In ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins or Vestals were priestesses of Vesta, virgin goddess of Rome's sacred hearth and its flame.
2nd-century AD Roman statue of a Virgo Vestalis Maxima (National Roman Museum)
House of the Vestals and Temple of Vesta from the Palatine
Relief of the Vestal Virgins at a banquet, found in 1935 near Rome's Via del Corso (Museum of the Ara Pacis)
The most prominent feature of the ruins that were once the Temple of Vesta is the hearth (seen here in the foreground).
Romulus was the legendary founder and first king of Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus and hi
Romulus and his twin brother Remus from a 15th-century frieze, Certosa di Pavia
A statue of a She-wolf depicts the twins suckling.
Roman Denarius with Romulus as Quirinus
Romulus dedicating the temple to Jupiter Feretrius