Vintage illustration showing a High Priestess of Vesta and High Priest
As part of Rome’s religious college, the Vestal Order played a central role in Roman religion. Not only did they guard Vesta’s sacred flame in the temple, they performed various administrative tasks, participated in public rituals and sacrifices (including those involved in the worship of other gods, such as Mars and Ops) and oversaw other rites, including those associated with the Bona Dea. The Vestalis Maxima or High Priestess of the Vestal Order was on par with the highest male priests in Rome, save for the one priest that everyone answered to—the Pontifex Maximus who, in the Imperial age, was the emperor himself. Here, we see a pretty lit altar attended to by both a high priestess of Vesta and a high priest of Rome.