Uncovering Rome's 'virgin' territory.Uncovering Rome's 'Virgin] territory In ancient Rome Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. , the residence of the Vestal vestal (vĕs`təl), in Roman religion, priestess of Vesta. The vestals were first two, then four, then six in number. While still little girls, they were chosen from prominent Roman families to serve for 30 (originally 5) years, during which Virgins--with its large court surrounded by columns and three massive water basins -- was reserved for six young virgins who served the goddess Vesta and exercised great influence in the Roman state. Archaeologists have long held that Vesta's shrine was built over an older structure after Rome burned in A.D. 64. But excavations of the structure by scientists at the American Academy in Rome American Academy in Rome, founded in 1894 as the American School of Architecture in Rome by Charles F. McKim and enlarged in 1897 with the founding of the American Academy in Rome for students of architecture, sculpture, and painting. , described by Russell T. Scott of Bryan Mawr (Pa.) College, reveal several phases of construction dating as far back as the late 7th century B.C. Structural remains around the Vestal courtyear indicate the site took on cultic and civic fuctions during the 6the century B.C., Scott says. At that time, a street of stone slabs connected Vesta's Shrine to the Palatine Palatine, hill, Rome Palatine, hill: see Rome before Augustus and Roman Empire under Rome. Palatine, village, United States Palatine (păl`ətīn), village (1990 pop. , the principal of the seven hills of ancient Rome. The structure was overhauled in a major construction project of the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C., Scott says. Although the cult of Vesta had remarkable durability in ancient Rome, "the reasons for the emergence of the Vestal Virgins Vestal Virgin In Roman religion, any of six priestesses, representing the daughters of the royal house, who tended the state cult of Vesta. Chosen between the ages of 6 and 10, they served for 30 years, during which time they had to remain virgins; violation of the vow of are unclear," Scott maintains. |
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