Definitions
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun (Roman mythology) one of the virgin priestesses consecrated to the Roman goddess Vesta and to maintaining the sacred fire in her temple
Etymologies
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Examples
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The notion that any Roman woman could be responsible for such a dereliction of her traditional duty as helpmate and guardian of the household as to betray it to barbarian invaders was anathema even to its early chroniclers, who condemned a Vestal Virgin named Tarpeia for treacherously opening the gates of Rome to the Sabines in exchange for gold.
Caesars’ Wives Annelise Freisenbruch 2010
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Liz: Ah yes, found that, too -- the Vestal Virgin who is sister to the mother of Romulus and Remus -- the brothers who founded Rome after being raised by a she-wolf.
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He thought that his poetry would last as long as the Vestal Virgin climbed the Capitoline Hill.
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The confirmation hearings for a Vestal Virgin are even tougher than those for a praetor.
Danielle Crittenden: Washingtonia: The Spin-Off of "Rome" 2008
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Octavia, chaste and virtuous as Lucretia the dishonored; Octavia, more worthy of respect than a Vestal Virgin; Octavia, tamer of the irresponsible lout Marcus Antonius; Octavia, the person who single-handedly saved her country from the evils of civil war.
Antony and Cleopatra Colleen McCullough 2007
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Our Vestal Virgin status will permit us to come and go in the Vestal side of the Domus Publica at—pardon my pun—will.
Antony and Cleopatra Colleen McCullough 2007
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Octavia, chaste and virtuous as Lucretia the dishonored; Octavia, more worthy of respect than a Vestal Virgin; Octavia, tamer of the irresponsible lout Marcus Antonius; Octavia, the person who single-handedly saved her country from the evils of civil war.
Antony and Cleopatra Colleen McCullough 2007
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Our Vestal Virgin status will permit us to come and go in the Vestal side of the Domus Publica at—pardon my pun—will.
Antony and Cleopatra Colleen McCullough 2007
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The deacon is actually behind him - but who is the old Vestal Virgin?
Archive 2006-09-01 Terry Nelson 2006
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The deacon is actually behind him - but who is the old Vestal Virgin?
Archive 2006-09-03 Terry Nelson 2006
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