ABSTRACT
Chapters 1 and 2 consider the various ritual duties of the Vestal order and argue that taken together, these duties suggest that the order’s main religious focus was on purification together with the preparation and storage of sacred flourlike substances that were meant to symbolize Rome’s food stores. This chapter examines the Vestals’ more regular or daily religious activities and duties performed primarily within the confines of their precinct, while Chapter 2 takes up the various annual or semi-annual public rites associated with other state cults in which the Vestals participated.
