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Rome's Vestal Virgins: protectors of the city's sacred flame
Chosen as young girls, the priestesses of Vesta, goddess of the hearth, swore a 30-year vow of chastity and in turn were granted rights, privileges, and power unavailable to other women in Rome.
Highest Priestess
A second-century B.C. statue shows the distinctive dress of a Vestalis Maxima, chief of the Vestal Virgins.
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