Temple of Vesta

The Temple of Vesta as it stands today,

The goddess Vesta is an integral one to Roman culture. Initially, she seems very simple. Vesta is the goddess of the hearth. However, Vesta has a very important role: she watches over the flame that represents Rome. The Vestal Virgins who maintained the flame were overseen by the Pontifex Maximus, the religious leader of the Romans, and took part in important religious ceremonies. While Vesta was always the supporting goddess, rather than having a primary role, she was so integral to Roman religion that her temple stood in Rome for centuries more than most. The temple was also said to house the Palladium, a statue of Minerva that had been taken from Troy (Aicher 129).

The Temple of Vesta is round, recalling the huts that people lived in when Rome was barely a town, connecting it to the homes of her worshipers (Staccioli). It is a diameter of 15 meters, and the columns that surrounded it speak of the Greek influence in its design. Very little of the Temple of Vesta remains standing in the Roman Forum today. What is there still shows its characteristic round shape.

History

A 3-D recreation of what the Temple may have looked like.
Source.

The Temple of Vesta is said to have been built by Numa, the second king of Rome after Romulus, to house the eternally burning flame of Rome. Numa was reputed to be focused on Rome's religious culture, in contrast to Romulus's bellicose nature (Staccioli). This reputation would be important as political figures looked for projects to undertake later during the Republic and the Empire. The cult of Vesta seems to have existed long before even Numa’s time, given some archaeological evidence of symbolic hearths constructed around the site of the permanent Temple, which may have been used by the earliest Romans to worship Vesta (Holloway 55).

The Temple of Vesta has gone through many renovations. The first major one took place in 63 BCE, when Julius Caesar was Pontifex Maximus. He added more space for the Vestal Virgins, although the only evidence of this that remains is literary accounts. He also redid the temple, which had been badly damaged by the fire of 64 BCE. Caesar’s renovations were likened to Aeneas pulling the lares from the fires in Troy, one of the most major religious moments in Roman tradition (Scott 175). Augustus, Caesar’s successor, rebuilt the temple as well, which was mentioned by the appendix of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti (Augustus). It was last rebuilt in the 2^nd century AD by Julia Doma, the wife of Emperor Septimus Severus (Staccioli).

Politics

Roman religion is not analogous with modern-day Judeo-Christian religion. First of all, the gods did not give the Romans any moral identity. The role of the gods was a transactional one: worship a certain god, and that god might do something good, or not do something bad. Second, religion was seen as an important part of the Roman identity, especially after the civil wars that took place at the end of the Republic and the beginning of the Empire. Rome itself was given a divine identity, and honoring it and the emperors was part of what made you Roman.

A depiction of the Temple of Vesta on a
coin issued by Nero. Source

Therefore, the Temple of Vesta would come to be a great political tool. Vesta, as goddess of the hearth and protector of the fire, was seen as the protector of Rome itself and put her at the core of Roman religio, or religious obligation. Any wealthy member of Roman society could show their devotion to Rome by renovating the temple. Later, Vesta became very important to the cult of Roma Patriae, the Imperial Cult that deified emperors. As seen in the work of Caesar, caring for the Temple was caring for Rome itself.

In addition, Vesta was one of the goddesses associated with industry (Scott 180). Many of the common citizens of Rome were bakers or carpenters or other members of the working class. The temple also as a result served as a way for politicians to connect with the common people of Rome, as Trajan would. 

In addition to garnering the favor of the people of Rome, the Temple of Vesta was also used in underhanded ways. Its renovations by Caesar and later Augustus were used as an excuse to shape the Roman Forum and essentially shaping it to their will (Scott 180). This was important because they both were showing off their true power.

Statues depicting the Vestals. Source.

Vesta and Feminism

The temple housed first six then later eight women who took up the title of Vestal Virgin. The Vestals trained for the first ten years of their thirty years of service (Aicher 129). Vestal Virgins had special freedoms that other Roman women did not enjoy, but after their service they were discouraged from having a family and taking the position of a “typical” Roman woman, perhaps because enjoying such freedom made them unfit for the more restricted post of wife and head of household.

The Temple of Vesta in Vergil

A classical depiction of Venus saving Helen from the wrath
of Aeneas. Note the statue of Vesta in the background. Source.

In the second book of the Aeneid, Aeneas comes across Helen in the Temple of Vesta of Troy as Troy is being sacked by Greeks. He is angry to see her, but Venus prompts him to leave Helen and return to his family. While the passage is incomplete, its inclusion can be seen as significant. Vesta was giving shelter to Helen, who caused the sack of Troy be her infidelity. Vergil wrote the Aeneid under the reign of Augustus, the first Roman emperor, who some compared to Aeneas as the father of a new age of Rome. He could have been using this scene to encourage a more temperate rule after the recent civil wars.

He also could have been making a statement about the Final War of the Roman Republic, which was nominally fought between Augustus (then Octavian) and Cleopatra, but was really between Augustus and Marc Antony. Helen has been equated to Cleopatra (Highet 169). He might have been pointing out that the war was not really with Cleopatra at all, but with Marc Antony, who had allied himself with her.

Because why not.

Conclusion

While the Temple of Vesta is little more than a shadow of what it once was, it still serves as a reminder of what it meant to be Roman. It survived for thousands of years, and still is an iconic part of the landscape of the forum. It is not only an example of the politics of Roman society, but a bastion of feminism in a largely male-centric culture. The Romans loved being Roman, and saw religion as an essential part of that. The Temple of Vesta is a great example of the effort Romans put into Romanness.

Roman.

Bibliography

Aicher, Peter J. Rome Alive: A Source-guide to the Ancient City. Wauconda, Ill.: Bolchazy-Carducci, 2004.

Augustus. Res Gestae Divi Augustus. 14 ACE - http://classics.mit.edu/Augustus/deeds.html

Highet, Gilbert. The Speeches in Vergil's Aeneid. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1972.

Holloway, R. Ross. The Archaeology of Early Rome and Latium. London: Routledge, 1994.

Scott, Russell. "Vestae Aedam Petitam? Vesta in the Empire." In Rome and Her Monuments: Essays on the City and Literature of Rome in Honor of Katherine A. Geffcken. Bolchazy-Carducci, 2000.  

Staccioli, R. A. Ancient Rome: Past and Present. Roma: Vision, 1989.