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Vesta (Classical Latin:) is the virgin goddess of the hearth, home, and family in Roman religion. She was rarely depicted in human form, and was more often represented by the fire of her temple in the Forum Romanum. Entry to her temple was permitted only to her priestesses, the Vestal Virgins. Their virginity was deemed essential to Rome's ...
2nd-century AD Roman statue of a Virgo Vestalis Maxima (National Roman Museum) 1st-century BC (43–39 BC) aureus depicting a seated Vestal Virgin marked vestalis. In ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins or Vestals (Latin: Vestālēs, singular Vestālis [wɛsˈtaːlɪs]) were priestesses of Vesta, virgin goddess of Rome's sacred hearth and its flame.
These goddesses included the Greek deities Hestia, Athena, and Artemis, along with their Roman equivalents, Vesta, Minerva, and Diana. In some instances, the inviolability of these goddesses was simply a detail of their mythology, while in other cases virginity was also associated with their worship and religious rites.
Articles relating to the goddess Vesta and her cult. She was the virgin goddess of the hearth, home, and family in Roman religion.
The Temple of Vesta, or the aedes (Latin Aedes Vestae; Italian: Tempio di Vesta), is an ancient edifice in Rome, Italy. It is located in the Roman Forum near the Regia and the House of the Vestal Virgins. The Temple of Vesta housed Vesta's holy fire, which was a symbol of Rome's safety and prosperity. [1]
The sacred fire of Vesta was a sacred eternal flame in ancient Rome.The Vestal Virgins, originally numbering two, later four, and eventually six, were selected by lot and served for thirty years, tending the holy fire and performing other rituals connected to domestic life—among them were the ritual sweeping of the temple on June 15 and the preparation of food for certain festivals.
The sculpture is a marble representation of a veiled Vestal Virgin, the priestesses of Vesta, goddess of hearth and home, whose duty it was to keep a sacred fire burning in her temple in Ancient Rome. The Vestal Virgins were a popular subject of the time following the discovery of the House of the Vestals in Pompeii in the previous century. [1]
Vestalia was a Roman religious festival in honor of Vesta, the goddess of the hearth and the burning continuation of the sacred fire of Rome.It was held from 7–15 June, and was reserved as a women's-only event.