Greco-Roman Archaeology

[kbs2244]

I think it is a typo.
It should have been “vestige of virginity.”

[Ishtar]

I was wondering how "virgin"!

Sorry Rich, there were only ten recorded cases of Vestal Virgins being unchaste – and there’s a very good reason why. The alternative was a terrible punishment, the institution of which stems from who these 'virgins' really were.

The Vestal Virgins hadn’t always been chaste. At one time, ‘virgin’ just meant ‘young maiden’, and nothing to do with being intacto, anyway. But these devotees of the goddess Vesta had originally been hierodules (sacred prostitutes).

Temples across the ancient world often have sacred prostitutes whose main duty was to service the king. There’s a tale about one in the c3,000 Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh. It was part of coronation rituals that the king would have sex with a temple prostitute. Gilgamesh refused which is what led to the story of his exile and so on. It was considered a very bad crime to turn down one of these ladies. They were highly revered priestesses, almost goddesses, and not how we regard prostitutes these days.

Anyway, there was a sea change in religious practices around the mid 1st century BC (I think) and so in Rome, if these devotees of Vesta wanted to stay on in the temple, they had to become celibate. And the punishment for transgressing that celibacy was be buried alive or whipped to death.

This is from The Asteriod Report by Viniita Hutchinson

In early matriarchal societies, priestesses honoring Hestia [Greek version of Roman Vesta] maintained a connection to this spiritual essence (represented by a sacred flame that they tended night and day). They offered themselves in sacred sexual union in order to teach the divine aspect of sexuality and the need to remain aware of the sacred while engaged in physical life.

The priestesses remained unmarried and committed to none but themselves and their worship. Their sons (conceived anonymously during ceremonial summer solstice rites) served as year-kings when there was no royal heir. These customs were finally abolished when patrilineal traditions were enforced and the priestesses were compelled by the Roman king to serve as keepers of the new (patriarchal) civilization and to observe vows of celibacy.

To break these vows entailed a cruel death penalty. In exchange for the relinquishment of their sexuality, matrilineal customs, and true spiritual function, the priestesses (Vestal Virgins) were granted freedom from paternal control.

This is from Wiki, about the punishment.

The chastity of the Vestal Virgins was considered to have a direct bearing on the health of the Roman state. When they became Vestal Virgins they left behind the authority of their fathers and became daughters of the state. Any sexual relationship with a citizen was therefore considered to be incest and an act of treason.[15] The punishment for violating the oath of celibacy was to be buried alive in the Campus Sceleratus or "Evil Fields" (an underground chamber near the Colline gate) with a few days of food and water....

While the order of the Vestal Virgins was in existence for over one thousand years there are only ten recorded convictions for unchastity and these trials all took place at times of political crisis for the Roman state. It has been suggested[17] that Vestal Virgins were used as scapegoats[18] in times of great crisis. (Staples 138).

The earliest Vestals at Alba Longa were said to have been whipped to death for having sex. The Roman king Tarquinius Priscus instituted the punishment of live burial, which he inflicted on the priestess Pinaria. But whipping with rods sometimes preceded the immuration, as was done to Urbinia in 471 BC. [Worsfold, 62].

Cogs .. here is where you come in with your rendition of "There were sixteen vestal virgins, all leaving for the coast,"

[rich]

aaaahhh - the toga parties - miss 'em.

[Minimalist]

The earliest Vestals at Alba Longa were said to have been whipped to death for having sex. The Roman king Tarquinius Priscus instituted the punishment of live burial, which he inflicted on the priestess Pinaria. But whipping with rods sometimes preceded the immuration, as was done to Urbinia in 471 BC. [Worsfold, 62].

Women always get the short end of the stick from religion!

[Ishtar]

Women always get the short end of the stick from religion!

Except when we were in charge of the temples, we always made sure we got the longer end.

[kbs2244]

Seems I read about a tradition where a bride would go to the temple the night before her wedding to sacrifice her virginity to the god by going to bed with whoever was the first to show up with the required contribution.
Somehow this got twisted into the idea of the father of the groom “testing” the bride before the wedding. I think that is the story behind the story of the opera Carmen.

[Minimalist]

To Call This A "Disgrace" is to understate the problem!


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080704/sc_ ... V7.1ZFeQoB

ROME (Reuters) - The Italian government declared a state of emergency at the Pompeii archaeological site on Friday to try to rescue one of the world's most important cultural treasures from decades of neglect.

A cabinet statement said it would appoint a special commissioner for Pompeii, the ancient Roman city buried by an eruption of the Vesuvius volcano in AD 79 and now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

[Minimalist]

Attempt to use MRI to read scrolls from Herculaneum

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/901/story/235510.html

Ancient scrolls buried when Mount Vesuvius erupted in Italy in AD 79 spent some time in a Richland hospital room on Wednesday.

Edward Iuliano helped to bring the scrolls to town.

The director of MRI and radiology at Kadlec Medicl Center watched a TV documentary years ago about efforts to read the ancient scrolls and the story stuck with him.

[Minimalist]

Tomb from ancient Ancona reveals extent of international trade with Italy.

http://www.ansa.it/site/notizie/awnplus ... 21679.html

The pieces demonstrate that an extensive network of contact and trade once linked this section of the Adriatic coast not only to Sicily and southern and central Italy, but also much further afield. The tomb contains artefacts manufactured in sites as far away as modern-day Egypt, Rhodes, mainland Greece, the Palestinian Territories and Anatolia. ''This discovery fills in a big gap in our knowledge and helps define the role this area played in past centuries,'' continued De Marinis. ''For example, it shows that items from Greece and the eastern Mediterranean passed through here en route to other parts of the Italian peninsula''. Of particular value are five glazed pottery pendants, which were made in Egypt. Probably used as amulets, they are each six centimetres in length and are shaped like seashells. Also of special interest are a bowl and lid, intricately decorated with horses, and a cowry disc from the Indian Ocean.

[Rokcet Scientist]

What about a date for that tomb?
I clicked that link to find out, and got:

Not Found

The requested object does not exist on this server. The link you followed is either outdated, inaccurate, or the server has been instructed not to let you have it. Please inform the site administrator of the referring page.

[Minimalist]

Try this one.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp ... e_id=94781

[Rokcet Scientist]

Cheers!
But that links to the story about the proto-apurian Canaanite warrior of 2,000 BC. Not to a story about a tomb in/near Ancona...

You need to take those pills religiously, Min!

[Minimalist]

Sorry. Too many friggin' tombs around here.


http://www.italymag.co.uk/italy/marche/ ... de-network


This one works.

[Rokcet Scientist]

It does!
Cheers!

600 BC! So that was a real early Roman tomb. Or was it Greek/Mycaenean?

[Minimalist]

In 600 Rome was still dominated by the Etruscans and confined to an area west of the Apennines.

The Greeks were to the south and the Etruscans to the north west.

Hard to say what Ancona was a t that time.