DOI 10.

1007/s12138-009-0102-x

Robin Lorsch Wildfang, Rome’s Vestal Virgins: A study of Rome’s Vestal priest-
esses in the late Republic and early Empire (London & New York: Routledge,
2006), XIV + 158 pp.

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009

Robin Lorsch Wildfang’s examination of the Vestals is a welcome addition to

our understanding of the role of the Vestals in all aspects of Roman life and
politics. This study is accessible to students and scholars at all levels and it is
a must for those who are interested in Roman religion. Although another
work, Sarolta A. Takács’ Vestal Virgins, Sibyls, and Matrons (Austin: University
of Texas Press, 2008), has just appeared, Wildfang’s remains the one study in
English devoted solely to the Vestals.
Wildfang divides her study into seven chapters, with an introduction and
a brief conclusion. Following the text, Appendix A (pp. 111-41) offers the orig-
inal Latin and Greek for passages translated throughout the body of the study.
The passages are arranged in alphabetical order by the name of the author.
This arrangement requires those who want to see the original passages to flip
between the text and the back of the book and to do some searching for the
passages. Appendix B (pp. 142-3) contains the names of Vestals in chronolog-
ical order and shows how few individual names have survived (57 total) from
the thousands of women to serve in the Temple of Vesta. A lengthy bibliogra-
phy (pp. 144-55) and an index (pp. 156-8) conclude the book.
In a brief Preface (pp. ix-x), Wildfang establishes approach and argument:
the rites of the Vestals were aimed at “the purification, storage and prepara-
tion of harvested grain for food” and the mysterious aspects of their rites can
be explained through their status as women who were outside the family unit
(p. x).
The “Introduction” (pp. 1-5) presents the problems of sources, literary
and archaeological, a definition of terms, and an outline of the book. Wild-
fang rightly notes that literary sources must be interrogated to assess their
value for the historian. Her definition of terms is particularly concerned with
establishing the meaning of “fertility” which she defines narrowly as “the re-
productions of people, livestock, or crops” (p. 4). She then identifies three
other groups of rites (harvest rites, storage rites, and purificatory rites).
International Journal of the Classical Tradition, Vol. 16, No. 1, March 2009, pp. 95-97.
96 International Journal of the Classical Tradition / March 2009

Chapter 1, “Within the aedes Vestae” (pp. 6-21), begins with the impor-
tance and nature of Vesta in Rome. In addition to Vesta’s usual association
with fire, Wildfang notes that some references link Vesta with the Earth. From
this chthonic aspect, Wildfang argues that “one of the Vestals’ major roles was
purificatory in nature” (p. 6). She then challenges the notion that the rituals of
the Vestals were meant to recreate the lives of women. Rather she argues that
these priestesses were especially concerned with purification. As evidence she
disputes that the eternal fire of Vesta was associated with fertility, but argues
that fire represents a purificatory force. She further points to the Vestals’ use
of water, their chastity, the hairstyle that they share with brides—something
that marks them as pure—and the wearing of the stola and vittae as indica-
tions of the importance of purification in the Vestals’ cult. In addition, Wild-
fang cites the Vestals’ care of the storage room within the temple of Vesta as
evidence of the focus of the cult on storing sacred items for use in rituals.
In Chapter 2, “The Vestals in public” (pp. 22-36), Wildfang explores the
Vestals’ participation in public rituals, arguing that their actions focus on rit-
uals of purification and the creation and storing of sacred materials: the mola
salsa created at the Fordicidia and October Horse is used at the Parilia; bakers
and millers participated in the Vestalia; and the Consualia and Opsconsivia
were associated with deities of storage. Wildfang concedes that one other pub-
lic ritual of the Vestals, the Bona Dea, does not seem to fall into the purifica-
tion or storage category.
Wildfang then turns to how a young girl became a Vestal, focusing first
on the ritual of captio (Chapter 3: “Vestal initiation – the rite of captio” [pp. 37-
50]) which was used to transfer a girl from her father’s house to her husband’s
in marriage or to transfer a girl from her birth family to the state when she
became a Vestal. Wildfang offers a detailed and valuable analysis of Aulus
Gellius’ catalogue of conditions for a girl’s eligibility to be a Vestal. In her dis-
cussion, she emphasizes the need for purity in the girl’s family as well as in
the girl herself. For Wildfang (Chapter 4: “The Vestals’ virginity” [pp. 51-63]),
the virginity required of a Vestal served the same purpose as the ritual of cap-
tio: virginity ensured a physical purity and it ensured that the girl was part of
no individual family; rather, she belonged to the state. Similarly, Wildfang ar-
gues in Chapter 5, “The Vestals’ legal and financial position” (pp. 64-75), that
a Vestal’s financial status and rights of inheritance established a Vestal’s exis-
tence separate from any familial connections. The stipendium from the state
provided for the Vestals’ needs, in place of financial support from their fami-
lies. Likewise, Vestals had to write wills to dispose of their property to anyone
other than the state, since they were no longer members of a family.
The final chapter, “The Vestals in Roman history” (pp. 91-108), explores
the mentions of Vestals in the Roman historical record. Here Wildfang goes be-
yond the stated timeframe of her study (late Republic and early Empire) by in-
cluding references to Vestals from the regal period and early Republic as well.
What becomes evident from this chapter is that, while Vestals may not have
been legally members of their birth families, emotionally and in practice their
actions demonstrated an allegiance to family members. Similarly, some
charges of incestum against Vestals were politically motivated by enemies of
Book Reviews 97

their birth families. Over time, Wildfang finds that Vestals challenged the lim-
itations on their behavior and began to influence the politics of the state.
By bringing to the fore the Vestals’ roles in the creation and storage of sa-
cred items like the mola salsa, by emphasizing the purificatory nature of many
of the Vestals’ rituals, and by demonstrating that Vestals existed legally (al-
though not emotionally or in the minds of personal enemies) as individuals
separate from any family, Wildfang’s study offers a clear and effective argu-
ment for a more thorough understanding of this cult which was so central to
Rome’s identity and security.

T. Davina McClain
Louisiana Scholars’ College
Northwestern State University