Rome via Brooklyn

411 words, 2 minutes read time.

Since I did the presentation on the Vestal Virgins, I felt like I could place the Temple of Vesta, the Hall of Vestas, and the Domus Publica. What the book could not directly convey was the feeling of importance that is felt in the forum. It is so politically charged, with all the undertones of the buildings being for power, the Vestal Virgins, who had power but were also ruled by it, must have felt scared about upholding the flame. Everything felt higher pressure in the area. I was also surprised at just how nice I found the Hall of Vestas, it looked like a nice large living area, which I knew they got privileges, but they were truly in a class by themselves, on a fine line of privileges and harsh punishments. I wanted to know more about their life and small duties, like what they would do all day, when not maintaining the flame or making salt cakes. Were they required to clean and cook, or did they have someone do it for them, and if so, were they meant to know how to do things other women at the time were expected to do, or was their life purely based on maintaining the temple? In the book Rome Alive, it does mention “ He appointed virgins to the cult of Vesta, to be supported by payments from the public treasury so that they could remain constant attendants at her temple” (Aicher, 132). Besides these questions, it’s so crazy to think that something we studied and presented happened right there, just in the 7th century BCE. It’s very interesting to stand in the same spot and reflect on how times have changed. 

Mazzy, Elena, Jessica and I also visited the Bocca della Verità after the Forum and Palatine, and I did not tell a lie to test the myth because I do not mess with that kind of stuff. If someone says it’s going to bite your hand off, why would my hand be going into it? There was an interesting story there about a man wanting his wife to prove she isn’t cheating, but she was, so she had her lover pretend to be insane and hug her in front of a crowd, then said something along the lines of “the only person i ever hugged or kissed is my husband, and that one crazy man”, and that statement let her keep both her hand and her husbands trust.