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106-562: 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 a senior vestal but chosen and governed by Rome's leading male priest, the Pontifex maximus ; in the Imperial era, this meant

212-518: 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

318-471: 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

424-553: 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,

530-408: 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

636-492: 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,

742-430: 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

848-437: 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

954-535: 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

1060-421: 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

1166-472: A common treasury, and legal right to an attorney. Large portions of the population of a town could be a part of collegia associations, with many aspects of daily life having corresponding collegia . The organization of a collegium was often modeled on that of civic governing bodies, the Senate of Rome being the epitome. The meeting hall was often known as the curia , the same term as that applied to that of

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1272-422: 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

1378-530: 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

1484-529: A few thousand men, by which time Valens was at Adrianople ( Latin : Hadrianopolis ; Turkish : Edirne ). Encouraged by his advisors to claim victory without sharing the glory with Gratian, as well as being misinformed about the number of enemy troops, Valens attacked the Gothic army and as a result thousands of Romans died in the Battle of Adrianople along with Sebastianus and the emperor himself. In

1590-454: 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

1696-423: 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

1802-453: A request to Gratian for reinforcements against the Goths. According to Ammianus Marcellinus , Valens also requested that Sebastianus be sent to him for the war, though according to Zosimus Sebastianus went to Constantinople of his own accord as a result of intrigues by eunuchs at the western court. Once Gratian had put down the invasions in the west in early 378, he notified Valens that he

1908-472: 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

2014-494: 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

2120-443: 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

2226-406: 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

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2332-407: 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,

2438-496: 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

2544-430: A wide range of the various aspects of urban life; including political interests, cult practices, professions, trade, and civic services. The social connections fostered by collegia contributed to their influence on politics and the economy; acting as lobbying groups and representative groups for traders and merchants. Some collegia were linked to participating in political violence and social unrest, which resulted in

2650-463: 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

2756-417: 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

2862-406: 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

2968-478: 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

3074-719: The Edict of Thessalonica , refusing the office of pontifex maximus , and removing the Altar of Victory from the Roman Senate 's Curia Julia . The city of Cularo on the Isère river in Roman Gaul was renamed Gratianopolis after him, which later evolved to Grenoble . In 383, faced with rebellion by the usurper Magnus Maximus , Gratian marched his army towards Lutetia (Paris). His army deserted him. He fled to Lugdunum and

3180-470: The Emperor in order to be authorized as legal bodies . Collegia could function as guilds , social clubs , or burial societies ; in practice, in ancient Rome, they sometimes became organized bodies of local businessmen and even criminals, who ran the mercantile/criminal activities in a given urban region (similar to a rione ). Legal collegia possessed certain rights, such as common property,

3286-578: The Roman Republic and around 100 AD, military collegia were viewed as small and violent militias. Inscriptions at Lambaesis date the formation of Legio III Augusta military clubs to the reign of Septimius Severus (193–211) and indicate that they were formed by petty officers and specialists attached to the various services of the legion. During the Severan dynasty (193–235 AD), when unions, both commercial and industrial, became widespread,

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3392-507: The comes Theodosius and had won a victory over the Picts in 382, was proclaimed augustus and crossed the channel, encamping near Paris. There, his forces encountered Gratian, but much of the latter's army defected to the usurper, forcing Gratian to flee. Gratian was pursued by Andragathius , Maximus' magister equitum and killed at Lugdunum ( Lyon ) on 25 August 383, supposedly against orders. Maximus then established his court at

3498-514: 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 ,

3604-591: 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

3710-559: 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

3816-479: The Roman Senate. The formation of collegia and other civil organized bodies were subject to the discretion of the central Roman government. After the implementation of Julius Caesar's social reforms between 49 and 44 BC ( lex Iulia ) and their reaffirmation by Augustus , collegia required the approval of the Roman Senate or the emperor in order to be authorized as legal bodies. Collegia were often

3922-641: The Roman diocese of Dacia to Gratian's control and that of Macedonia to Valentinian II. The same year, Gratian won a victory, possibly over the Alamanni, that was announced officially at Constantinople. By 380, the Greuthungi tribe of Goths moved into Pannonia , only to be defeated by Gratian. Consequently, the Vandals and Alemanni were threatening to cross the Rhine, now that Gratian had departed from

