VESTAL VIRGIN

in Roman religion, any of the six priestesses, representing the daughters of the royal house, who tended the state cult of Vesta, the goddess of the hearth. Chosen between the ages of six and ten by the pontifex maximus (chief priest), they served for 30 years, during which time they had to remain virgins. Afterward they could marry, but few did, as it was considered unlucky. Those chosen as Vestal Virgins had to be of the required age, be freeborn of freeborn and respectable parents (though later the daughters of freedmen were eligible), have both parents alive, and be free from physical and mental defects. The Vestal Virgins' duties included tending the perpetual fire in the Temple of Vesta, keeping their vow of chastity, fetching water from a sacred spring (Vesta would have no water from the city water-supply system), preparing ritual food, caring for objects in the temple's inner sanctuary, and officiating at the public worship of Vesta (the Vestalia, June 715). Failure to attend to their duties was punished by a beating; violation of the vow of chastity, by burial alive. The Vestal Virgins enjoyed many honours and privileges, including emancipation from their fathers' rule.