being sealed, ultimately dying of causes other than starvation; evidently her rooms were well supplied with food. According to other sources (written documents form the visit of priests, July 1614), she was able to move freely and unhindered in the castle, more akin to house arrest . A particularly severe form of asceticism within Christianity

12075-563: The Imperial era. The Vestals guarded various sacred objects kept in Vesta's penus , including the Palladium – a statue of Pallas Athene which had supposedly been brought from Troy – and a large, presumably wooden phallus, used in fertility rites and at least one triumphal procession, perhaps slung beneath the triumphal general's chariot. Vesta's chief festival was the Vestalia, held in her temple from June 7 to June 15, and attended by matrons and bakers. Servius claims that during

12250-542: The Roman monarchy and the beginnings of the Republic involved extreme social tensions between Rome and her neighbours, and competition for power and influence between Rome's aristocrats and the commoner majority. In 483 BC, during a period of social conflict between patricians and plebeians, the Vestal Oppia , perhaps the earliest of several historic Vestals of plebeian family, was executed for incestum merely on

12425-546: The Roman people, on the same terms as her who was a Vestal 'on the best terms ' " (thus, with all the entitlements of a Vestal). As soon as she entered the atrium of Vesta's temple, she was under the goddess's service and protection. If a Vestal died before her contracted term ended, potential replacements would be presented in the quarters of the chief Vestal to select the most virtuous. Unlike normal inductees, these candidates did not have to be prepubescent, nor even virgins; they could be young widows or even divorcees, though that

12600-666: The Stylite , turned the population of Constantinople against Basiliscus. Zeno, besieged by Illus and Trocundes in his homeland of Isauria , convinced the two generals to defect, and soon the three of them marched their troops toward the capital. Basiliscus ordered Armatus to intercept them, but Armatus also switched sides after Zeno promised to give him the position of magister militum praesentalis for life, and make his son Basiliscus caesar . With Armatus' defense force deliberately kept out of his way, Zeno entered Constantinople unopposed in August 476. Basiliscus and his family hid in

12775-570: The Vandals to fight in three areas. Marcellinus seized Sardinia with little trouble, and Heraclius took the fortress of Tripoli, Libya , and both headed to connect with Basiliscus' forces. Basiliscus's galleys scattered the Vandal fleet near Sicily , something said by Procopius to have caused Gaiseric to give all up for lost, fearing a decisive blow to capture Carthage. However, Basiliscus did not press his advantage and rested his forces in Cape Bon , 60 kilometres (37 mi) from Carthage. This

12950-464: The Vandals, and likely promoted to magister militum praesentalis at that time. It is said that the fleet consisted of 1,113 ships, with more than 100,000 men under the command of Basiliscus, including mercenaries from as far as Öland , Sweden . According to Bury, Leo was influenced by both Verina and Aspar in his selection of Basiliscus, whom he describes as both "incompetent and untrustworthy"; he further states that Aspar intentionally chose

13125-478: The Vestalia, the Lupercalia and on September 13, the three youngest Vestals reaped unripened far ( spelt wheat, or possibly emmer wheat). The three senior Vestals parched the grain to make it edible, and mixed it with salt, to make the mola salsa used by priests and priestesses to consecrate (dedicate to the gods) the animal victims offered in public sacrifices. The Vestals' activities thus provided

13300-440: The Vestals for 57 years, according to Tacitus . The Flaminica Dialis and the regina sacrorum also held unique responsibility for certain religious rites, but each held office by virtue of their standing as the spouse of a male priest. Vestal tasks included the maintenance of their chastity, tending Vesta's sacred fire, guarding her sacred penus (store-room) and its contents; collecting ritually pure water from

13475-466: The Vestals") oversaw the work and morals of the Vestals and was a member of the College of Pontiffs . The chief Vestal was probably the most influential and independent of Rome's high priestesses, committed to maintaining several different cults, maintaining personal connections to her birth family, and cultivating the society of her equals among the Roman elite. The Vestalis Maxima Occia presided over

13650-626: The West. Basiliscus was granted the rank of magister militum per Thracias in c. 464, and held it till 467/468; during this period he won many victories in Thrace against the Huns and Goths. He led troops in a war against a mixed group of the two in 466/467, along with Anagast , Aspar, and Ostrys . He was made a patricius at some point, first mentioned as such in 468. Around 466, Leo attempted to free himself of Aspar's control. He utilized

13825-526: The Younger believed that Cornelia, a Virgo Maxima buried alive on the orders of emperor Domitian , may have been an innocent victim. He describes how she sought to keep her dignity intact when she descended into the chamber: As they were leading her to the place of execution, she called upon Vesta, and the rest of the gods, to attest her innocence; and, amongst other exclamations, frequently cried out, "Is it possible that Cæsar can think me polluted, under

14000-407: The affirmative upon the whole question. The 4th-century AD urban prefect Symmachus , who sought to maintain traditional Roman religion during the rise of Christianity, wrote: The laws of our ancestors provided for the Vestal virgins and the ministers of the gods a moderate maintenance and just privileges. This gift was preserved inviolate till the time of the degenerate moneychangers, who diverted

