Il ruolo e la rappresentazione delle Vestali nella storia politica romana

This paper analyses the condition of the Vestals and the significance of their virginity in the course of Roman history in the Republican and Imperial periods. While there is no doubt that their purity guaranteed the inviolability of Rome, it should also be stressed that the legal prerogatives that the sources attribute to the Vestals from their origin coincide with the progressive legal and patrimonial acquisitions of the matrons.