In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, several are distinguished by their perpetual virginity. These goddesses included the Greek deities Hestia, Athena, and Artemis, along with their Roman equivalents, Vesta, Minerva, and Diana. In some instances, the inviolability of these goddesses was simply a detail of their mythology, while in other cases virginity was also associated with their worship and religious rites.
Hestia and Vesta
In Greek myth, Hestia was one of the six children of
Cronus and Rhea, the first of their three daughters, and thus the eldest of the
twelve Olympians.
[Hesiod, Theogony, 453 ff.] She was the elder sister of
Zeus,
Poseidon,
Hades,
Hera, and
Demeter, and was revered as goddess of the
hearth and of
household.
["Hestia", in Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. II, pp. 444, 445.] She was courted by both Poseidon and
Apollo, but rejected them, and swore a vow of perpetual virginity by her brother, Zeus, who bestowed upon her a share in the honour of all temples.
["Hymn to Aphrodite", 21–30.]
The Romans identified Hestia with Vesta, who was likewise regarded as goddess of the hearth and hospitality. Her worship is said to have predated the foundation of ancient Rome,[Livy, History of Rome, i. 20.] and her temple stood in the Roman forum, between the Capitoline Hill and .["Vesta", in Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, p. 1249.] It was tended by the , a college of priestesses said to have been instituted by Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome. Like the goddess herself, the Vestals swore an oath of celibacy, which they were obliged to keep for the duration of their service, a term of thirty years, although they were free to marry afterward. The breaking of this vow was considered a greater offense than mere dereliction of duty; a Vestal who negligently allowed the sacred flame to be extinguished would be , but one who violated her vow of celibacy would be punished by death, usually by being entombed alive in an underground chamber inside the Colline Gate.[Plutarch, "The Life of Numa", 10.]
Athena and Minerva
Athena was generally regarded as the daughter of Zeus by his first wife, Metis, the goddess of prudence.
[Hesiod, Theogony, 886 ff.]["Athena", in Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, pp. 397–400.] She was a goddess of wisdom and war, agriculture, domestic activity, industry, law, and justice. Most traditions make her a virgin goddess, immune to the charms of romantic love or marriage; one of her most common epithets is
Parthenos, "the maiden", and her most famous temple from antiquity—still partially extant—is the
Parthenon of
Athens. In one tradition, Athena repulsed an attempt by
Hephaestus to force himself upon her, and sent him fleeing.
and the Pseudo-Apollodorus relate a myth that
Teiresias was blinded after witnessing Athena naked in her bath; a similar tradition was attached to Artemis and the hunter Actaeon.
[Callimachus, "The Baths of Pallas", 57–133.][Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, iii. 6. § 7.] Athena is always dressed in Greek statuary, and at Athens her statue was fully covered when carried in public festivals.
In some traditions, Athena received sacrifices of bulls, rams, or cows,
[Homer, Iliad, ii. 550.] but in others only female animals, excluding lambs.
[Eustathius, Commentary on Homer.] According to the
Suda, after the site of
Troy was reoccupied, to atone for the rape of
Cassandra by Ajax the Less in the temple of Athena,
Locrians maidens were sent as sacrifices to Athena, each year down to 346 BC.
[ Suda, s.v. ποινή.]
In Roman mythology, Athena was identified with Minerva, who shared many of the traits and characteristics of her Greek counterpart.["Minerva", in Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. II, p. 1090.] In relating the Judgement of Paris for Roman audiences, Ovid varies from the Greek traditions regarding Athena by describing Juno, Minerva, and Venus, stripped naked for the Trojan prince's evaluation.[Ovid, Heroides, v. 36.] Although still regarded as a virgin goddess, the only manner in which this seems to have been reflected in Minerva's worship is that her sacrifices were to be calves that had been neither whipped nor .[Arnobius, Adversus Gentes, vii. 22.]
Artemis and Diana
According to most traditions, Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and
Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo.
[Hesiod, Theogony, 918.]["Artemis", in Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, pp. 375, 376.] She was closely associated with her brother, some of whose attributes she shared, and according to one myth was also his wife.
[Eustathius, Commentary on Homer, p. 1197.] However, in all traditions Artemis was a maiden goddess, and fiercely protective of her chastity; her priests and priestesses were similarly expected to lead pure and unblemished lives.
[Pausanias, Description of Greece, vii. 19. § 1, viii. 13. § 1.] In one well-known myth, Artemis transformed the hunter
Actaeon into a stag after he discovered her bathing in the woods, so that no man could boast of seeing her naked; he was then torn to pieces by his hounds.
[Ovid, Metamorphoses, iii. 155 ff.]["Actaeon", in Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, p. 16.]
The Roman goddess Diana, with whom Artemis was equated, was of undoubtedly of ancient worship, but the original nature of her cult remains mysterious.["Diana", in Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, p. 1000.] From the earliest period she was revered at a sacred grove near Ariccia in Latium. At Rome, Diana was regarded as a special patron of the plebeians, and her temple on the Aventine Hill was built by Servius Tullius, the sixth Roman king.[Dionysius, Roman Antiquities, iv. 26.][Livy, History of Rome, i. 45.] Diana was said to spurn all men who sought her hand, that she might remain a virgin forever.[Plutarch, Quaestiones Romanae, 3.]
Notes
Bibliography
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Homer, Homeric Hymns (attributed).
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Hesiod, Theogony.
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Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Romaike Archaiologia (Roman Antiquities).
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Titus Livius (Livy), History of Rome.
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Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid), Heroides, Metamorphoses.
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Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus (Plutarch), Parallel Lives; Quaestiones Romanae (Roman Questions).
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Pausanias, Description of Greece.
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Arnobius, Adversus Gentes (Against the Pagans).
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Suda.
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Eustathius of Thessalonica, Commentary on Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.
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Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849).