14175-405: The altar or slain upon it; while some were even walled up in the temple of Dionysus and died there. The Vestal Virgins in ancient Rome constituted a class of priestesses whose principal duty was to maintain the sacred fire dedicated to Vesta (goddess of the home and the family), and they lived under a strict vow of chastity and celibacy. If that vow of chastity was broken, the offending priestess

14350-551: The army for an invasion of the Vandal Kingdom in 468, which was defeated at the Battle of Cape Bon . There were accusations at the time that Basiliscus was bribed by Aspar , the magister militum ; many historians dismiss this, instead concluding that Basiliscus was either incompetent or foolish for accepting Vandal King Gaiseric 's offer of a truce, which the latter used to construct fireships . Basiliscus's defeat cost

14525-615: The authority of the pontifex maximus , head of his priestly college. His influence and status grew during the Republican era, and the religious post became an important, lifetime adjunct to the political power of the annually elected consulship. When Augustus became pontifex maximus , and thus supervisor of all religion, he donated his house to the Vestals. Their sacred fire became his household fire, and his domestic gods ( Lares and Penates ) became their responsibility. This arrangement between Vestals and Emperor persisted throughout

14700-473: The ballad continued to be admired by generations of folksingers and ballad scholars. A very similar Romanian legend, that of Meşterul Manole , tells of the building of the Curtea de Argeș Monastery : ten expert masons, among whom Master Manole himself, are ordered by Neagu Voda to build a beautiful monastery, but incur the same fate, and decide to immure the wife who will bring them luncheon. Manole, working on

14875-536: The basis of various portents, and allegations that she neglected her Vestal duties. In 337 BC, Minucia, another possible first plebeian Vestal, was tried, found guilty of unchastity and buried alive on the strength of her excessive and inappropriate love of dress, and the evidence of a slave. In 123 BC the gift of an altar, shrine and couch to the Bona Dea's Aventine temple by the Vestal Licinia "without

15050-519: The behest of Wazir Khan of Kunjpura , the Governor of Sirhind. The three shrines exist within this Gurdwara complex to mark the exact spot where these tragic events were witnessed in 1705. Jezzar Pasha , the Ottoman governor of provinces in modern Lebanon, and Palestine from 1775 to 1804, was infamous for his cruelties. When building the new walls of Beirut , he was charged with, among other things,

15225-537: The belief in miaphysis as heretical . Marcian convened the Council of Chalcedon in October 451, attended by about 500 bishops, most of them Eastern Roman. This council condemned the Second Council of Ephesus and agreed that Jesus had a divine nature ( physis ) and a human nature, united in one person ( hypostasis ), "without confusion, change, division, or separation." The council also repeated

15400-513: The chariots used by Roman generals in triumphs . Otherwise, the Vestals seem to have travelled in a one-seat, curtained litter , or possibly on foot. In every case, they were preceded by a lictor , who was empowered to enforce the Vestal's right-of-way; anyone who passed beneath the litter, or otherwise interfered with its passage, could be lawfully killed on the spot. Vestals could also free or pardon condemned persons en route to execution by touching them, or merely being seen by them, as long as

15575-469: The connections between Rome's public and private religion. So long as their bodies remained unpenetrated, the walls of Rome would remain intact. Their flesh belonged to Rome, and when they died, whatever the cause of their death, their bodies remained within the city's boundary. The Vestals acknowledged one of their number as senior authority, the Vestalis Maxima , but all were ultimately under

15750-625: The context of war or revolution are also noted. Entombing living persons as a type of human sacrifice is also reported, for example, as part of grand burial ceremonies in some cultures. As a motif in legends and folklore, many tales of immurement exist. In the folklore, immurement is prominent as a form of capital punishment , but its use as a type of human sacrifice to make buildings sturdy has many tales attached to it as well. Skeletal remains have been, from time to time, found behind walls and in hidden rooms and on several occasions have been asserted to be evidence of such sacrificial practices or of such

15925-453: The convent of San Salvatore in Ariano had an identical outcome. In the ancient Sumerian city of Ur some graves (as early as 2500 BC.) clearly show the burial of attendants, along with that of the principal dead person. In one such grave, as Gerda Lerner wrote on page 60 of her book The Creation of Patriarchy : The human sacrifices were probably first drugged or poisoned, as evidenced by

16100-515: The convict's head out in the open. According to him, many of these individuals would implore passers-by to cut off their heads, an amelioration of the punishment forbidden by law. John Fryer , travelling Persia in the 1670s, writes the following: From this Plain to Lhor , both in the Highways, and on the high Mountains, were frequent Monuments of Thieves immured in Terror of others who might commit

16275-587: The dead was anyway forbidden within the city's ritual boundary, so she was immured alive in an underground chamber within the city's ritual boundary ( pomerium ) in the Campus Sceleratus ("Evil Field") near the Colline Gate . That Vesta did not intervene to save her former protege was taken as further divine confirmation of guilt. When condemned by the college of pontifices, [the Vestal]

16450-426: The differences between the encyclical presented by Evagrius Scholasticus and that of Pseudo-Zacharias Rhetor . Notably, Evagrius' version does not contain some of the references to the Council of Nicaea and the Second Council of Ephesus, making it less extreme. Philippe Blaudeau suggests that the one presented by Evagrius was a modified version presented to Acacius, as it would be more palatable to him; as well as that

