The Vestal Virgins were a religious organization in Rome that was an organization of women dedicated to the hearth goddess, Vesta. Although required to be celibate for their thirty years, the Vestal Virgins occupied a highly respected position in Roman society. The privileges they received, so often only reserved for Roman men, marked them as a notable exception to the status of most women in ancient Rome.
Livy and other Roman authors state that the Vestal Virgins were established as a state religious organization by Numa Pompilius, the legendary second king of Rome, who also founded the temple of Vesta. The Vestals were both respected and powerful. It is said that it was only their intervention that prevented the young Julius Caesar from being killed in one of Sulla’s proscriptions. All Roman rulers during the Principate period included them in public ceremonies and rituals. Some Romans even believed that they could cast magic, like Pliny the Elder:
At the present day, too, it is a general belief, that our Vestal virgins have the power, by uttering a certain prayer, to arrest the flight of runaway slaves, and to rivet them to the spot, provided they have not gone beyond the precincts of the City. If then these opinions be once received as truth, and if it be admitted that the gods do listen to certain prayers, or are influenced by set forms of words, we are bound to conclude in the affirmative upon the whole question.
No one knows when, exactly, the Vestals were disbanded, but most historians agree that it could not have happened long after the emperor Gratian confiscated their public funding in 382.
Prospects to the Vestal Virgins were committed to the service before the age of puberty, and they were sworn to celibacy for 30 years. Those years were divided into 3 decade-long periods where each member was, respectively, a student, a servant, and teacher.
Their tasks included the maintenance of the sacred fire of Vesta, the goddess of the hearth and home, collecting water from a sacred spring, and preparation of food used in rituals and caring for sacred objects in the temple's sanctuary. By maintaining Vesta's sacred fire, from which anyone could receive fire for household use, they functioned as "surrogate housekeepers", in a religious sense, for all of Rome. Their sacred fire was treated, in Imperial times, as the emperor's household fire. The Vestals were also put in charge of keeping safe the wills and testaments of various people such as Caesar and Mark Antony.
The privileges the Vestals received were immense, more than most other Roman women. Each of the Vestals received a state salary and were guaranteed state-owned housing in Rome. Their chariots had the right of way. They could serve as witnesses in trials. Their person was sacrosanct: death was the penalty for injuring their person and they had escorts to protect them from assault. They could free condemned persons and slaves by touching them.
All in all, the Vestal Virgins had immense power and influence, in an era and time where women did not have much of that, in ancient Rome.
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My third hand-written post, and my second one based on history :rat-salute:
Get to posting y'all :posting:
I went to a baby shower this evening and it was lots of fun
Watching the Vox "Explained" episode on brainwashing and it's unsurprisingly anti-communist. I fucking hate all of this.
Hahahahaah it's anti-revolutionary and claims that's a sign of being brainwashed
Liberals are programmed to label anything they perceive as a minority position to be “inherently cult like”
Expect of course minority positions they hold
It’s really fucking shitty how Vox and other media outfits concentrate on the most sensationalist and extreme examples of the communist movement and ignore the failures of capitalism.
It’s also really shitty how they use words like “brainwashing” and “mind control” to describe any kind of indoctrination.
The US is the only country that has consistently used fear of indoctrination and propaganda to justify its own policies. It’s really fucking shitty.
Queen Elizabeth II marks first wedding anniversary without Prince Philip
Posted 41m agoProof of life or :doubt:
Soon they'll be able to spend it together again methinks :garf-troll:
I wish i could care if the queen dies but that’s the whole point of a monarchy: some other blood relative asshole just takes over.
Just voted for the communist backed candidate in the first round of the chilean presidential election. :comfy-cool:
Acid was fun. Mostly ended a couple hours ago and I’m still very light and giddy. Just like I’m super stoned. My perception of time is very off, it feels like weeks happened in the last 9 hours so I feel like it should be like 4am but it’s 11pm.
enjoy the comedown. don't fret if you can't sleep, it's normal
I regret to inform you all that I am still super horny for my boss
The first one is literally :dean-smile: to :dean-frown:
they said it was all immigrants
We've deported like... what, 4 million illegal people? There is no amount of blood that will satisfy America.
oh so even the high and mighty roman empire has to tend the eternal flame?
zoroaster keeps winning :hentai-free:
Lol I love when entrepreneur self aggrandizing is obviously made up:
"When I came to Toronto, there was no coffee scene,” he said. To fill the void, Cha and his brother found a little space at Yonge Street and Castlefield Avenue and opened De Mello in 2013 — named after a Brazilian myth about the history of coffee.
Yeah dude there was no coffee scene in Toronto in 2013. That's what Toronto was lacking was another espresso place.
Lol, googled the place and yeah, it looks like every cafe/bakery in any "cool" part of Toronto.
Going to start a restaurant and say I was the first one to bring serving drinks out of Mason jars to Canada.
My most chuddy unvaccinated uncle has Covid and is too proud to go the hospital. His masculinity is literally about to murder him
Edit: his SPO2 is 60 😬
A relative told me that all of their rich friends families are applying for passports in case Boric wins in Chile :sicko-blur: