Vesta, the goddess of stove and family in Roman mythology, is one of the twelve main gods in Rome. It corresponds to Hestia in Greek mythology. In her temple, there is a sacred fire that can never be extinguished, and six virgin priests take turns to guard it to protect it. It is said that Rome can keep good weather as long as the flame of Vesta is not extinguished.

duty
In addition to being ill, virgins guarding the sacred fire cannot leave the Nu Zao Temple in the southeast of the Roman Guild where they live. Each virgin shall be on duty for at least 8 hours every day, mainly responsible for keeping the holy fire in the temple burning. They also have other duties such as taking water from the holy spring to pray for the public and cooking sacrifices for the ritual ceremony; In terms of justice, Vesta Virgo also has:
Testamentary capacity
"But Numa granted them great privileges, such as the right to make a will while their father was alive." In the eyes of later generations of jurists, this provision has been expanded to leave the patriarchy. In theory, Vesta Virgo has more rights than making a will. Gaius and Urbian mentioned this provision in their respective works. In contrast to Vesta Virgo, ordinary women are under the patriarchy, and their father has no ability to make a will during his lifetime.

Freedom from guardianship
Vesta
Vesta
That they had a free administration of their own affairs without guardian or tutor, which was the privilege of women who were the mothers of three children The corresponding word of "protector" in this English version is guardian or tutor, which is generally translated as guardian. This paragraph should mean that Vesta Virgin is exempt from guardianship. Article 1 of Table 5 of the Twelve Tables Law stipulates that "women are also under guardianship even when they reach the marriageable age, except for the virgins of Vesta." Gaius, in G, I, 145 says, "Therefore, if a person establishes a guardian for his son and daughter through a will, when the son no longer has a guardian, the daughter is still under guardianship. However, women can only cast off their guardianship according to the Uri Act and the Barbie and Bopei Act because of the right to bear children. What we have said does not apply to the priests of Vesta. The ancients also hoped that these women who held priestly positions were free; The Twelve Tables Law also stipulates this. " In G. III, 42 to 52, Gaius paraphrased the contents of the Barbie and Bopei Law (Lex Papia Poppaea nuptialis, translated by Mr. Zhou Gui as Papeia Bopeia Law), which showed that women were born from three people who had to give birth to three children, and those who liberated themselves had to give birth to four people before they could be entrusted with guardianship, which was consistent with Plutarch's records. Urbian has the same explanation in the Ruleset. These records illustrate the difference in guardianship between Vesta virgins and ordinary women: Vesta virgins are not under guardianship of course, while ordinary women must complete certain reproductive obligations in order to exchange for this freedom. Based on the provisions of patriarchy and guardianship, vesta virgins are not only more free than ordinary women, but also more free than men as family children, because they are neither under guardianship nor patriarchy.
It is generally believed that it is a measure taken by Augustus in his law (i.e. Barbie and Bopei Law) to encourage procreation for women to get rid of guardianship because of having children. However, Plutarch's records put this practice back to the early days of the royal government. I used to worry that the Chinese translation problem led to this misunderstanding. But from the English translation I searched, the author described this provision in the past tense, and the content of the provision was not different from the Chinese version. The translation should not have too much problem. Then, at least from Plutarch's literature, we can speculate that there is at least this possibility: such measures to encourage fertility have been determined by royal law at the latest during the Numa regime, and the Barbie and Bopei Act during the Augustus period restated such provisions in the form of statutory law.
Having legal successors
Cicero quoted Manilius in On the Republic, pointing out that the Wakonius law stipulates that Vesta virgins can have legal heirs while other women can't.
Qualification to testify
In addition, the virgins of Vesta also have the qualification to testify, but this qualification does not always exist. In the early Republic of China, the virgins of Vesta testified only as a special case created by the people's reverence. Later, in the long history of evolution, the virgins of Vesta testified slowly and slowly because of their chastity and dignity. Section 4 of Plutarch's Biography of Publicora wrote: "Tarquini is a holy virgin in the temple of Vesta, and she is highly respected for her dedication to the land. One of the things is that among all women, only her testimony is accepted by people." This paragraph shows that Tarquini's virgin testimony is an extremely rare exception. When Tacitus recorded the age of Caesar's life, Lucius Pesso accused Urgulania and Urgulania refused to testify, He wrote this sentence: "But according to the official regulations, even the Virgin Vesta should come to Rome Square and the court in person when testifying during the interrogation." (Tacitus, Chronicles, Volume II, Section 34.) It can be seen that the Virgin Vesta's testifying has become the rule of law at this time.
In guardianship, what a guardian can do, that is, what a woman can't do, is actually a guardian. According to Urbian's Set of Rules, Mr. Zhou Gui summarized five things that women cannot do without the consent of their guardians: to be a party to legal proceedings; Conduct detrimental to one's own interests; Transferred goods in the form of transfer; The conclusion of "marriage with husband's right" and "marriage without husband's right" can not be changed into "marriage with husband's right" because of the completion of prescription; Make a will. After checking the English version of Urbian's Rules, his conclusion comes from the eleventh question, section 27, which is well founded. Women cannot be qualified to testify without litigants.
constraint
The virgin guarding the flame also has strict discipline, and once she makes mistakes, she will be punished horribly. If they neglect their duties, they will be severely punished by the chief priests. They will punish the virgins who let the flame go out and guard the flame with flogging, and those who are unfaithful will be buried alive. The latter shows that the Romans believed that the virgin who guarded the flame must be pure, which is the guarantee and symbol of Rome's own well-being.
Punishment
In 471 BC, Ebinia, a virgin who guarded the sacred fire of the Vesta Goddess of Vesta, was tried. A slave accused her of violating the vow of chastity, pointing out that she was not perfect when performing the sacraments, so she was asked to defend. According to the records of the Greek writer Zengrutak, two men who were accused at the same time with her, one of whom was executed after being beaten, and more bad luck awaits Ebinia
She was considered guilty. After being punished by the staff, she was pushed through the silent and gloomy Roman street to a wilderness near the door of Colin City and imprisoned in the pit of a tomb. She was left with only 30 days' food to sit and wait for her death.