16625-440: The encounter had not been pre-arranged. Vestals were permitted to see things forbidden to all other upper-class Roman women; from the time of Augustus on, they had reserved ring-side seating at public games, including gladiator contests, and stage-side seats at theatrical performances. If Vesta's fire went out, Rome was no longer protected. Spontaneous extinction of the sacred flame for no apparent reason might be understood as

16800-529: The final verdicts. Of the three Vestals executed for incestum between the first Punic War (216) and the end of the Republic (113–111), each was followed by a nameless, bloodless form of human sacrifice seemingly reserved for times of extreme crisis, supposedly at the recommendation of the Sibylline Books ; the living burial or immurement in the Forum Boarium of a Greek man and woman, and

16975-503: The fire was reputed to be supernatural in origin. Many at the time viewed it as a symbol of divine wrath against Basiliscus. While Basiliscus's rise was not illegal, as usurpations confirmed by the senate were generally considered legitimate, such had not happened for over a century in the Eastern Roman Empire. Additionally, he was politically incompetent and temperamental, alienating much of his support. While Basiliscus

17150-563: The following: ... and this monster had taken the name of Dgezar (Butcher) as an illustrious addition to his title. It was, no doubt, well deserved; for he had immured alive a great number of Greek Christians when he rebuilt the Walls of Barut..The heads of these miserable victims, which the butcher had left out, in order to enjoy their tortures, are still to be seen. Staying as a diplomat in Persia from 1860 to 1863, E. B. Eastwick met at one time,

17325-418: The following: Another sad sight to be seen in the desert sometimes, are brick pillars in which some unfortunate victim is walled up alive ... The victim is put into the pillar, which is half built up in readiness; then if the executioner is merciful he will cement quickly up to the face, and death comes speedily. But sometimes a small amount of air is allowed to permeate through the bricks, and in this case

17500-425: The formal dress of high-status Roman matrons (married citizen-women). Vestals and matrons wore a long linen palla over a white woollen stola , a rectangular female citizen's wrap, equivalent to the male citizen's semi-circular toga . A Vestal's hair was bound into a white, priestly infula (head-covering or fillet) with red and white ribbons, usually tied together behind the head and hanging loosely over

17675-621: The human aspect of Christ, focused upon his humanity. Shortly before Marcian had become emperor, the Second Council of Ephesus was held in 449. The council stated that Jesus had one divine united nature, called miaphysis ; this was rejected by the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople because of disputes on the matter of Christology , as the Pope and Patriarch of Constantinople saw

17850-676: The importance of the See of Constantinople in Canon 28, placing it firmly in second place behind the See of Rome, and giving it the right to appoint bishops in the Eastern Roman Empire, placing it over the Sees of Alexandria , Jerusalem , and Antioch . Basiliscus rose to power during a time when the miaphysite faction was growing in power, and his attempts to ally them to himself backfired severely. Historian Jason Osequeda posits that Basiliscus's mistake

18025-462: The individual was meant to starve to death. However, Sir Walter Scott , himself an antiquarian, notes in a remark to his epic poem Marmion (1808): It is well known, that the religious, who broke their vows of chastity, were subjected to the same penalty as the Roman Vestals in a similar case. A small niche, sufficient to enclose their bodies, was made in the massive wall of the convent;

18200-443: The influence of whose sacred functions he has conquered and triumphed?" Whether she said this in flattery or derision; whether it proceeded from a consciousness of her innocence or contempt of the emperor, is uncertain; but she continued exclaiming in this manner, til she came to the place of execution, to which she was led, whether innocent or guilty I cannot say, at all events with every appearance and demonstration of innocence. As she

18375-465: The insistence of Zenonis. This turned Theoderic Strabo against him, as he hated Armatus. Armatus was also made consul in 476, alongside Basiliscus himself. Illus and Trocundes, laying siege to Zeno in his native lands, defected to him. This has usually been ascribed to a failure to fulfill unspecified promises made to them, as given by Theophanes the Confessor , which many historians identify as

18550-461: The institution of the Vestal priesthood to its abolition, an unknown number of Vestals held office. Some are named in Roman myth and history and some are of unknown date. The 1st-century BC author Varro , names the first four, probably legendary Vestals as Gegania, Veneneia, Canuleia, and Tarpeia . Varro and others also portray Tarpeia, daughter of Spurius Tarpeius in the Sabine-Roman war, as

18725-506: The lack of supplies. When Leo fell ill in 473, he had his grandson, Leo II ( r.   474), the son of Zeno and Ariadne, crowned as emperor in October 473. Leo died on 18 January 474, and Leo II took the throne. Zeno was installed as co-emperor, crowned on 29 January, and when Leo II died in Autumn, Zeno became the sole eastern emperor. Zeno likely had Theoderic Strabo stripped of his role as magister militum praesentalis . Zeno

18900-558: The ladder, and having filled the pit with earth until the surface was level with the surrounding ground, left her to perish deprived of all the tributes of respect usually paid to the spirits of the departed. The order of the Vestal Virgins existed for about 1,000 years, but only about 10 effected immurements are attested in extant sources. Flavius Basiliscus , emperor in the Eastern Roman Empire from AD 475–476,

