Vestal Cult free essay sample

A vision in white surrounded by the air of purity and near divinity was the image of a Vestal virgin. These women became synonymous with the eternal existence and safety of Rome. The representation of influence, devotion, and power were characteristics of these six women who sacrificed their sexuality and family cults to serve the Goddess Vests and to profit from the advantages that such devotion earned. The life of a Vestal virgin was unlike that of any other Roman woman with her political influence and symbolic protection of the Roman state. We will write a custom essay sample on Vestal Cult or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page As a central entity to ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins chastity and legality determined the very survival of the powerful city. The Vestal Virgins became synonymous with the eternal existence and safety of the Roman state. Originating during the reign of King Annum in 71 5 BCC, the Vestals were introduced as a form Of protection to restore confidence and ensure the existence of the Roman state. They were to remain chaste for 30 years after which they had the ability to leave the priesthood but could choose to serve until her death. 1 The decades were separated into 3 parts, a dent, a practitioner, and then a teacher.With the Vestal virgins maintaining their religious duties Rome would continue to remain the foremost city in the ancient world. Above all, the significance of the cult of Vests contained the symbolic factors for which the cult represented. According to Garage-Roman tradition, the household and hearth were basic building blocks of the city -sate; both were part of the natural structuring of human society. 2 The worship of the goddess of the hearth, Vests, allowed the cult to gain a higher level of worship due to the symbolism that the burning fire represented. The flame was a symbol of the unity of Rome as a communal household with the women tending to it and keeping the flame endlessly burning. The fire was also a form of connection to the divine. 3 As a key element in ritual offerings the fire connected the mortal lives to the realm of the gods. Each temple would have had its own hearth for offerings, yet the central hearth was located in the temple of Vests to characterize Romeos unwavering strength and stability. For this matter the flame was to be forever burning or the permanence of the Roman state would be threatened. Within each home inRome was a hearth, the symbol of warmth, protection, and nourishment. Each of these hearths were initially kindled from the great hearth in the aides Vested therefore each household was linked to the central flame which created a unification of the households into the one steadfast city that was Rome. 4 Fire was the most pure of elements. The cult of Vests endured over 1000 years including three types of rule (kingship, republic, and empire), and two religious interpretations (polytheism and Christianity). In the eyes of the Romans the Vestal Virgins became a symbolic portrayal of eternity and divinity.Without the Vestals and their cult the Roman State would have existed differently, if at all. 5 Roman historian, Titus Lives, also known as Live, writes about the history of the legendary Vests that was Rhea Silvia and her fundamental role in the founding of Rome. As the only surviving daughter of King Monitor and the lone female descendant of Nanas, Rhea Silvia was given to the order of Vestals to become a virgin priestess. Her initiation into the temple of Vests was to abolish any future descents from Monitors line. Live describes this duty as an honor to her with this position but Live finishes his count with depriving her of all hopes of issue. (Live, Through the act of violation by the god of war Mars, Rhea Silvia gives birth to the mythological founders of Rome, Romulus and Reams. The connection between Rome as a founded city and the role of the vestal is evident. Rhea Silvia a Vestal priestess; the personification of virtue, piety, and protector of home and hearth and bloodline descendent from the hero Names is the mother of Rome through her son Romulus the founder.This connection to the mother seen in Rhea Silvia and the strength of Rome can be seen further in duality of he nurturing, earthen femininity in Rhea Silvia and the fire and unrehearsed. 7 The term Virgin can be used to describe a physical trait of these young women but it can also be seen as a symbolic term for the priestesses. Holt N. Parker implies that the term of a virgin is nothing more than a metaphor. TO be a virgin is to not have been penetrated by man, if the Vestal was the figurative heart of Rome, for her to be a virgin would mean that the shelter of Rome has not been penetrated by an outside force. The purity that was upheld for the 30 year servitude was critical in the connection be;en aorta and divine, in this way Vests could connected with her divine counterpart. 9 To remain a virgin was a way to prove her oath to the Roman state of her commitment, it also ensured that no familial tie could bind the priestess into political gain through her offspring. As children between the ages of six and ten, six priestesses are selected to commit a minimum of thirty years of servitude in the name of Vessel.Religious rituals were conducted throughout the year by the Vestals and many incorporated the use of purification tools to cleanse the temple. The most noted ritual was lead on the first day of the New Year wh en the Vestals renewed the life of the temple by rekindling a new fire in the aides Vestal. 10 The ritual was seen as regeneration and renewal rite to denote the discarding of the past and the emerging of the new. The Vestal rite of caption involved the removal of the girl from the familial cult but failed to complete the transfer into a cult of a new family. 1 The Vestals remained in an intermediate state of girl and women; she was neither a member of her family s cult nor was she yet a member of a ewe family cult, for this reason the Vestal Virgins always wore their hair in the sex crises style. Thus, the Vestal retained the hairstyle of virgin bride, the dress of Roman matrons, and the status of the elite. The attire of the Vestals Virgins consisted of a Stool (long dress) that was worn only by the matrons and the Vestals.It represented a detectable sign Of purity since foredoomed, prostitutes and divorced women were prohibited from wearing it. 12 In addition to their distinctive manner of dress the Vestals received privileges not offered to other women or some Romans. Some examples include the ability to make a will during their fathers life, perform daily affairs without a guardian, pardon a person being led to execution, buried inside the city, and special seating arrangements among elites to visually reinforce the publics awareness of their superior status. 3 They were responsible for the protection and the maintenance of the citys central fire within the pens of the aides Vestal. 