Bringing a Vestal Virgin to Life
Readers often ask me whether I picture certain faces or people, such as actors or actresses, when I write. The answer is no…and yes. I don’t picture celebrities or anything like that; however, when I write about well-known historical figures—such as Octavian and Livia, or Antony and Cleopatra, or Cicero, etc.—I always incorporate their faces and features as those have come down to us not just in statues or busts, but also in descriptions from the ancient sources. Whether it’s Suetonius gossiping about Augustus’s grooming habits or Cicero critiquing Cleopatra’s voice, there is much to help bring a real character to life in a reasonably authentic way.
The central character in my novel Brides of Rome (book one in The Vesta Shadows trilogy) is the Vestal priestess Pomponia. Her full name in the book, Pomponia Occia, is a tribute to the long-serving Vestal Occia who served during those all-important republic-to-empire years. And while no definitive statues of this Vestalis Maxima have been identified, there are nonetheless a number of excellent statues of Vestal Virgins that do survive to this day.
A stroll through the courtyard ruins of the House of the Vestals in the Roman Forum will treat you to a beautiful selection of statues which, in antiquity, likely stood somewhat as they do today. There were actually more statues unearthed here than you will now find in these ruins, as some have been relocated to museums.
Statues of Vestal priestesses in the ruins of the courtyard in the House of the Vestals
Perhaps the best-known is the statue of the Vestalis Maxima, now housed in the Palazzo Massimo (National Museum) in Rome. Below, you’ll find a photo of this statue. And below that, you’ll find a slide showing the statue shortly after it was excavated.
(Broken) Statue of Vestalis Maxima, far right, as excavated alongside her sisters
In fact, my model for Pomponia came from one of the statues that was discovered here: you can see it in the below slide, which again shows it shortly after being saved from the rubble. It too was relocated.
Slide of Vestal statue unearthed in the Roman Forum
When I envisioned Pomponia, it was this statue that I drew upon. It strikes me as having a certain type of confidence and grace, of strength and duty, that I felt Pomponia would have. I could imagine the real Vestal, the real woman, behind this statue as a living, speaking person…someone with passion and, yes, Pomponia’s dry cynicism.
Like this statue, Pomponia manages to survive the changing times—the rise and fall of powers, and the transition from an old world to a new world. That’s something everyone and everything which endures must do, whether god or mortal, stone or flesh-and-blood. I hope you enjoy reading, and that you even find a little inspiration, a little illumination, not just by Vesta’s sacred flame, but by the stories of those who have come before.