4028-542: 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

4134-545: 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

4240-627: The Sarmatians made common cause inflicting heavy losses on the Pannonica and Moesiaca legions. However, on encountering Theodosius' forces on the borders of Moesia in the eastern Balkans, which had previously defeated one of their armies in 373, they sued for peace. Valentinian mounted a further offensive against the Quadi in August 375, this time using a pincer movement , one force attacking from

4346-478: 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

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4452-438: 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

4558-466: 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

4664-525: 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

4770-407: 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

4876-491: The army by his favouritism towards his Alan deserters, whom he made his bodyguards and to whom he gave military commands. Other criticisms of his behavior were that he surrounded himself with bad company and neglected the affairs of state, preferring to have fun. Shortly after, the Roman general Magnus Maximus had raised the standard of revolt in Britain and invaded Gaul with a large army. Maximus, who had served under

4982-615: 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

5088-534: 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

5194-512: 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

5300-466: 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

5406-533: The customary gifts towards the end of 364, Ursatius, the magister officiorum made them an offering they considered inferior to that of his predecessor. Angered by Ursatius' attitude, they vowed revenge and crossed over the Rhine into Roman Germania and Gaul in January 365, overwhelming the Roman defences. Although at first unsuccessful, eventually Jovinus , the magister equitum in Gaul inflicted heavy losses on

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5512-454: The customary initial step of caesar . Valentinian, concerned with Gratian's age and inexperience, stated his son would assist commanders with upcoming campaigns. The magister peditum Merobaudes , together with the comes rei militaris Sebastianus , was sent by Valentinian to campaign against the Quadi . When a party of Alamanni visited Valentinian's headquarters to receive

5618-584: 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]

5724-426: The east. On 3 August that year, Gratian issued an edict against heresy. On 27 February 380, Gratian, Valentinian II, and Theodosius issued the Edict of Thessalonica . This edict made Nicene Christianity the only legal form of Christianity and outlawed all other forms of religion, ending a period of widespread religious tolerance that had existed since the death of Julian. Zosimus ' report that Gratian refused

5830-485: 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

5936-438: 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

6042-564: The enemy at Scarpona ( Dieulouard ) and at Catalauni ( Châlons-sur-Marne ), forcing them to retire. An opportunity to further weaken the Alamanni occurred in the summer of 368, when king Vithicabius was murdered in a coup, and Valentinian and his son Gratian crossed the river Moenus (the Main ) laying waste to Alamannic territories. Gratian was awarded the victory titles of Germanicus Maximus and Alamannicus Maximus , and Francicus Maximus and Gothicus Maximus in 369. Valentinian fortified

6148-529: 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

6254-424: 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

6360-477: The former imperial residence in Trier. On the death of Gratian, the 12 year old Valentinian II became the sole legitimate augustus in the west. Maximus initially kept Gratian's body for political reasons, and Ambrose's second embassy to him in 385 or 386 to recover it was unsuccessful. It would not be until 387, possibly even after the death of Magnus Maximus, that Gratian's remains were interred at Mediolanum in

6466-625: The frontier from Raetia in the east to the Belgic channel, but the construction was attacked by Alamanni at Mount Pirus (the Spitzberg, Rottenburg am Neckar ). In 369 (or 370) Valentinian then sought to enlist the help of the Burgundians , who were involved in a dispute with the Alamanni, but a communication failure led to them returning to their lands without joining forces with the Romans. It

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6572-403: The government turned its attention to improving standards of living within the army. The basic purpose of military collegia was to help their members cover their funeral expenses. Officers and personnel assigned to special duties were not forbidden from joining collegia , but average soldiers on active duty could not form collegia or be members of them. Membership in a military collegium gave

6678-500: The immediate aftermath of Adrianople, Gratian issued an edict of tolerance at Sirmium, restoring bishops exiled by Valens and ensuring religious freedoms to all religions. Following the battle, the Goths raided from Thrace in 378 to Illyricum the following year. Convinced that one emperor alone was incapable of repelling the inundation of foes on several different fronts, Gratian, now senior augustus following Valens's death, appointed Theodosius I augustus on 19 January 379 to govern

6784-443: 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

6890-461: 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

6996-763: The late 3rd century. Religious collegia were formed by fraternities of priests , sanctioned by the Roman government, and provided a number of religious functions in Rome. These included the overseeing of ritual sacrifices , the practice of augury , the keeping of scriptures , the arranging of festivals , and the maintaining of specific religious cults . Along with their religious functions, these kinds of collegia also had funerary and social functions; providing an outlet for fellowship as well as guaranteed burial services for its members. There were four great religious colleges ( quattuor amplissima collegia ) of Roman priests, in descending order of importance: Other minor religious collegia existed, including: Under

7102-586: 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

7208-760: 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

7314-523: The lyrics "One of sixteen vestal virgins/ Who were leaving for the coast". Collegium (ancient Rome) A collegium ( pl. : collegia ) or college was any association in ancient Rome that acted as a legal entity . Such associations could be civil or religious. The word collegium literally means "society", from collega ("colleague"). They functioned as social clubs or religious collectives whose members worked towards their shared interests. These shared interests encompassed

7420-549: 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

7526-550: The most ancient collegia and instituted that any new collegia had to be deemed by the Senate to be useful to the community. Later in the 2nd century AD, collegia in the Roman world showed signs of an increased tolerance on the part of the Roman government. Under Hadrian , inscriptions in Asia Minor depict collegia that functioned with more freedom as Roman restrictions became smaller and more temporary in scope. The Roman emperor Aurelian imposed state control over collegia in

7632-562: The northwest, while Valentinian himself headed to Aquincum (Budapest), crossed the Danube and attacked from the southeast. This campaign resulted in heavy losses to the enemy, following which he returned to Aquincum and from there to Brigetio ( Szőny , Hungary) where he died suddenly in November. When his father died on 17 November 375, Gratian inherited the administration of the western empire. Days later, Gratian's half-brother Valentinian

7738-735: The officer insurance against unforeseen events requiring any substantial financial investment. Epigraphic inscriptions indicate the Collegia appeared in 84 Roman cities including Rome. There may have been Collegia in Assisi , Clusium , Ligures Baebiani , Marsi , Pollentia , Praeneste , Tarraco , Vada Sabtia , and Uthina . There were Collegias in Brixia , Aquinicum , Mediolanium , Ravenna Most Collegia were located in Italy , Pannonia , and Southern Gaul . Collegia are sparsely located in

7844-448: 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

7950-526: The other provinces. Gratian Gratian ( Latin : Gratianus ; 18 April 359 – 25 August 383) was emperor of the Western Roman Empire from 367 to 383. The eldest son of Valentinian I , Gratian was raised to the rank of Augustus as a child and inherited the West after his father's death in 375. He nominally shared the government with his infant half-brother Valentinian II , who

8056-467: 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

8162-411: 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

8268-477: The power behind the throne. Neither Gratian or Valentinian travelled much, which was thought to be due to not wanting the populace to realise how young they were. Gratian is said to have visited Rome in 376, possibly to celebrate his decennalia on 24 August, but whether the visit actually took place is disputed. Gratian's uncle Valens, returning from a campaign against the Sasanian Empire , had sent

8374-503: The region. With the collapse of the Danube frontier under the incursions of the Huns and Goths, Gratian moved his seat from Augusta Treverorum (Trier) to Mediolanum ( Milan ) in 381. He became increasingly aligned with the city's bishop , Ambrose , and the Roman Senate, shifting the balance of power within the factions of the western empire. In 382, Gratian issued edicts that removed

8480-497: The robe of office of the pontifex maximus has been doubted by modern scholars, because there is no other mention of such a garment associated with the priesthood. Emperors from Gratian to Marcian styled themselves as pontifex inclytus , "honorable pontiff". The title of pontifex maximus was not adopted by the bishops of Rome until the Renaissance . In September 380, the augusti Gratian and Theodosius met, returning

8586-605: 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

8692-433: The statue of the winged goddess Victory from the Senate floor, removed the privileges of Vestal Virgins , and confiscated money designated for sacrifices and ceremonies. He declared that all of the pagan temples and shrines were to be confiscated by the government and that their revenues were to be joined to the property of the treasury . This resulted in protests from the Roman Senate led by Symmachus , which in turn

8798-514: The suppression of social associations by the Roman government. Following the passage of the Lex Julia during the reign of Julius Caesar as Consul and Dictator of the Roman Republic (49–44 BC), and their reaffirmation during the reign of Caesar Augustus as Princeps senatus and Imperator of the Roman Army (27 BC–14 AD), collegia required the approval of the Roman Senate or

