The Scandal of Virginity in Ancient Rome

[@louisellenross9915]

What about the vestal virgins, though?

[@NewPolityPodcast]

They weren't virgins. It was an approximately thirty year gig, and then they married. See Robin Lorsch Wildfang, Rome's vestal virgins: A study of rome's vestal priestesses in the late republic and early empire (New York: Routledge, 2006).

[@kyarden7971]

@@NewPolityPodcastYes they were. Very few left priesthood even after the 30 year, and of the one who left even fewer married.

[@NualaAhern-d5g]

We procreate sexually your references to gender are confused

[@roarkkaufman9339]

This seems odd, the Romans had consecrated virgins like the vestal virginsthis doesnt make sense with me

[@TheMadman911xx]

The vestal virgins were chosen by the state (Rome) to take a vow of celibacy, under threat of death, to perform a duty of the state (i.e., maintain the vestal flame). Consecrated virginity, by contrast, is vocational and voluntary (and when it isn't, through abuse, is prone to corruption) and serves no function to the state, but to God alone

[@louisellenross9915]

@@TheMadman911xx yeah but that doesn’t change the fact that being a virgin and potentially dying as a virgin for a divinity wouldn’t have come as a shock to the Romans.

[@roarkkaufman9339]

@TheMadman911xx even this rendition of the story of romes vestal virgins still runs counter to the idea Roman's would've considered all forms of celibacy selfish or immoral. It seems like a stretch.

[@maryangelica5319]

​@roarkkaufman9339 so my instinct here is that very very few women were selected for such a role, so virginity was largely regulated by the state.

[@kelleydelaney6294]

Wow! Ugly Sweater Day at New Polity!

[@franciscojavierrosaz3940]

On that pretty lady, no sweater could be ugly.

[@Number6_]

I was looking ar his, but everything there is unflattering.

[@dr.winstonsmith]

Hers is fine. But his doesn’t match his shirt or even itself.