Talk:Vesta (mythology)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is within the scope of the following WikiProjects:

WikiProject Classical Greece and Rome     (Rated Start-Class) This article is within the scope of WikiProject Classical Greece and Rome. To participate, improve this article or visit the project page for more information. Start This article has been rated as Start-Class on the assessment scale. High This article is on a subject of high-importance within classical antiquity. WikiProject Mythology     (Rated Start-Class) Mythology Portal This article is supported by WikiProject Mythology . This project provides a central approach to Mythology-related subjects on Wikipedia. Please participate by editing the article, and help us assess and improve articles to good and 1.0 standards, or visit the wikiproject page for more details. Start This article has been rated as Start-Class on the Project's quality scale. (If you rated the article please give a short summary at comments to explain the ratings and/or to identify the strengths and weaknesses.)

Contents 1 Prostitution? 2 The fire 3 Really virgins? 4 Copyright violation, from a novel no less!

[edit] Prostitution?

The Vestal Virgins were prostitutes??? Certainly some people have claimed so, but haven't others maintained they were indeed virgins? Which of these two classes of people is better informed? Having intercourse with a Vestal Virgin could result in a death sentence in Rome. I wish I knew more about this, but surely the claim that Vestal Virgins were prostitutes is not universally held and should be attributed? Hoping someone can educate me... -- Someone else 02:04 Nov 26, 2002 (UTC)

I suspect modern fantasy as well here. There were several groups of sacred prostitutes in the ancient world, but I've never heard such a claim made about the Vestal virgins. It just doesn't fit in with the character of the deity in question, either; sacred prostitutes worshipped Aphrodite, or Astarte, or Cotys, but not Hestia/Vesta. -- IHCOYC 02:33 21 Jul 2003 (UTC)

More to the point, um, they could hardly be both (v. and p. I mean). — SMcCandlish [talk] [cont] ‹(-¿-)› 05:53, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The fire

"It burned until AD 394." Why did the fire go out? --Jen savage 19:18, 21 Apr 2004 (UTC)

The roof leaked. Actually, in 394, Emperor Theodosius forbade public pagan worship, and so the temple was forced to close. Smerdis of Tlön 20:06, 21 Apr 2004 (UTC)

391 actually (I fixed the date): the "Theodosian decrees". The "prostitutes" thing must have been pubescent humor. But this is quite serious I suspect: "The Vestales were one of the few full time clergy positions in Roman religion. " Oh my goodness gracious!

Now recite these galloping dactyls aloud:

Higgledy-Piggledy venerate Vesta, the Goddess of hearth, on the ninth day of June. Priestesses known for their Vestal-virginity tended the flame and kept Romans immune.

— Wetman 01:13, 19 Jul 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Really virgins?

The Vestal Virgins were incredibly high class in Roman society. I think they could get away with not really being virgins.

Tell that to Rhea Silvia. —Charles P. (Mirv) 07:12, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Copyright violation, from a novel no less!

"Goddess of the Hearth she was the symbol of the home, around which a newborn child must be carried before it could be received into the family. Every meal began and ended with an offering to her:

Vesta, in all dwellings of men and immortals
Yours is the highest honor, the sweet wine offered
First and last at the feast, poured out to you duly.
Never without you can gods or mortals hold banquet.

Each city too had a public hearth sacred to Vesta, where the fire was never allowed to go out. If a colony was to be founded, the colonists carried with them coals from the hearth of the mother-city with which to kindle the fire on the new city's hearth."

This entire section has been directly copied from Edith Hamilton's novel Mythology with the exception that the word "Vesta" has replaced "Hestia". I see that it is referenced at the end of the article but that DOES NOT make it okay to copy the complete section without putting quotation marks. I don't mean to sound overly critical, I just don't want to see anyone get in trouble as this currently infringes on copyright laws set by the publisher. I suggest that this be changed immediately, either by changing the wording or by adding appropriate quotation marks. Until this is changed, I will place a tag over the above mention section where it appears in the article. This shouldn't be too difficult to do; I'll try to fix some of it though I would really love if someone could help. Thanks. --France3470 22:09, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

On the note of Edith Hamilton's Mythology as well, it certainly cannot be the only reference for all this information as she barely talks about Hestia/Vesta at length. I believe the references section might need to be expanded as information of Vesta is hardly common knowledge. Maybe some footnotes could be added to help improve the credibility of the article. Since I know a bit on this topic I'll see what I can do to improve the article.--France3470 22:18, 8 May 2007 (UTC)