19075-509: The language of the original would have made Eutychians believe that Timothy and Basiliscus agreed with them, and the subsequent document clarified their positions. The current consensus among historians is that Evagrius' version was the original, made more extreme after the Third Council of Ephesus. Some arguments have been made by Eduard Schwartz , Hanns Brennecke , and René Draguet that Basiliscus approved Evagrius' text, but that

19250-650: The late 1650s, various sons of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan became embroiled in wars of succession, in which Aurangzeb was victorious. One of his half-brothers, Shah Shujah proved particularly troublesome, but in 1661 Aurangzeb defeated him, and Shah Shuja and his family sought the protection of the King of Arakan . According to Francois Bernier , the King reneged on his promise of asylum, and Shuja's sons were decapitated, while his daughters were immured, and died of starvation. During Mughal rule in early 18th century India,

19425-589: The late 4th-century rest on "very unsatisfactory evidence". The Vestals were a powerful and influential priesthood. Towards the end of the Republican era, when Sulla included the young Julius Caesar in his proscriptions , the Vestals interceded on Caesar's behalf and gained him pardon. Caesar's adopted heir, Augustus , promoted the Vestals' moral reputation and presence at public functions, and restored several of their customary privileges that had fallen into abeyance. They were held in awe and attributed certain mysterious and supernatural powers and abilities. Pliny

19600-763: The later West. Elizabeth I of England was portrayed holding a sieve to evoke Tuccia, the Vestal who proved her virtue by carrying water in a sieve. Tuccia herself had been a subject for artists such as Jacopo del Sellaio ( d. 1493) and Joannes Stradanus , and women who were arts patrons started having themselves painted as Vestals. In the libertine environment of 18th century France, portraits of women as Vestals seem intended as fantasies of virtue infused with ironic eroticism. Later, Vestals became an image of republican virtue, as in Jacques-Louis David 's The Vestal Virgin . Excavations in Rome and Pompeii, as well as translation of Latin sources, made Vestals

19775-644: The like Offence; they having literally a Stone- Doublet , whereas we say metaphorically, when any is in Prison, He has it Stone Doublet on ; for these are plastered up, all but their Heads, in a round Stone Tomb, which are left out, not out of kindness, but to expose them to the Injury of the Weather, and Assaults of the Birds of Prey, who wreak their Rapin with as little Remorse, as they did devour their Fellow-Subjects. In

19950-417: The lyrics "One of sixteen vestal virgins/ Who were leaving for the coast". Basiliscus Basiliscus ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : Βασιλίσκος , translit.   Basilískos ; died 476/477) was Eastern Roman emperor from 9 January 475 to August 476. He became magister militum per Thracias in 464, under his brother-in-law, Emperor Leo I ( r.   457–474). Basiliscus commanded

20125-551: The maintenance of sacred chastity into a fund for the payment of base porters. A public famine ensued on this act, and a bad harvest disappointed the hopes of all the provinces   [...] it was sacrilege which rendered the year barren, for it was necessary that all should lose that which they had denied to religion. Dissolution of the Vestal College would have followed soon after the emperor Gratian confiscated its revenues in 382 AD. The last epigraphically attested Vestal

20300-467: The monasteries as well as alienating Patriarch Acacius, and the heavily Chalcedonian population of the capital. Repudiating the Council of Chalcedon invalidated Canon 28 of it, ending Acacius's control over the Eastern sees, and as such Acacius refused to sign it. Acacius draped the Church of St. Sophia in black, and lead a congregation in mourning. This caused Basiliscus to leave the city, and

20475-454: The more extreme version was written by Paul the Sophist . Whatever the case, Basiliscus soon voided his encyclical, issuing a new letter dubbed the " anti-encyclical ", revoking his previous encyclical, reaffirming condemnation of heresy, and restoring the rights of Canon 28 to Acacius, but did not explicitly mention the Council of Chalcedon. Notably, the first encyclical also asserted

20650-425: The one used by Zeno's army, and marched instead into Isaura. Zeno entered Constantinople unopposed in August 476. Basiliscus and his family fled and took refuge in a church, only leaving once Zeno promised not to execute them. Zeno exiled them to Limnae in Cappadocia , where they were imprisoned in a dried-up cistern, and left to starve to death. According to some sources, they were instead beheaded. During

20825-449: The other instances of her modesty, "She took great care to fall with decency." [The quotation is from Euripides , Hecuba .] Dionysius of Halicarnassus claims that long before Rome's foundation, Vestals at ancient Alba Longa were whipped and "put to death" for breaking their vows of celibacy, and that their offspring were to be thrown into the river. According to Livy, Rhea Silvia, mother of Romulus and Remus, had been forced to become

21000-468: The other was buried alive - he does not say which. Vestals could exploit their familial and social connections, as well as their unique, untouchable status and privileges, taking the role of patron and protector. Cicero describes how the Vestal Claudia, daughter of Appius Claudius Pulcher , walked beside her father in his triumphal procession, to repulse a tribune of the plebs, who wanted to veto

21175-441: The passion which they were obliged to conceal was the cause of dule and teen. They confided their trouble to Daniel, an eunuch , and to Maria, a midwife, who hardly healed their malady by the remedy of bringing them together. Then Zenonis coaxed Basiliscus to grant her lover the highest office in the city. Leo rose to the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire in 457 after the death of Emperor Marcian ( r.   450–457). Aspar ,

