vestal virgins
Rome's sacred priestesses
Vestal virgins were priestesses in ancient Rome who tended the sacred flame of Vesta, goddess of the hearth.
Chosen as young girls, they served for thirty years and were required to remain chaste—violation meant being buried alive.
The term now appears figuratively for someone of conspicuous purity or sexual inexperience: She's no vestal virgin.
- maidensUnmarried young women
- chastity vowPledge of sexual abstinence
- rex sacrorumRoman religious office
- priestessesFemale religious officiants
- holy ordersSacrament conferring clergy status
Rome · religion · sacred rites · sacred fire · eternal flame · maids · temple · vow · purity · ancient religion · holies · ancient · consecration · religious ceremonies · penates · ritual · ritual purity · Roman mythology
vestal virginsprostitutes
Those who sell sex
harlots · courtesans · whores · concubines · adulteresses
vestal virginswives
Married female partners
matrons · mothers · materfamilias · married women · brides
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