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VESTA (Gr. 'Errata)

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 1056 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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VESTA (Gr. 'Errata) , the goddess of See also:fire and the domestic See also:hearth. The cults of the See also:Greek See also:Hestia (q.v.) and the Latin Vesta, both of which involved the guardianship of an ever-burning sacred fire, are most probably derived from a very See also:early See also:custom, See also:common to a See also:great variety of races in different ages. Among See also:primitive peoples it became the custom for each See also:village to maintain a See also:constant fire for See also:general use, to avoid the See also:necessity of obtaining a spark by See also:friction in See also:case of the accidental extinction of all the village fires.' This fire, the central hearth of the village (See also:focus publicus), became a sacred See also:symbol of See also:home and See also:family See also:life. The See also:form of the primitive See also:house in which the fire was preserved, probably a See also:round hut made of wattled osiers daubed with See also:clay, appears to have survived both in the circular See also:prytaneum of the Greeks and in the Aedes Vestae (See also:Temple of Vesta) in See also:Rome. To See also:watch this fire would naturally be the See also:duty of unmarried See also:women, and hence may have arisen the See also:Roman See also:order of virgin priestesses, the vestals, whose See also:chief duty it was to tend the sacred fire. The prehistoric method of getting a spark appears to have survived in the See also:rule that, if ever the sacred fire of Vesta did go out, the negligent vestal was to be punished by scourging (See also:Livy See also:xxviii. II), and the fire rekindled either by friction of dry sticks,' or, in later times, by the See also:sun's rays brought to a focus by a See also:concave See also:mirror (Plut. Numa, 9). In the prytaneum (q.v.) which existed in every Greek See also:state, a different form of cult was See also:developed, though the essential point, the sacred fire, was'kept J. G. Frazer in the See also:Journal of See also:Philology (vol. xiv. pp.

145-72), " The See also:

Worship of Vesta and its Connexion with the Greek Prytaneum," gives many examples of a similar custom still surviving among various See also:savage races. 2 An allusion to the earliest method of obtaining fire by rubbing two sticks together is probably contained in the myth of See also:Prometheus, who brought fire to mortals hidden in a hollow wand. up, just as in the Latin worship of Vesta; and in both cases the fire was extinguished annually at the beginning of the new See also:year, and solemnly rekindled by one of the primitive and hence sacred methods.' In Rome this was done on the first See also:day of See also:March, the Latin New Year's Day (See also:Ovid, See also:Fasti, .137–45). Among both Greek and early Latin races, at the See also:founding of a new See also:colony, fire was solemnly sent from the prytaneum of the See also:mother colony to kindle a similar sacred fire in the new See also:settlement. Thus we find that, according to tradition, the worship of Vesta in Rome was introduced from See also:Alba Longa (Livy 2o, and Ovid, Fasti, iii. 46), which appears to have been the See also:oldest of the Latin colonies in See also:Latium. The most generally received Latin See also:legend attributes the founding of the Roman temple of Vesta to Numa, who transferred the centre of the cult from Alba, together with the four vestal virgins, its priestesses (Plut. Numa, so). One of the later See also:kings, either Tarquin I. or Servius Tullius, is said to have increased the number to six (See also:Dion. See also:Hal. iii. 67, and Plut. Numa, so), and it is not till the last years of the See also:pagan See also:period that we hear of a seventh vestal having been added (see See also:Ambrose, Epist., ed.

Pareus, p. 477; also Plut. Rom. and See also:

Cam.). The See also:election (caplio) of the vestal during the early period of Rome was iii the hands of the See also:king, and in those of the See also:pontifex See also:maximus under the See also:republic and See also:empire,' subject, however, to the following conditions (Aul. Gel!. i. 12): (I) the See also:candidate was to be more than six and less than ten years of See also:age; (2) she was to be patrima and malrime, i.e. having both parents alive; (3) See also:free from See also:physical or See also:mental defects; (4) daughter of a free-See also:born See also:resident in See also:Italy. Certain details of the election were arranged subject to the provisions of the Lex Papia, now unknown. The selected See also:child had her See also:hair cut off, and was solemnly admitted by the pontifex maximus, who held her by the See also:hand, and, addressing her by the name amata, pronounced an See also:ancient See also:formula of See also:initiation, which is given by Aulus See also:Gellius. In early times there were certain rules by which girls could be excused from serving as vestals, but the See also:honour soon became so eagerly sought that these provisions were practically useless. Vows were taken by the vestal for a period of See also:thirty years, after which she was free to return to private life and even to marry—which she very rarely did (Aul. Gelb vi. 7).