21350-588: The path he came, and Basiliscus returned to Constantinople. The total cost of the armaments for the fleet was 130,000 pounds (59,000 kg) of gold, more than the entire treasury of the Eastern Empire, causing the Eastern Empire to waver above bankruptcy for more than 30 years. Upon his return to Constantinople, Basiliscus sought refuge in the Church of St. Sophia , before Verina interceded on his behalf to have him pardoned by Leo. He may have remained magister militum praesentalis after this, but largely lived

21525-473: The people's approval" was refused by the Roman Senate . In 114 Licinia and two of her colleagues, Vestals Aemilia and Marcia , were accused of multiple acts of incestum . The final accusations were justified by the death, in 114 BC, of Helvia, a virgin girl of equestrian family, killed by lightning while on horseback. The manner of her death was interpreted as a prodigy , proof of inchastity by

21700-478: The purpose—in fact, the living tomb known as the " in pace ". In the footnote appended to this passage, Lea writes: The cruelty of the monastic system of imprisonment known as in pace , or vade in pacem , was such that those subjected to it speedily died in all the agonies of despair. In 1350 the Archbishop of Toulouse appealed to King John to interfere for its mitigation, and he issued an Ordonnance that

21875-429: The right for an emperor to dictate and judge theological doctrine, subsuming the function of an Ecumenical Council , and is worded much like an imperial edict. Although Acacius and Basiliscus had feuded since the first months of his reign, Daniel later played the part of a diplomat, reconciling them near the end of the latter's reign, before Zeno retook Constantinople. All of Basiliscus' religious edicts were annulled by

22050-451: The roof, sees her approach, and pleads with God to unleash the elements, in order to stop her, but in vain: when she arrives, he proceeds to wall her in, pretending to be doing so in jest, with his wife increasingly crying out in pain and distress. When the building is finished, Neagu Voda takes away the masons' ladders, fearing they will build a more beautiful building, and they try to escape but all fall to their deaths. Only from Manole's fall

22225-401: The ruins; in the glutting of my rage I find my content Émile Durkheim in his work Suicide writes the following about certain followers of Amida Buddha : The sectarians of Amida have themselves immured in caverns where there is barely space to be seated and where they can breathe only through an air shaft. There they quietly allow themselves to die of hunger. By popular legend, Anarkali

22400-609: The shoulders. The red ribbons of the Vestal infula were said to represent Vesta's fire; and the white, virginity, or sexual purity. The stola is associated with Roman citizen-matrons and Vestals, not with brides. This covering of the body by way of the gown and veils "signals the prohibitions that governed [the Vestals] sexuality". The stola communicates the message of "hands off" and asserts their virginity. The prescribed everyday hairstyle for Vestals, and for brides only on their wedding day, comprised six or seven braids; this

22575-549: The superior of the convent should twice a month visit and console the prisoner, who, moreover, should have the right twice a month to ask for the company of one of the monks. Even this slender innovation provoked the bitterest resistance of the Dominicans and Franciscans, who appealed to Pope Clement VI., but in vain Although the vade in pace tradition therefore seems to one of perpetual confinement, but not immurement where

22750-479: The support of the Eastern Roman Senate . The position of the Patriarch of Constantinople , Acacius , is unclear, although Twardowska considers it likely that he would have withheld support from either side until the outcome was clear. The exact date the conspiracy began is unknown: Salamon argues it began around 473, whereas Twardowska argues it began only after Zeno took sole power. The conspiracy

22925-600: The support of the Isaurians , marrying the Isaurian chieftain Zeno ( r.   474–475, 476–491) to his daughter Ariadne , in exchange for support. This resulted in a significant change to eastern imperial policy, notably ending the policy of ignoring the requests from the West for military aid. After Anthemius ( r.   467–472), Marcian's son-in-law, was installed by Leo as Western emperor on 12 April 467, an embassy

23100-779: The surface was level with the surrounding ground, left her to perish deprived of all the tributes of respect usually paid to the spirits of the departed. If discovered, the paramour of a guilty Vestal was publicly beaten to death by the pontifex maximus , in the Forum Boarium or on the Comitium . Trials for Vestal incestum are "extremely rare"; most took place during military or religious crises. Some Vestals were probably used as scapegoats; their political alliances and alleged failure to observe oaths and duties were held to account for civil disturbances, wars, famines, plagues and other signs of divine displeasure. The end of

23275-429: The three accused. Aemilia, who had supposedly incited the two others to follow her example, was condemned outright and put to death. Marcia, who was accused of only one offence, and Licinia, who was accused of many, were at first acquitted by the pontifices , but were retried by Lucius Cassius Longinus Ravilla (consul 127), and condemned to death in 113. The prosecution offered two Sibylline prophecies in support of

23450-486: The throne by marrying Leo's daughter Leontia Porphyrogenita in 470. Historian L. M. Whitby suggests this may have been a ploy to lull Aspar into a sense of security. When anti-German sentiment rose up, Leo first quarreled with Aspar and then had him assassinated over suspicions of conspiracy. Basiliscus supported Leo in his power struggle against Aspar, and subsequently Theodoric Strabo , in 471/472. Aspar and Ardabur were killed in 471, and Patricius, severely wounded,

