On the burial of unchaste Vestal Virgins

Schultz, Celia E.

doi:10.1017/cbo9781139028479.010

Cited by 3 publications

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“…3.763-829. 82 Prescendi 2007: 224-41 and, arriving at the same conclusion by a different path, Schultz 2012: 132-3. 83 MacBain 1982Schultz 2010: 529-30;2012: 129-30.…”

Section: One Ritual Among Severalmentioning

confidence: 89%

“… 82 Prescendi 2007: 224–41 and, arriving at the same conclusion by a different path, Schultz 2012: 132–3. …”

mentioning

confidence: 90%

“… 72 The numerous sources for this event are collected and analysed in Engels 2007: 416–18, 443–8. For the possible link between this instance and the revelation of an unchaste Vestal, see Schultz 2012: 126 n. 18 …”

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confidence: 99%

“… 80 There is no evidence, contra Parker 2004 and Wildfang 2006: 58–9, that the Romans ever perceived the punishment of a Vestal as sacrifice. For a more extended analysis of the distinction between the punishment of unchaste Vestals and, on the one hand, sacrifice and, on the other, secular capital punishment, see Schultz 2012. …”

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confidence: 99%

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Roman Sacrifice, Inside and Out

Schultz

2016

J. Rom. Stud.

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The 'insider-outsider problem' has had little impact on the study of religion in preChristian Rome. Classicists generally assume that the modern idea of sacrice as the ritual killing of an animal applies to the Roman context. This study argues, however, that the apparent continuity is illusory in some important ways and that we have lost sight of some ne distinctions that the Romans made among the rituals they performed. Sacricium included vegetal and inedible offerings, and it was not the only Roman ritual that had living victims. Roman sacricium is both less and more than the typical etic notion of sacrice.Keywords: sacrice; Rome; emic; etic; pollucere; mactare I Those working in the social sciences have, for some time, been wrestling with the 'insider-outsider problem': how can one person genuinely understand the thoughts, beliefs, and actions of another? Insiders can report their own subjective experience, but very often this diverges from the assessments of those observing from the outside, from what is perceived as a more objective position. The problem was cleverly illustrated in a classic article that is standard reading for introductory anthropology and religious studies courses but that is generally unfamiliar to classicists, entitled 'Body rituals of the Nacirema' by the anthropologist Horace Miner. The article offers a brief account of the daily habits of this North American tribe whose members place a great deal of emphasis on maintaining and improving the body, for example:The fundamental belief underlying the whole system appears to be that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease. Incarcerated in such a body, man's only hope is to avert these characteristics through the use of the powerful inuences of ritual and ceremony. Every household has one or more shrines devoted to this purpose. The more powerful individuals in the society have several shrines in their houses and, in fact, the opulence of a house is often referred to in terms of the number of such ritual centers it possesses. Most houses are of wattle and daub construction, but the shrine rooms of the more wealthy are walled with stone. Poorer families imitate the rich by applying pottery plaques to their shrine walls. 1 * I owe many thanks to C. P. Mann, B. Nongbri, and J. N. Dillon for their thoughtful, challenging responses to earlier drafts of this article, and to audiences at Trinity College, Baylor University, and Bryn Mawr College for comments on an oral version of it. J. B. Rives provided valuable consultation on specic points and V. C. Moses generously shared her work-in-progress on the osteoarchaeological evidence from S. Omobono. I also thank the anonymous reviewers for helpful comments, suggestions and objections that have greatly improved this piece. I have tried to respond to them all. The errors and aws that remain are all my own.

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“…3.763-829. 82 Prescendi 2007: 224-41 and, arriving at the same conclusion by a different path, Schultz 2012: 132-3. 83 MacBain 1982Schultz 2010: 529-30;2012: 129-30.…”

Section: One Ritual Among Severalmentioning

confidence: 89%

“… 82 Prescendi 2007: 224–41 and, arriving at the same conclusion by a different path, Schultz 2012: 132–3. …”

mentioning

confidence: 90%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Roman Sacrifice, Inside and Out

Schultz

2016

J. Rom. Stud.

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Tarpeia the Vestal

Neel

2019

J. Rom. Stud.

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Tarpeia's role as a Vestal has become a matter of scholarly consensus in the past two decades. This article questions that consensus by suggesting that Varro and Propertius are the two major proponents of this ‘Vestal version’, which is not present in other major narratives such as Livy, Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Plutarch. Propertius’ version in particular, which depicts Tarpeia as a Vestal in love, has been overprivileged in analyses of this myth as a dramatisation of individual identity versus loyalty to the state. Varro's account, which also includes Tarpeia's Vestal status, suggests a different interpretation: it is likely that Varro considered Tarpeia a non-Roman Vestal whose Vestal status supported the state. This version resolves certain dissonances in early Roman myth.

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The Name of the Vestal, or When a Vestal is Named

Beltrão¹,

Horvat²

2018

Archimede

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HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

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On the burial of unchaste Vestal Virgins

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Roman Sacrifice, Inside and Out

Roman Sacrifice, Inside and Out

Tarpeia the Vestal

The Name of the Vestal, or When a Vestal is Named

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