14 Extinguished of this fire would threaten the foundation of the citys existence, the fax detour. The historical purpose, detailed requirements of selection, and public ritual participation made the Vestal Virgins an essential political function in addition to their religious role with a number of other religious tasks were performed by the Vestal Virgins and were given privileges not granted to other Roman women.They had the right to decide over their fortunes and properties once the years of servitude were completed. As a guardian of Romeos symbolic storeroom and religious substances called the pens, the priestesses were the only Romans allowed within this room and knew the exact nature of what it contained. The Vestals had the sole responsibility Of these contents and whatever they might be ere indispensable for the continuation of the Roman state. 15 Failure to accomplish their duties would result in severe consequences.Smaller offenses led to naked whippings at the hands of the Pontiffs Maximum. 16 Fests describes the method for renewing the fire connecting the cult with fertility, if the fire of Vests was ever extinguished, the virgins were beaten with whips by the Pontiffs. It was the custom for them to drill a board of favorable wood for a very long time, a virgin then bore the fire taken from this into the added in a bronze sieve (Fest. 491)17 Interpreted as both sexual and pragmatic this method of kindling a fire was the most common method among their ancestors.In the event that a Vestal was found guilty of crimes incentive, loss of virginity during a Vestals period of service, the punishment was live burial. This crime was viewed as a dire threat to the Roman state. 18 Those who were unable to uphold the duties of the Vestal Virgins were buried alive; like a fire, the quickest way to extinguish it is masking the flames with soil. The symbolic death of the Vestal Virgins was to quench their flame with earth.Only 22 cases were recorded of crimes incenses during the existence of the Vestal cult, the majority of which occurred during political turmoil. 19 The six women selected to serve as Vestal virgins engaged in a distinct role in Roman politics. The Vestals political role in maintaining Romeos influence becomes a source of accountability when the State undergoes periods of turmoil. Along with their political function and religious role in society the cult of Vests served as a scapegoat for politicians and emperors when the Roman state suffered extreme political instability.The use of live burial reassured the public that Romeos religious traditions and political strength would always be protected. 20 When Vestal were involved in transgressions of crimes incentive, harsh punishments such as live burial are necessary in the eyes of the Romans because the Vestals failed to properly protect Romeos central power source. It was a crime against tradition and the safety of Rome. Consequently every incests accusation was preceded by a mysterious omen (egg the extinguishing of the fire of the aides Vestal).Live describes a panic-ridden atmosphere in 483 BCC due to a failure of properly performing sacred rites, To add to everyones apprehension, there were prodigies from the heavens, signaling almost daily threats in both the city and countryside. Both publicly and privately, seers inspected entrails and observed the flight of birds, declaring that the reason for the divine displeasure was nothing less than that the sacred rites had not been properly performed. These fears eventually resulted in the condemnation of the Vestal Poppa for unchristian and her punishment. 22 Such turmoil was specifically linked to the Vestal cult because it was central and vital to the entire Roman state. Dionysus and Plutarch both support the idea that as Vests, who herself typified the earth, was to be regarded as the centre of the universe, so fire, which is sacred to her was placed in the centre of the City . 23 With a central role in the Roman state, the cult Of Vests was treated as guilty political scapegoats due to the entwined religious function with the hearth of the Roman state.The majority of crimes incenses cases occurred during periods of political instability. Out of 18 live burials that took place three occurred in 114 BCC. 24 The trials of the here vestals took place during the destruction of the army of C. Porcine Coat in Thrace. 25 This supports the theory that political attacks on Vestals occurred during political uproar rather than during valid religious concern among the people. In addition to representing the unfaltering ideal of Roman divinity, the Vestals reflected the aspirations of the public for a stable Roman state.At any given time there were six Vestals who might range in age from early childhood to extreme old age. The selection process of Vestals could take place in two different ways; in one the Pontiffs Maximum would follow King Mamas maniac Pain law and selected twenty girls from whom one was chosen. 26 Alternatively a man of respectable birth could offer his daughter. If the senate approved the offer she could be accepted automatically. In any case the goddess Vests had the final choice in her new priestess.The introductory rite into the cult of Vests was known as the capital. In a way that is similar to a matrons marriage rite, it differed in specific important ways. The girl is seated on her fathers lap instead of her mothers and is approached by the Pontiffs Maximum who then would seize her and take her way. The transfer from her fathers potentates to her new familys potentates in never completed, instead becoming SSI iris, freed from her fathers control but without a new male control. They became part of the state cult that belonged to all Roman families collectively. 7 There were rigorous qualifications for a prospective Vestal: she had to be between the age Of six and ten; be bare of any physical blemish or impairment; both parents still living and in the patria potentates. In addition to this her father should not have been unbound from the potentates of his father. If her grandfather were alive he would have to be in his potentates. 28 From this point on the Vestal is property of the state and under the household of the Pontiffs Maximum until the end of her 30-year term.As the head of the College of Pontiffs, the Pontiffs Maximum represented both the husband and the father figure to the Vestal. It is only the Pontiffs who has the power to not only select but to also condemn a Vestal to punishment. Through this relationship to the state as a whole, the Vestal was bound to no one and everyone at the same time. Her duties were to be matron and priestess to the nation in all rites and rituals fitting her station as household matron. As a deity of fertility, Vests was valued in mythology for her virginity and chastity alluding to a Mother-like figure.The connections to the divine in through the years of worship emphasize the desire to maintain position amongst the young priestesses. This triple image of maid, mother and deity all intricately bond the temple of Vests together though virginity, fertility, and spirituality. These elements combined created an institution was remarkably valued throughout its existence. The Women of the Vestal cult sacrificed so little but gained So much. Though a simple sacrifice of perpetual chastity the Vestal was able to empower not only herself politically and financially, but also empower the Roman Empire as a whole.