Roman Kitchen God Temple
The only existing temple of Vesta is the Rome Kitchen Temple in Italy. It is located in the ancient Roman square, between the temples of Castor and Pollux, Caesar, Regia and the Virgin House. The temple has some important architectural features. It imitates the earliest houses in Rome. It is a round hut made of soil and straw. Since the Kitchen God worship was held in private houses, this building reflects the ancient history. The remaining temples adopt the Corinthian style and marble of ancient Greek architecture, and the central inner hall, which is surrounded by 20 Corinthian columns and built on a platform with a diameter of 15 meters. There is a vent on the roof, which makes it a necessary task to take care of the sacred fire of the Kitchen God. There is another round external wall with more columns.
Historical development
All the Roman kitchen temples are round, with the entrance facing the east, symbolizing the connection between the fire of the kitchen god and the sun as the source of life. The Kitchen God Temple represents the site of ancient pagan activities as far back as the 7th century BC. It is generally believed that this temple was built by Luma Pompelius, together with Regia and the Virgin House.
The Kitchen God Temple in Ancient Rome Square was built in the 3rd century BC. This is not a real temple, because it never held an opening ceremony, nor did it have a statue of Kitchen God. Only her holy fire and Athena statue are believed to have been brought by Aeneas from Troy. According to Dionysius' Halikanassus, the Romans believed that the sacred fire of the kitchen god was closely related to the fate of the city and regarded it as a harbinger of disaster.
reconstruction
Although there is a flame in the temple, there is no danger of fire because the flame is placed in the fireplace and the temple is closely guarded by virgins. The Kitchen God Temple was burned down twice in history. In 64 AD, during the reign of Nero, a fire destroyed most of Rome, including the Kitchen God Temple. After the fire, in 191, Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severu, rebuilt the temple. In 394, Theodosius I extinguished the flame after winning the battle of Frigidus and defeating Eugenius and Apogast. Since then, the temple has been looted and its marble was stripped in the 16th century. The existing part was rebuilt during Mussolini's dictatorship in the 1930s.