Chastity is everything
The answer to that question is simple: these Vestal virgins were not
sexy at all. Or at least the Vestal virgins were expected not to be. If one of them
would show a little too much skin, she
would be warned or even punished by the Pontifex Maximus. The chastity
of these Vestal virgins was very important to the Romans.
House of the Vestal virgins. Click to enlarge
A job for 30 years
In the temple of Vesta lived and worked 6 Vestal virgins. They would stay for
30 years. When a Vestal left after these 30 years or died, a new girl
of
about 6 to 10 years was chosen by de Pontifex maximus. She had to be
free of mental or physical defects and from still living patrician
parents. Later
when it became difficult to find new virgins a plebeian girl from a noble family would be acceptable.
Keep it burning baby
The Vestal virgins were responsible for the fire in the temple of Vesta, from
where every Roman household could receive fire for his home. To let this fire die,
was a serious offense. The Romans thought that this meant that Vesta had
withdrawn her protection from the city. The responsible Vestal virgin(s) would
be flogged.
But see also and Livius (28.11)
Public ceremonies
Apart
from maintaining the fire, the vestals had numerous duties and had to be
present at public ceremonies. They also had to prepare the mola salsa,
that mainly consisted of flour and salt that was used to sprinkle over the
animal that was to be sacrificed to one of the many gods, just before it
was killed.
There were also important advantages
Being a priestess of Vesta had also some important advantages:
Vestal virgins were not in manus of their
father or a guardian. Which means that they could have property and make
their own decisions.
The vestals were seen as sacred:
Be virgin or die
The punishment for a Vestal having sex was harsh.
Plutarchus Life of Numa(10) where the execution of an offender is described
It has to be mentioned that the man (or men) who seduced her was to be
flogged and executed.
It is striking though that these offences mostly took place in times of
tension and disaster. The Romans really believed that Vestal had
polluted the rites and thus had angered the gods.
Titus Livius describes how short after the disaster of the battle of Cannae the Vestals
Opimia and Floronia were convicted of fornication.
One of them was buried alive near the Colline gate, while the other had sought her own death. Lucius Camillus, one of the lesser
flamines, who had slept with Floronia, was scourged so harshly by the Pontifex maximus, that he died under the lashes.
See also Livius (2.42)where a certain Oppia is accused of unchastity.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus(8.89) tells about the same story but, calls her Opimia. The chance that there had been 2 Opimia's(=daughter in the clan Opimius), Vestal and ex-virgin is pretty slim.
See also Dionysius(9.40) and
Livius (8.13) Where the Pontifex maximus forbids Minucia to manumit her slave. Why? When interrogating a slave torture was mandatory, where a free man could not be tortured. This suggests the slave was suspected to have had sex with the vestal.