8904-774: 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

9010-431: The target of restrictions and bans as a result of suspicions on the part of the Roman government about the function of these social associations. The legality of civil collegia was subject to constant legislation. In 64 BC, all civic collegia were banned by the Senate for being against the Roman constitution, only to be restored six years later in 58 BC. Part of the social reforms of Julius Caesar's reign disbanded all but

9116-425: 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

9222-453: 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

9328-502: 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

9434-481: Was acclaimed augustus by troops in Pannonia. He was forced to accept the proclamation, though he did supervise his younger brother's upbringing. Despite Valentinian being given nominal authority over the praetorian prefectures of Italy , Illyricum , and Africa , Gratian ruled the western Roman empire himself. His tutor Ausonius became his quaestor , and together with the magister militum , Merobaudes ,

9540-591: 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

9646-687: Was also acclaimed emperor in Pannonia on Valentinian's death. The East was ruled by his uncle Valens , who was later succeeded by Theodosius I . Gratian subsequently led a campaign across the Rhine, attacked the Lentienses, and forced the tribe to surrender. That same year, the eastern emperor Valens was killed fighting the Goths at the Battle of Adrianople , which led to Gratian elevating Theodosius to replace him in 379. Gratian favoured Nicene Christianity over traditional Roman religion , issuing

9752-419: 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

9858-474: 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

9964-496: Was counter-protested by Christian senators led by Pope Damasus . On 16 January 383 Theodosius made his son Arcadius co-emperor, evidently without Gratian's approval as he never recognized the promotion on his coinage. Within the same year, Gratian's wife Constantia died, and he remarried to Laeta . Both marriages remained childless. In the summer of 383 Gratian was again at war with the Alamanni in Raetia . Gratian alienated

10070-491: Was entitled nobilissimus puer by his father. Gratian was seven when entitled nobilissimus puer , which indicated he was to be proclaimed Augustus . His tutor was the rhetor Ausonius , who mentioned the relationship in his epigrams and a poem. In summer 367, Valentinian became ill at Civitas Ambianensium ( Amiens ), raising questions about his succession. On recovery, he presented his then eight-year-old son to his troops on 24 August, as his co- augustus , passing over

10176-485: 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

10282-576: Was later murdered. According to the Chronicle of Jerome and the Chronicon Paschale , Valentinian's eldest son Gratian was born on 18 April 359 at Sirmium , now Sremska Mitrovica in Serbia, the capital of Pannonia Secunda , to Valentinian's first wife Marina Severa . Gratian was his parents' only son together. At the time of his birth Gratian's father was living in exile. Gratian

10388-527: Was named after his grandfather Gratianus , who was a tribune and later comes of Britannia for Constantine the Great . Following the death of the emperor Jovian , on 26 February 364, Valentinian was proclaimed Augustus (emperor). Within a month, motivated by senior officers, he proclaimed his brother Valens, Gratian's uncle, Augustus of the Eastern empire. Gratian was appointed consul in 366 and

10494-401: 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

10600-648: Was returning to Thrace to assist him in his struggle against the Goths. Late in July, Valens was informed that the Goths were advancing on Adrianople (Edirne) and Nice , and started to move his forces into the area. However, Gratian's arrival was delayed by an encounter with Alans at Castra Martis , in Dacia in the western Balkans. The forces Gratian sent never reached Valens due to its commander feigning illness. Weeks later, Gratian had arrived in Castra Martis with

10706-524: 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,

10812-468: 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

10918-492: 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

11024-486: Was the increasing threat from other peoples, the Quadi and the Sarmatians . Valentinian's decision to establish garrisons across the Danube had angered them, and the situation escalated after the Quadi king, Gabinus , was killed during negotiations with the Romans in 374. Consequently, in the autumn, the Quadi crossed the Danube plundering Pannonia and the provinces to the south. The situation deteriorated further once

11130-587: Was then that the magister equitum , Theodosius the Elder and his son Theodosius (the Theodosi) attacked the Alamanni through Raetia , taking many prisoners and resettling them in the Po Valley in Italy. Valentinian made one attempt to capture Macrianus in 372, but eventually made peace with him in 374. Gratian, who was then 15, was married in 374 to Constantius II 's 13 year-old posthumous daughter Constantia at Trier . The necessity to make peace

11236-688: 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

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