Name: 【TED-Ed】Who were the Vestal Virgins, and what was their job? - Peta Greenfield
Uploaded: 2017-09-15T04:34:51.000Z
Duration: 4 min 33 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

A lone priestess walks towards an underground chamber.

People line the streets to watch as she proclaims her innocence.

She's already been judged and found guilty.

The underground chamber contains a portion of bread, water, milk, and oil.

She will have a lamp, a bed, and a blanket,

then enters the chamber never to be seen again by the Roman people.

The priestess is one  of Rome's six Vestal Virgins,

each carefully selected as children from Rome's most aristocratic families.

But now with her death, there are only five,

The six-year-old Licinia witnessed the spectacle,

never suspecting that a few days later, she'd be chosen as the next Vestal Virgin.

makes her the best candidate to serve the goddess Vesta in the eyes of the Romans.

Her parents are proud that their daughter's been chosen.

Licinia is afraid, but she has no choice in the matter.

She must serve the goddess for at least the next 30 years.

For the first ten years  of Licinia's service,

she's considered in training, learning how to be a Vestal Virgin.

Her most important duty is keeping vigil over the flame of Vesta,

Vesta doesn't have a statue like other Roman gods and goddesses.

Instead, she's represented by the flame which burns day and night in her temple

located next to the Forum in the center of the city.

Like all Vestal priestesses, Licinia spends part of each day on shift,

The first is the continuation of Rome as a power in the world.

The Romans believed that if the flame goes out, the city's in danger.

The flame also symbolizes the continuing virginity of Vesta's priestesses.

For the Romans, a Vestal's virginity signaled not only her castitas,

So Licinia knows she must never let the flame go out.

and the safety of Rome itself  depends upon it.

Licinia learns to collect water each day from a nearby fountain

She learns the Fasti, the calendar of sacred rituals

and she watches while the senior priestesses conduct sacrifices.

By the time Licinia  completes her training,

Licinia understands that  the way she must act

is a reflection of the goddess she serves.

When it's her turn to collect the water, she keeps her eyes lowered to the ground.

When she performs sacrifices, she focuses intently on the task.

Licinia directs her energy towards being the best priestess she can be.

She's worried that someday the state will claim her life for its own purposes

Licinia could be accused of incestum, meaning unchastity,

at any time and be sacrificed whether she's innocent or guilty.

Licinia fully understands now why her predecessor was buried alive.

Ten years ago,  the flame of Vesta went out.

The priestesses knew that they couldn't keep it a secret.

They went to the chief priest and he opened an investigation

Someone came forward and claimed that one of the Vestals

The accused protested her innocence, but it wasn't enough.

That Vestal's death was meant to protect the city,

but Licinia weeps for what has been lost and for what she knows now.

Her own path was paved by the death of another,

and her life could be taken just as easily

for something as simple  as a flame going out.

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【TED-Ed】Who were the Vestal Virgins, and what was their job? - Peta Greenfield

ritual

matter

tend

consider