Vestal Virgin
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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).
Vesta (mythology)
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Vesta 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. Ent
Vestal Virgin
…In ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins or Vestals (Latin: Vestālēs, singular Vestālis ) were priestesses of Vesta, virgin goddess of Rome's sacred hearth and its flame. The Vestals were unlike any other public priesthood. They were chosen before puberty from several…
Rare depiction of Vesta in human form, as the central figure from the Lararium of a bakery at Pompeii, 1st century
Coin issued under Nero: the reverse depicts the cult statue of Vesta, holding a patera and scepter, within her hexastyle temple.
Denarius of 60 BC; veiled and draped Vesta on the left, with a lamp next to her.
Temple of Vesta in a 2009 photo