23625-413: The throne in the same year, in a politically precarious position. Verina conspired to install the magister officiorum Patricius , her lover, as emperor. This plot was supported by Basiliscus, who succeeded in recruiting Isaurian brothers Illus and Trocundes , as well as Verina's nephew Armatus . Zeno fled on 9 January 475, either after learning of the plot or after Verina warned him that his life

23800-419: The torture is cruel and the agony prolonged. Men bricked up in this way have been heard groaning and calling for water at the end of three days. Travelling back and forth to Persia from 1630 to 1668 as a gem merchant, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier observed much the same custom that Hume-Griffith noted some 250 years later. Tavernier notes that immuring was principally a punishment for thieves, and that immurement left

23975-473: The tradition seems to have been that of complete, utter isolation from other human beings, but that food was, indeed, provided: In the case of Jeanne, widow of B. de la Tour, a nun of Lespenasse, in 1246, who had committed acts of both Catharan and Waldensian heresy, and had prevaricated in her confession, the sentence was confinement in a separate cell in her own convent, where no one was to enter or see her, her food being pushed in through an opening left for

24150-459: The triumph. Cicero also records a Vestal Fonteia, present during the trial of her brother in 69. Fabia , admitted to the order in 80 and made chief Vestal around 50, was half-sister of Terentia (Cicero's first wife), and full sister of Fabia the wife of Dolabella who later married her niece Tullia ; she was probably mother of the later consul of that name. In 73 she was acquitted of incestum with Lucius Sergius Catilina . The case

24325-454: The troops in Thrace and Constantinople, as well as the palace guard, and lead them against the three. In spite of his oath of loyalty, Armatus betrayed Basiliscus when Zeno offered to have him made magister militum praesentalis for life, and his son, Basiliscus , crowned as caesar . He allowed Zeno to pass to Constantinople unhindered, deliberately traveling on a different road than

24500-484: The two youngest sons of Guru Gobind Singh were sentenced to death by being bricked alive for their refusal to convert to Islam and abandon the Sikh faith. On 26 December 1705, Fateh Singh was killed in this manner at Sirhind along with his elder brother, Zorawar Singh . Gurdwara Fatehgarh Sahib which is situated 5 km north of Sirhind marks the site of the execution of the two younger sons of Guru Gobind Singh at

24675-467: The war, in order to achieve a compromise with the Vandals. Heather notes that the Romans strongly intended to avoid a naval engagement, and archaeologist George Bass suggests this might be the reason that Basiliscus hesitated to strike the Vandals. Gaiseric assembled a new fleet with a number of fire ships and, aided by good winds, attacked the Roman fleet at the Battle of Cape Bon . The Roman fleet

24850-506: The wife of Rome's senior magistrate; the magistrate himself was supposed to stay elsewhere for the occasion. On May 15, Vestals and pontiffs collected ritual straw figures called Argei from stations along Rome's city boundary and cast them into the Tiber , to purify the city. Vestals were lawfully personae sui iuris – "sovereign over themselves", answerable only to the pontifex maximus . Unlike any other Roman women, they could make

25025-419: Was "appearing as the member of one sphere attempting to intrude into the other, rather than using influence and negotiation to achieve his platform", and that he was unaware of his outsider status, causing him to be viewed as "attempting to usurp not only an earthly crown but a spiritual one too." Some historians view it likely that Zenonis influenced Basiliscus towards miaphysitism. Basiliscus had Theoctistus ,

25200-418: Was 650, but this number comes from the claim by a servant girl named Susannah that Jakab Szilvássy, Báthory's court official, had seen the figure in one of Báthory's private books. The book was never revealed and Szilvássy never mentioned it in his testimony. Being labeled the most prolific female serial killer in history has earned her the nickname of the "Blood Countess", and she is often compared with Vlad III

25375-414: Was a strategic location as it was near the port of Utica , which, unlike Carthage, was not blocked off with a chain, and the winds would push opposing ships into the coast. According to historians Michael Kulikowski , Friell, and Williams, Gaiseric feigned interest in peace and proposed a five-day truce, in order to allow himself time to prepare. Basiliscus accepted, possibly in favor of Aspar who opposed

25550-593: Was acquitted. The House of the Vestals was the residence of the vestal priestesses in Rome. Located behind the Temple of Vesta (which housed the sacred fire), the Atrium Vestiae was a three-storey building at the foot of the Palatine Hill , "very large and exceptionally magnificent both in decoration and material". Vestal costume had elements in common with high-status Roman bridal dress , and with

25725-419: Was being lowered down into the subterranean vault, her robe happening to catch upon something in the descent, she turned round and disengaged it, when, the executioner offering his assistance, she drew herself back with horror, refusing to be so much as touched by him, as though it were a defilement to her pure and unspotted chastity: still preserving the appearance of sanctity up to the last moment; and, among all

25900-475: Was called suffimen . During the Parilia festival, April 21, it was sprinkled on bonfires to purify shepherds and their flocks, and probably to ensure human and animal fertility in the Roman community. On May 1, Vestals officiated at Bona Dea 's public-private, women-only rites at her Aventine temple. They were also present, in some capacity, at the Bona Dea's overnight, women-only December festival, hosted by

