Romes Superstitions, The Vestal Virgins Options

[Guest_spartacus_*]

Superstitions played a major role in the Roman way of life - one example being the Vestal Virgins, whom were held in high esteem!
The temple of the Vesta was located in the Forum, the Virgins most important job was to keep the fire burning in the public section of the temple, legend has it that if the fire ever went out then Rome would suffer a disaster!
To serve as a Vestal Virgin, girls were picked from 6 to 10 years old and service was for a 30 yr period.
10 as students, 10 in service and the remainder as teachers.
Whilst being carried in a litter, if you pulled back the cover to look in , it was punishable by death, on that note, if a virgin broke her vow of chastity, the punishment was to be buried alive!
Because they were held in high esteem by the Romans, they were given the best seats at games and banquets which is deemed as a great honour as women did not play a big part in religious ceremonys!

[Favonius Corneli...]

A girl chosen to be a Vestal Virgin must, according to law (fas), be no less than six and no more than ten years old. Both her father and mother must be alive. She must not be handicapped by a speech or hearing problem or marked by some physical defect. ...Neither one nor both of her parents may have been slaves or engaged in menial occupations...

As soon as a Vestal has been chosen, escorted to the House of Vesta, and handed over to the pontifices, she immediately leaves the control of her father, without a ceremony of manumission or loss of civil rights, and she acquires the right to make a will...

The Vestal is said to be 'taken', it seems, because the pontifex maximus grasps her by the hand and she is led away from the parent under whose control she is, as if she had been 'taken' in war...

The words which the pontifex maximus should speak when he accepts a Vestal Virgin are these: 'I take you, Amata, as one who has fulfilled all the requirements to be a priestess of Vesta and to perform the sacred rites which it is lawful for a priestess of Vesta to perform on behalf of the Roman people.'

- Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights

[Tiberius Sylvest...]

Romans themselves would say they had a religio while some of the weird stuff coming out of the Orient, like cheap astrology, was superstitio. But the Romans are quite dead so I suppose they are not here to defend their beliefs.

Not exactly, there are still a few of us who actively practise the religio romana. I know of some individuals who are avid reconstructionists (i term them as neo-classical reconstructionists) they try to practice the Roman religion in the old ways, using the old techniques. Most of their knowledge of how to do this comes from written sources from the time.

However us polytheists are not a particularly one minded group, polytheism tends to lead to much differing opinion and a real open ended way of approaching things. Therefore some of use are fairly liberal in our approach to the old religions, and the reconstructionst usually take are rather dim view of us liberals as we are corrupting the faith. I like many other pagans will just go with whatever seems to work. I came across a follower of the Norse religion that told me a story about one of his friends. His friend practiced the Roman religion and was very keen on making it as true to historical facts as possible, thus he followed the ancient recipie of making cakes to leave on his home altar for offerings (i forget to which deity), and he said he later had a dream where it was quite clear that the goddess involved was actually much more interested in the box of chocolates at the other side of the room. So you know... time moves on and religions adapt. Look at how the Greek religion shifted over the centuries, minor gods only worshipped in very localised areas ended up moving into the Olympian twelve and other gods got pushed out.

Thus i say whatever works, go for it.


As for the eternal flame of Vesta i wouldn't call it a superstition, afterall look at what happened when they did extinguish it! There are even more marked cases of things along these lines happening.

I'm sure i read something about a bad omen in the temple of Apollo which was swiftly followed by an earthquake which destroyed the city involved. Where did i read that??? Suetonius, Tacitus, or that book on Greek Religion??

Hmm don't you just hate it when you can't remember where you read something?

[Ursus]

I deleted some of the useless banter stemming from that Spartacus fellow. Unfortunately I could not also delete the first post.

I also removed about half the thread to its own topic.

Let's keep this thread related to the historic use of the vestal virgins. The split topic can be used to discuss other issues pertaining to the reconstruction of ancient faiths. Thanks.

[Pantagathus]

I came across a follower of the Norse religion that told me a story about one of his friends. His friend practiced the Roman religion and was very keen on making it as true to historical facts as possible, thus he followed the ancient recipie of making cakes to leave on his home altar for offerings (i forget to which deity), and he said he later had a dream where it was quite clear that the goddess involved was actually much more interested in the box of chocolates at the other side of the room.

I got locked out of my house recently and spent almost 45 minutes ruining various credit & ID cards trying to jimmy my way in. (Luckily this one particular door isn't a dead bolt)

Finally, I took a deep breath and prayed to Portunes to please grant me access to my house with the promise to pour libations to him that night.

***CLICK***

Door opened on the next try just like that.

Portunes got some real nice Spanish tempranillo that evening and I plan on carving a small alabaster representation of him to be placed near my doorway.

[Tiberius Sylvest...]

I got locked out of my house recently and spent almost 45 minutes ruining various credit & ID cards trying to jimmy my way in. (Luckily this one particular door isn't a dead bolt)

Finally, I took a deep breath and prayed to Portunes to please grant me access to my house with the promise to pour libations to him that night.

***CLICK***

Door opened on the next try just like that.

Portunes got some real nice Spanish tempranillo that evening and I plan on carving a small alabaster representation of him to be placed near my doorway.

Too convenient!

A god has chosen you my friend!

[Sextus Roscius]

How strange the world may be.

But to me, an atheist, it was luck. Ah well

The Romans had quite a interesting view of the vestals. Would hate to be one though.... such a boring life.