Oh boy, this one is interesting!
In her worship,
her virginity was expressed by the fact that she was the only goddess
who was not portrayed but illustrated by a flame that burnt in her unadorned
and empty house.! Her virginity was equated with her invisibility; her constant
presence, on the other hand, was symbolized by the nonphysical flame':
"She is a presence, not a vision."o Those who approached her would not have
been able to find her, because her presence could not be perceived with one's
senses. Any type of depiction, whether physical or mental, would have been
an act of profanation. The perpetual virgin was a manifestation of holiness
and the essence of the sacred. From the point of view of cultural anthropology,
virginity is associated with a state of physical intactness, moral integrity,
purity, unity, and not least, great power." In the case of Vesta, the Roman state
participated in her solitary and sovereign position as the guardian of the flame,
the (state) hearth, and the respublica, which she personified. 2
The priestesses of Vesta were members of an ancient cult, the origins of
which, according to Roman mythical tradition, dated back to the Roman Kingdom,
thus starting at the same time as Roman history itself." As a matter of
fact, even the founding legends of Rome include a Vestal Virgin as the mother
of the twins Romulus and Remus.'" Like the goddess whom they worshipped
in her house, her successors were also virgins and were usually addressed by
their contemporaries as virgo or virgines