Editing Religion in ancient Rome (section)

==== The Vestals ====
[[File:Chief Vestal.jpg|thumb|150px|left|A [[Roman sculpture]] depicting a [[Vestal Virgin|Vestal]]]]
The [[Vestal Virgin|Vestals]] were a public priesthood of six women devoted to the cultivation of [[Vesta (mythology)|Vesta]], goddess of the [[Sacred fire of Vesta|hearth of the Roman state and its vital flame]]. A girl chosen to be a Vestal achieved unique religious distinction, public status and privileges, and could exercise considerable political influence. Upon entering her office, a Vestal was emancipated from her [[paterfamilias|father's authority]]. In archaic Roman society, these priestesses were the only women not required to be under the legal guardianship of a man, instead answering directly to the Pontifex Maximus.<ref>Gary Forsythe, ''A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War'' (University of California Press, 2005, 2006), p. 141.</ref>

A Vestal's dress represented her status outside the usual categories that defined Roman women, with elements of both virgin bride and daughter, and Roman matron and wife.<ref>Beard et al., Vol. 1, 52–53.</ref> Unlike male priests, Vestals were freed of the traditional obligations of marrying and producing children, and were required to take a vow of chastity that was strictly enforced: a Vestal polluted by the loss of her chastity while in office was buried alive.<ref>Beard et al., Vol. 1, 51–54, 70–71, 297. For comparison of Vestal constraints to those of Jupiter's flamen, see Smith, in Rüpke (ed.), 39–40</ref> Thus the exceptional honor accorded a Vestal was religious rather than personal or social; her privileges required her to be fully devoted to the performance of her duties, which were considered essential to the security of Rome.<ref>Forsythe, ''A Critical History of Early Rome'', p. 141.</ref>

The Vestals embody the profound connection between domestic cult and the religious life of the community.<ref>Beard et al., Vol. 1, 50–53.</ref> Any householder could rekindle their own household fire from Vesta's flame. The Vestals cared for the [[Lares]] and [[Penates]] of the state that were the equivalent of those enshrined in each home. Besides their own festival of [[Vestalia]], they participated directly in the rites of [[Parilia]], [[Parentalia]] and [[Fordicidia]]. Indirectly, they played a role in every official sacrifice; among their duties was the preparation of the ''[[mola salsa]]'', the salted flour that was sprinkled on every [[Animal sacrifice|sacrificial victim]] as part of its immolation.<ref>Ariadne Staples, ''From Good Goddess to Vestal Virgins: Sex and Category in Roman Religion'' (Routledge, 1998), pp. 154–155.</ref>

One mythological tradition held that the mother of Romulus and Remus was a Vestal virgin of royal blood. A tale of miraculous birth also attended on [[Servius Tullius]], sixth king of Rome, son of a virgin slave-girl impregnated by a disembodied [[phallus]] arising mysteriously on the royal hearth; the story was connected to the ''[[fascinus]]'' that was among the cult objects under the guardianship of the Vestals.

Augustus' religious reformations raised the funding and public profile of the Vestals. They were given high-status seating at games and theatres. The emperor [[Claudius]] appointed them as priestesses to the cult of the deified [[Livia]], wife of Augustus.<ref>Beard et al., Vol. 1, 193-4.</ref> They seem to have retained their religious and social distinctions well into the 4th century, after political power within the Empire had shifted to the Christians. When the Christian emperor [[Gratian]] refused the office of ''pontifex maximus'', he took steps toward the dissolution of the order. His successor [[Theodosius I]] extinguished Vesta's sacred fire and vacated her temple.