Examines portraits of Rome's Vestal Virgins as artistic documents and political vehicles

A Place at the Altar illuminates a previously underappreciated dimension of religion in ancient Rome: the role of priestesses in civic cult. Demonstrating that

A study of the history of filth, disease, purity and cleanliness in one of Europe's oldest and most influential cities.

The role of women in Roman culture and society was a paradoxical one. On the one hand they enjoyed social, material and financial independence and on the other

Comprehensive and thoroughly up-to-date, this volume offers a brand new analysis of the Vestal Virgins’ ritual function in Roman religion. Undertaking a detai