FEMMINILITÀ E SACERDOZIO NELL’ANTICA ROMA. IL CASO DELLE VESTALI
WOMANHOOD AND PRIESTHOOD IN ANCIENT ROME. THE CASE OF THE VESTALS

Summary/Abstract: The priesthood of the Vestal Virgins represents a unique exception in the landscape of Roman religion: it is, in fact, the only priestly college composed solely of women, in a society where religious offices are closely tied to public magistracies, and women are generally relegated to a role of domestic and private care. The priestesses indeed embody an ambiguous nature, with characteristics both of the feminine and the masculine world, teetering between enjoying great privileges and adhering to stringent constraints, the foremost being the safeguarding of their own purity. But it is precisely from the violation of this sacred obligation that the history of Rome originates, with the illegitimate and violent union between Mars and Rhea Silvia, in an event that unveils a paradoxical logic: only a public priestess could have given birth to the founder of the City and set its course in motion.

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