As soon as she entered the atrium of Vesta’s temple, she was under the goddess’s service and protection. Once a girl was chosen to be a Vestal, the pontifex pointed to her and led her away from her parents with the words, “I take you, Amata, to be a Vestal priestess, who will carry out sacred rites which it is the law for a Vestal priestess to perform on behalf of the Roman people, on the same terms as her who was a Vestal ‘on the best terms'” (thus, with all the entitlements of a Vestal). The choosing ceremony was known as a captio (capture). Originally, the girl had to be of patrician birth, but membership was opened to plebeians as it became difficult to find patricians willing to commit their daughters to 30 years as a Vestal, and then ultimately even to the daughters of freedmen for the same reason. 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.
Keeper of the sacred fire free#
To get admittance into the order, a girl had to be free of physical and mental defects, have two living parents and be a daughter of a free-born resident of Rome. A marriage to a former Vestal was highly honored, and – more importantly in ancient Rome – thought to bring good luck … as well as a comfortable pension. The Pontifex Maximus, acting as the father of the bride, would typically arrange a marriage with a suitable Roman nobleman.
Once retired, a former Vestal was given a pension and allowed to marry. These 30 years were divided in turn into decade-long periods during which Vestals were respectively students, servants, and teachers.Īfterwards, they were retired and replaced by a new inductee. The Vestals were committed to the priesthood before puberty (when 6-10 years old) and sworn to celibacy for a period of 30 years. Early 18th-century depiction of the dedication of a Vestal, by Alessandro Marchesini
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