This period of thirty years was divided into three decades: during the first the vestal learnt her duties; during the second she practised them; and during the third she instructed the See also:

young vestals. The See also:special dignity of chief of the vestals (See also:virgo vestalis See also:maxima) was reached in order of seniority. The See also:inscriptions on the pedestals of statues of various vestales maximae show that a number of different grades of honour were passed through before reaching the highest dignity or maxi-See also:mat us.' The duties of the vestals, besides the chief one of tending the See also:holy fire (Cie. De See also:Leg. ii. 8), consisted in the daily bringing of See also:water from the sacred See also:spring of See also:Egeria, near the Porta See also:Capena, to be used for the ceremonial sweeping and sprinkling of the Aedes Vestae." They, also offered sacrifices of See also:salt cakes—muries and mola salsa—and poured on the See also:altar of sacred fire libations of See also:wine and oil, as is represented on the reverses of several first See also:brasses and medallions of the empire. The vestals were See also:bound to offer daily prayers for the welfare of the Roman state, and more especially in times of danger or calamity (Cie. See also:Pro See also:Font. 21). They were also the guardians of the seven sacred See also:objects on which the stability of the Roman See also:power was supposed to depend: the chief of these was the See also:Palladium, a See also:rude archaic statue of See also:Pallas, which was said to have been brought by See also:Aeneas from the burning See also:Troy. This sacred See also:object was never shown to profane eyes, but it is represented on the See also:reverse of a See also:coin struck by See also:Antoninus See also:Pius in honour of his deified wife See also:Faustina. Strict observance of the See also:vow of chastity was one of the chief obligations of the vestals, and its See also:breach was punished by See also:burial alive at a See also:place near the Porta Collina known as the Campus Sceleratus (see Livy viii. 15 and 89; Piin.

Ep. iv. 11; and See also:

Suet. Dom. 8). Cases of unchastity and its See also:punishment were rare; and, as the See also:evidence i Fire obtained in this way, that is, " pure elemental fire," was commonly thought to possess a special sanctity. Even throughout the See also:middle ages in See also:Catholic countries, at See also:Easter, when the new year began. -he old pagan rite survived (see See also:LIGHTS, CEREMONIAL USE OF.) From the See also:time of See also:Augustus the emperors themselves held the See also:office of chief pontiff, and with it the See also:privilege of electing the vestals. 3 These inscriptions are printed in See also:Middleton, Ancient Romein 1885, pp. 200–6, and in Archaeologia, xlix. 414–22. ' The See also:shrine of Vesta was not a templum, in the strict Roman sense, as it was not consecrated by the See also:augurs, its sanctity being far above the necessity of any such ceremony. Other natural springs might be used for the daily sprinkling, but it was forbidden to use water brought in a See also:pipe or other artificial conduit (Tac.

Hi;t. iv. 53) ; see also Guhl and Koner, Das Leben der Griechen and Reimer (Eng. trans. by F. Huetfer, 1875).1055 against the vestal was usually that of slaves, given under See also:

torture, it is probable that in many instances an See also:innocent vestal suffered this cruel See also:death. The privileges of the vestals and their influential position were very remarkable. They *ere exempt from any patria potestas, except that of the pontifex maximus, their religious See also:father; they could dispose by will of their See also:property, and were in most respects not subject to the Roman See also:laws (" legibus non tenetur," Servius, on Virg. Aen. xi. 204; cf. Gains i. 130, and Dio See also:Cass. lvi. io). This involved freedom from taxes, and the right to drive through the streets of Rome in carriages (plostrum and currus arcuatus). Some See also:bronze plates have been found which were once attached to the carriages of vestals; the inscription on one of them runs thus: Flaviae Publiciae v.v. maximae inmunis in jugo (see C.I.L. vi. 2146–2148; cf. also See also:Prudentius, Contra Symm. ii.

1088). They were preceded by a lictor when appearing on state occasions, and enjoyed other semi-royal honours (Plut. Numa, 1o, and Dio Cass. xlvii. 19). At theatres and other places of amusement they occupied the best seats, except at some of the nude athletic contests, from which they were excluded; they also took an important See also:

part in all the See also:grand religious and state ceremonies, as when the pontifex maximus offered See also:sacrifice on the occasion of a See also:triumph before the temple of Capitoline See also:Jupiter. They had power to See also:pardon any criminal they met in the See also:street on his way to See also:execution, provided that the See also:meeting were accidental. The vestals alone shared with the emperors the privilege of intramural burial (Serv. on Virg. Aen. xi. 206). During life they were richly dowered by the state (Suet. Aug. 1), and had public slaves appointed to serve them (see Tac.

Hist. 1. 43). They were also the guardians of the See also:

emperor's will, and of other important documents of state (Suet. J. Cdes. 83, and Aug. rot; Tac. See also:Ann. i. 8; Plut. Anton. 58; and See also:Appian, See also:Bell. Civ.

