Vesta (mythology) - Theology

Theology

Vesta is the goddess of the hearth of the city of Rome.

Dumézil draws a comparison between Roman religious conceptions and rituals and the relevant aspects of Vedic religion. Sacrificial ritual in Vedic India, required the presence of three fires, two of them being essential.

The so called hearth of the landlord marks the connection to Earth of the offerer, i.e. is the marker of the origin of everything in the ritual act. In Vedic ritual such kind of fire must be round as Earth itself is round and also because on Earth there is no distinction in direction without reference to Heaven.

The sacrificial fire, on the contrary, must be quadrangular as it is intended to convey the sacrificial offer to Heaven in the form of smoke.

These two fires were laid on a West-East line.

The third fire had the function of protecting the offerers from attacks of evil spirits and was placed to the South, considered a dangerous direction.

Dumézil elaborates that in Rome the whole site of the city itself was considered as an extended sacrificial ground, with the temple of Vesta performing the function of hearth of the landlord and other temples that of sacrificial fires. He remarks that the temple of Vesta was the only ancient temple in Rome to be built in a round shape and covered with a dome to protect the sacred fire from rain, other temples being quadrangular. Ancient Romans as well as other Indoeuropean people believed Earth is a sphere. Every temple however had to have two fires of which one was a hearth (Latin focus), representative of the fire (Latin foculus) of Vesta as the hearth of the city, and the main was the sacrificial ara.

In this conception the function of defensive fire was performed by the temple of the god Vulcanus that was situated to the South of the pomerium, sacred city wall, this location being in accord with what could be expected from the homology with the Vedic situation.

The Aedes Vestae and the Ignis Vestae being the Hearth of the city of Rome guaranteed its connexion to Earth and its permanence in history. It did not need to be inaugurated as other temples since it was an aedes, not a templum, its power and function being totally limited to Earth and bearing no relationship to Heaven or its directions. In other words its function was exclusively terrestrial, implying stability and lasting over time.

It is noteworthy that the sacred fire, as standing for and representing the terrestrial origin of the community, could be lit only by the friction of two pieces of wood, one of them being necessarily an arbor felix auspicious tree, (probably an oak) and cave in shape. Water was not allowed into the inner aedes nor could stay longer than the indispensable time on the nearby premises. It was carried by the Vestales in vessels called futiles which had a tiny foot that made them unstable.

Quite a number of rules of the aedes Vestae we know about can be explained by the interpretation of the significance of homologous rules in Vedic rituals concerning the hearth of the landlord.

In conclusion, Vesta is a symbol and a protector of Rome and its site, the hearth of the great Roman family.

According to Ovid, Vesta is indeed the Earth itself, the sacred sphere (orbs) that makes life possible as we know it: "Vesta is the Earth itself, both have the perennial fire, the Earth and the sacred Fire show their see."

The space within which men lived had to be marked and protected by a sacred fire. The sacrality of fire is related to the belief that it is the element at the origin of Earth (the central fire within), of every life on Earth and that connects our world with the divine one.

The sacral function of fire is reflected by the peculiar relationship of the Vestals with the rex whom they ritually apostrophated once a year with the phrase: "Vigilasne rex? Vigila!" and their accompanying the Pontifex Maximus in various rites. The atrium Vestae too is frequently called regal.

The sacred flames of the hearth were believed to be indispensable for the preservation and continuity of the Roman State: Cicero states it explicitly. The purity of the flames symbolised the vital force that is the root of the life of the community. It was also because the virgins' ritual concern extended to the agricultural cycle and ensured a good harvest that Vesta enjoyed the title of Mater Mother.

This connection between the sacred fire, Earth and life on it is also the reason why the Vestals guilty of unchastity were condemned to be buried alive, an expiation conceived to be a token of their belonging to Earth and of reparation towards it. Chastity as unspent power to give birth, owing to a concentration of vital energy, was in ritual use transferred to flocks and fields: the purity of fire was a symbol of such a concentration of vital energy.

The Aedes was solemnly swept once a year, on June 15, the last day of the Vestalia. That day was named Q(uando) S(tercum) D(elatum) F(as): since the temple site in historic times was obviously kept clean, this expression is an heritage of high antiquity, an archaic fossil ritual reminiscent of a time when really the sweeping implied the removal of animal droppings.

In the light of this theology it is noteworthy that Vesta is always invoked as the last in all ritual formulas concerning one or more gods (Vesta extrema), while Janus, the god of beginnings and passages, associated with Heaven, is always invoked at the beginning. This use is comparable to that concerning Agni in the Rig Veda: Agni is invoked first or last or at both places. In Iranian rituals Atar is always invoked at the end.