26075-459: Was condemned in 1322 to be immured in shackles for life. Hungarian countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed ( Báthory Erzsébet in Hungarian ; 1560–1614) was immured in a set of rooms in 1610 for the death of several girls, with figures being as high as several hundred, though the actual number of victims is uncertain. The highest number of victims cited during the trial of Báthory's accomplices

26250-530: Was crowned at the Hebdomon palace . He immediately had his son, Marcus, crowned as Caesar , and later co-emperor, while his wife was crowned Augusta and Patricius was executed. Zeno took residence in the fortress of Olba , and later Sbida . Illus and Trocundes were sent by Basiliscus to lay siege to Zeno's fortress, and capturing Longinus, whom Illus would not release until 485. Basiliscus quickly lost support in Constantinople, through

26425-632: Was deposed. In winter he was sent to Cappadocia with his family, where they were imprisoned in either a dry cistern, or a tower, and perished. The historian Procopius said they died exposed to cold and hunger, while other sources, such as Priscus , merely speaks of death by starvation. The patriarch of Aquileia , Poppo of Treffen (r. 1019–1045), was a mighty secular potentate, and in 1044 he sacked Grado . The newly elected Doge of Venice , Domenico I Contarini , captured him and allegedly let him be buried up to his neck, and left guards to watch over him until he died. In 1149, Duke Otto III of Olomouc of

26600-475: Was found behind a wall along with a table, book and a candlestick. By some, he is believed to be the fourteenth abbot, immured for some crime he had committed. The actual punishment meted out to men found guilty of paederasty (homosexual intercourse with boys) might vary between different status groups. In 1409 and 1532 in Augsburg , two men were burned alive for their offences, but a rather different procedure

26775-399: Was found guilty of murdering 36 women (the bodies were found buried underneath his shop and nearby). Due to the nature of his crimes, he was walled up alive. For two days his screams were heard incessantly before silence by the third day. A number of cultures have tales and ballads containing as a motif the sacrifice of a human being to ensure the strength of a building. For example, there was

26950-487: Was frowned upon and thought unlucky. Tacitus recounts how Gaius Fonteius Agrippa and Domitius Pollio offered their daughters as Vestal candidates in 19 AD to fill such a vacant position. Equally matched, Pollio's daughter was chosen only because Agrippa had been recently divorced. The pontifex maximus ( Tiberius ) "consoled" the failed candidate with a dowry of 1 million sesterces . The chief Vestal ( Virgo Vestalis Maxima or Vestalium Maxima , "greatest of

27125-410: Was held in 475, presided over by Timothy Ailuros, which officially condemned the Council of Chalcedon, and a synodical letter was sent to Basiliscus requesting that Patriarch Acacius be stripped of his role. Historian Richard Price argues that Basiliscus' association with Timothy Ailuros also reduced his support as some rumors suggested that Timothy had a role in the murder of Proterius of Alexandria ,

27300-468: Was immured alive as follows: When condemned by the college of pontifices, she was stripped of her vittae and other badges of office, was scourged, attired like a corpse, placed in a closed litter, borne through the forum attended by her weeping kindred with all the ceremonies of a real funeral to a rising ground called the Campus Sceleratus. This was located just within the city walls, close to

27475-492: Was immured between two walls in Lahore by order of Mughal Emperor Akbar for having a relationship with crown prince Salim (later Emperor Jehangir ) in the 16th century. A bazaar developed around the site, and was named Anarkali Bazaar in her honour. A tradition existed in Persia of walling up criminals and leaving them to die of hunger or thirst. The traveller M. E. Hume-Griffith stayed in Persia from 1900 to 1903, and she wrote

27650-480: Was in danger. Although Patricius was Verina's intended successor, Basiliscus convinced the Eastern Roman Senate to acclaim him instead. Basiliscus quickly lost the support of his subjects and of his allies in court. Verina was alienated by the execution of Patricius, while the people objected to a combination of heavy taxes, heretical policies, and a natural disaster viewed as divine wrath for said heretical views. In an attempt to increase support, Basiliscus embraced

27825-574: Was meted out to four clerics in the 1409 case, guilty of the same offence. Instead of being burned alive, they were locked into a wooden casket that was hung up in the Perlachturm , and they starved to death. After confessing in an Inquisition Court to an alleged conspiracy involving lepers, the Jewry, the King of Granada, and the Sultan of Babylon, Guillaume Agassa, head of the leper asylum at Lestang,

28000-498: Was motivated by personal hatred, and Ernest Walter Brooks , historian and scholar of the Syriac language, suggests the Isaurian background of Zeno directly caused the hatred of Verina and the people. Historians Kamilla Twardowska and W. D. Burgess argue that his ethnicity likely exacerbated existing hatred, but did not solely cause it. Twardowska also dismisses Evagrius Scholasticus ' suggestions, especially that of him leading

28175-534: Was not so lucky as the knight and his future son-in-law punished her by immuring her in one of the tunnels. Another nobleman's daughter and a Swedish soldier are also said to be immured in one of the tunnels after she had fallen in love with the Swedish soldier and requested her father to allow her to marry him. According to another legend, a maiden and a servant have been immured after a failed attempt at spying on Germans wanting to know what their plans were for what

28350-455: Was particularly enthralled by the poem. Grimm translated it into German , and described it as "one of the most touching poems of all nations and all times". Johann Wolfgang von Goethe published the German translation, but did not share Grimm's opinion because he found the poem's spirit "superstitiously barbaric". Alan Dundes , a famous folklorist , noted that Grimm's opinion prevailed and that