V. 73). Their See also:

influence in the See also:appointment to many offices, both religious and See also:secular, appears to have been very great. Many of the statues to the chief vestals which were found in the See also:Atrium Vestae in 1883–1884 have pedestals inscribed with a See also:dedication re-cording that benefits had been conferred on the donor by the vestalis maxima. Lastly, they lived in a See also:style of very great splendour; their house, the Atrium Vestae, which stood See also:close by the Aedes Vestae, was very large and exceptionally magnificent both in decoration and material (see ROME, See also:Archaeology, § " See also:Forum Romanum and See also:map). The See also:discovery already mentioned of a number of statues of vestales maximae has thrown new See also:light on the See also:dress of the vestals.' With one or two exceptions the See also:costume of these statues is much the same. they have a See also:long sleeveless See also:tunic (stola), girdled by the See also:zone; immediately below the See also:breast. One only wears the diploidion over the upper part of her figure. The See also:outer garment is an ample See also:gallium, wrapped round the See also:body in a great variety of folds, and in some cases brought over the See also:head like a See also:hood. All seem to have long hair, showing that the See also:process of cutting off the hair at initiation was not repeated. One figure wears the suffibuttim, a rectangular piece of See also:white See also:cloth bordered by a See also:purple stripe, worn over the head and fastened on the breast by a fibula. According to See also:Festus (ed. See also:Muller, p.

348), this sacred garment was worn by the vestals only during the See also:

act of sacrificing (see also See also:Varro, De See also:Ling. See also:Lat. vi. 2I). In all cases the head is closely bound by vittae, rope-like twists of woollen cloth, the ends of which usually fall in loops on each See also:shoulder (see Servius on Virg. Aen. x. 538). The Regia, the See also:official fanum of the pontifex maximus, was adjacent to the vestals' house: " Hie See also:locus est Vestae, qui Pallada servat et ignem; Hic fuit antiqui Regia parva Numae."' When Augustus, after his election to the office of pontifex maximus in 12 B.C., moved his place of See also:residence from the Regia to the See also:Palatine, he built a new Aedes Vestae near his See also:palace, in the magnificent See also:Area Apollinis. This appears to have been a copy of the older temple of Vesta. No traces of it now exist; but See also:Piero Ligorio, in the latter part of the 16th See also:century, made some sketches of what then existed of this second temple, to illustrate his great MS. on Roman antiquities, which is now preserved in the royal library at See also:Turin (see Ovid, Fasti, iv. 949–954, and Metam. xv. 864). The See also:original course of the Sacra Via passed close to the temple of Vesta; but the road was clumsily built over in the 3rd and 4th centuries.

The chief festival in honour of Vesta, the Vestalia, was held on the 9th of See also:

June (Ovid, Fasti, vi. 249), after which the temple was closed for five days for a ceremonial cleansing. In private houses the feast was celebrated by a See also:meal of See also:fish, See also:bread and herbs, eaten, not on the usual See also:triclinium, but by the domestic hearth, in front of the See also:effigies of the Dii See also:Penates (Ovid, Fasti, vi. 309–310). The feast, inaugurated by Augustus in honour of Vesta Palatina, was held on the 28th of See also:April, the anniversary of its See also:consecration. With regard to statues of the goddess, though the Greek Hestia was frequently represented in plastic See also:art, yet among the See also:Romans ' These statues appear to have been the See also:work of a privileged class of sculptors, who enjoyed the See also:title of " fictores virginum vestalium " —an honour which is recorded in some of the dedicatory inscriptions on the pedestals. 6 Ovid, Tristia, iii. 29. Vesta appears to have been rarely so treated. The Athenian prytaneum. contained a statue of Hestia. But there was no effigy in the Roman temple of Vesta, although one is commonly shown on reverses of coins which have a See also:representation of the temple, and it appears to have been commonly thought in Rome that a statue of Vesta did exist inside her shrine—a See also:mistake which Ovid corrects (Fasti, vi. 297-300).

No Roman statue now known can be certainly considered to represent Vesta, though a very beautiful See also:

standing figure of a See also:female with veiled head (in the Torlonia collection) has, with some See also:probability, had this name given to it. The worship of Vesta appears to have died out slowly in the 4th century, after the See also:adoption of See also:Christianity as the state See also:religion by See also:Constantine, and in 382 See also:Gratian confiscated the Atrium Vestae. See also:Zosimus (Hist. Nov. v. 38) tells an interesting See also:story of a visit made to it at the end of the 4th century by See also:Serena, the wife of the Vandal See also:Stilicho, who took a valuable necklace from one of the statues, in spite of the remonstrances of an aged woman, the last survivor of the vestal virgins. Soon after that time the See also:building appears to have fallen into decay, its valuable See also:marble linings and other ornaments having been stripped from its walls.

End of Article: VESTA (Gr. 'Errata)

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