As the Vestals were regarded as daughters of the community, this offence essentially constituted incest.

From at least the mid-Republican era, the pontifex maximus chose Vestals between their sixth and tenth year, by lot from a group of twenty high-born candidates at a gathering of their families and other Roman citizens.

Inscriptions record the existence of Vestals in other locations than the centre of Rome.

Egeria as a nymph or minor goddess of the Roman religious system is of unclear origin ; she is consistently, though not in a very clear way, associated with another figure of the Diana type ; their cult is known to have been celebrated at sacred groves, such as the site of Nemi at Aricia, and another one close to Rome, expedient for her presumed regular meetings with King Numa ; both goddesses are also associated with water gifted with wondrous, religious or medical properties ( the source in that grove at Rome was dedicated to the exclusive use of the Vestals ); their cult was associated with other, male figures of even more obscure meaning, such as one named Virbius, or a Manius Egerius, presumably a youthful male, that anyway in later years was identified with figures like Atys or Hippolyte, because of the Diana reference ( see Frazer ).

Augustus later gave this house and care of its Lares to the Vestals: this donation reinforced the religious bonds between the Lares of his household, his neighbourhood and the State.

A peculiar duty of the Vestals was the preparation and conservation of the sacred salamoia muries used for the savouring of the mola salsa, a salted flour mixture to be sprinkled on sacrificial victims ( hence the Latin verb immolare, " to put on the mola, to sacrifice ").

In AD 24, typically, whenever she attended the theatre, a seat among the Vestals was reserved for her ( Annals 4. 16 ), and this may have been intended more as an honour for the Vestals than for her ( cf.

The fountain of the Camenae was a source of water for the Vestals.

An old woman appeared, the last of the Vestals, who proceeded to rebuke Serena and called down upon her all just punishment for her act of impiety.

The Vestalis Maxima Occia presided over the Vestals for 57 years, according to Tacitus.

The Vestals were committed to the priesthood before puberty ( when 6 – 10 years old ) and sworn to celibacy for a period of 30 years.

While the Order of the Vestals was in existence for over one thousand years there are only ten recorded convictions for unchastity and these trials all took place at times of political crisis for the Roman state.

The earliest Vestals at Alba Longa were said to have been whipped to death for having sex.

The simple ceremonies were officiated by the Vestals and they gathered grain and fashioned salty cakes for the festival.

Tuccia herself had been a subject for artists such as Jacopo del Sellaio ( d. 1493 ) and Joannes Stradanus, and women who were arts patrons started having themselves painted as Vestals.

The one major public role reserved solely for women was in the sphere of religion: the priestly office of the Vestals.

Freed of any obligation to marry or have children, the Vestals devoted themselves to the study and correct observance of rituals which were deemed necessary for the security and survival of Rome but which could not be performed by the male colleges of priests.

Ruins of the House of the Vestals, with pedestals for Roman sculpture | statuary in the foreground

In addition to conducting certain religious rites, the Vestals participated at least symbolically in every official sacrifice, as they were responsible for preparing the required ritual substance mola salsa.

In Roman state religion, the priesthood of the Vestals was responsible for the continuance and security of Rome as embodied by the sacred fire that they could not allow to go out.

The state sacrifice was presided over by the Vestals, who used the ash from the holocaust to prepare suffimen, a ritual substance used later in April for the Parilia.

As the rites had been vitiated, the Vestals were obliged to repeat them, and after further inquiry by the senate and pontifices, Clodius was charged with desecration, which carried a death sentence.

According to Livy, Numa introduced the Vestals and assigned them salaries from the public treasury.

The independence of the Vestals thus existed in relation to the prohibitions imposed on them.

Refusing to side with the Marians despite his daughter's marriage to Young Marius, he was pursued by them and killed in the temple of the Vestals and his body thrown into the Tiber.

Accordingly, those found guilty of any such transgression were condemned to death, either by a manner of their choosing, or according to the ancient fashion, which dictated that Vestals should be buried alive.

This connection between the sacred fire, Earth and life on it is also the reason why the Vestals guilty of unchastity were condemned to be buried alive, an expiation conceived to be a token of their belonging to Earth and of reparation towards it.

He not only refused to restore Victory to the senate-house, but extinguished the Sacred fire of the Vestals and vacated their temple: the senatorial protest was expressed in a letter by Quintus Aurelius Symmachus to the Western and Eastern emperors.

The Vestals seem to have retained their religious and social distinctions well into the 4th century AD, until the Christian emperors dissolved the order.

Augustan seating prescriptions placed women – excepting the Vestals, who were legally inviolate – as far as possible from the action of the arena floor ; or tried to.

At Procas ' death, Numitor became king of Alba Longa, but Amulius captured him and sent him to prison ; he also forced the daughter of Numitor, Rhea Silvia, to become a virgin priestess among the Vestals.

The tortuous nature of the chronology is indicated by Rhea Silvia's ordination among the Vestals, whose order was traditionally said to have been founded by the successor of Romulus, Numa Pompilius.

At Bovillae were located the Alban Vestals ( Albanae Longanae Bovillenses ), supposed to be continuing the Alban Vestals.

Lavinium had the Vestals of the Laurentes Lavinates.

Vestals might have been present in the sanctuary of Diana Nemorensis near Aricia.

This winter festival is not marked on any known religious calendar but was dedicated to the public interest and supervised by the Vestals, and therefore must be considered official.

The Vestals brought Bona Dea's cult image brought from her temple and laid it upon her couch, as an honoured guest.

He must act to ensure that the Vestals had acted correctly, then chair the inquiry into what were essentially his own household affairs.

The scandalous revelations at the trial also undermined the sacred dignity and authority of the Vestals, the festival, the goddess, office of the pontifex maximus and, by association, Caesar and Rome itself.

In 12 BC he became pontifex maximus, which gave him authority over Rome's religious affairs, and over the Vestals, whose presence and authority he conspicuously promoted.

As the Vestals seldom went beyond Rome's city boundary, these cults would have been led by leading women of local elites, whether virgin or matron.

The unusual permissions implicit at these rites probably derived from the religious authority of the Vestals.

Servius says she had a sacellum ( shrine ), probably located in Rome, where sacrifices were made to her through the agency of the Vestals.

The Flamen Quirinalis and the Vestals officiated at his rites.