28525-401: Was prosecuted by Cicero . The 1st century Vestal Licinia was supposedly courted by her kinsman, the so-called " triumvir " Marcus Licinius Crassus – who in fact wanted her property. This relationship gave rise to rumours. Plutarch says: "And yet when he was further on in years, he was accused of criminal intimacy with Licinia, one of the Vestal virgins and Licinia was formally prosecuted by

28700-412: Was routed by the combination of the fire ships, bad winds, and surprise, with half of it being destroyed. Basiliscus fled with the remainder of the fleet to Sicily, to consolidate with Marcellinus's forces; their morale and supply might have brought a victory, but Marcellinus was assassinated, possibly on Ricimer 's orders. Heraclius, who had not yet reached Carthage, returned to the Eastern Roman Empire by

28875-601: Was sent to the Vandal King Gaiseric , to inform him as well as warn him not to interfere in Italy or the Western Roman throne; Gaiseric accused them of violating a prior treaty, possibly enacted in 433, and prepared for war. Rumors may have spread in Constantinople that the Vandals were preparing an invasion of Alexandria . As a result of this, in 468 Basiliscus was given command of an expedition against

29050-524: Was stationed there at all times. Vestals who allowed the sacred fire to go out were punished with whipping. Vestals who lost their chastity were guilty of incestum , and were sentenced to living burial , a bloodless death that must seem voluntary. Their sexual partners, if known, were publicly beaten to death. These were infrequent events; most vestals retired with a generous pension and universal respect. They were then free to marry, though few of them did. Some appear to have renewed their vows. In 382 AD,

29225-413: Was stripped of her vittae and other badges of office, was scourged, was attired like a corpse, placed in a close litter, and borne through the forum attended by her weeping kindred, with all the ceremonies of a real funeral, to a rising ground called the Campus Sceleratus just within the city walls, close to the Colline gate. There a small vault underground had been previously prepared, containing

29400-402: Was stripped of his position as caesar and divorced from Leontia. After this, Zeno gained more power over the court. Theodoric Strabo attempted to avenge Aspar and marched against Constantinople, but was pushed back by Basiliscus and Zeno. A little later, he sent a series of demands to Leo in the capital and attacked Arcadiopolis and Philipopolis , but was forced to negotiate soon after due

29575-533: Was stripped of his rank for voicing his suspicions, but historians A. H. M. Jones , John Robert Martindale , and John Morris state that this is almost certainly a confusion relating to the disgrace of Ardabur , his son, who had informed the Sassanid Empire of Roman military weakness. Aspar regained power after the failure of the African invasion, and his son Patricius became the presumptive heir to

29750-411: Was successful, as Zeno fled to his native Isauria on 9 January 475, either after learning of the conspiracy or after being convinced by Verina that his life was in danger, taking with him a number of companions and funds. Many remaining Isuarians were massacred in Constantinople when news of his flight spread. Basiliscus convinced the senate to acclaim him emperor, instead of Patricius, and Basiliscus

29925-436: Was supported initially by the elites of the Eastern Roman Empire, he never gained much popularity amongst the common people, weakening his legitimacy; his conflicts with Acacius reduced his support from the people of Constantinople, who were heavily Chalcedonian. The near-bankruptcy of the empire forced Basiliscus to levy extensive taxes and to sell off public positions for money. He utilized the praefectus urbi Epinicus ,

30100-492: Was suspected and tried for unchastity on grounds of her immodest attire and over-familiar manner. Some Vestals were acquitted. Some cleared themselves through ordeals or miraculous deeds; in a celebrated case during the mid-Republic, the Vestal Tuccia , accused of unchastity, carried water in a sieve to prove her innocence; Livy's epitomator (Per. 20) claims that she was condemned nevertheless but in all other sources she

30275-485: Was the brother of a barbarian named Odoacer , Basiliscus was therefore also the uncle of Odoacer and thus a barbarian; this argument has been opposed by historians Wolfram Brandes , and Hugh Elton . Elton remarks that Krautschick's argument relies upon a single fragmentary Greek source, making his argument acceptable, but ignores the total lack of contemporary sources mentioning his ethnicity or relationship to Odoacer. Basiliscus married Zenonis , and with her produced

30450-695: Was thought to date back to the most ancient of times. In 2013 Janet Stephens recreated the hairstyle of the vestals on a modern person. High-status brides were veiled in the same saffron-yellow flammeum as the Flamenica Dialis , priestess of Jupiter and wife to his high priest. Vestals wore a white, purple-bordered suffibulum (veil) when travelling outdoors, performing public rites or offering sacrifices. Respectable matrons were also expected to wear veils in public. One who appeared in public without her veil could be thought to have repudiated her marriage, making herself "available". From

30625-514: Was very unpopular, among both the common people and the senatorial class, in part simply because he was an Isaurian, a race which had acquired a poor reputation under Emperor Arcadius ( r.   383–408), and also because his rule would induce a promotion of fellow Isaurians to high positions. Although Verina had supported Zeno's elevation as co-emperor to Leo II, she turned against him once he became sole emperor. The causes for this are disputed. The Byzantists Bury and Ernst Stein suggest this

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