Guys the pardon scene got me curious on how all of this worked and it's actually very interesting how immense legal power vestal virgins held. In this case, If a Vestal Virgin accidentally crossed paths with a condemned prisoner being led to execution, she could grant them an official pardon.
Vestal virgins were also allowed own personal property and write their own wills, were granted vip seating at events, and many more powers that put them beyond 'ordinary citizens', (males)
Also, I came to find the following:
Emperor Domitian executed four Vestal Virgins starting in 87 CE. (...) Since the emperor was always Pontifex Maximus, Domitian ran the trials and had no trouble securing convictions.
The first three convicted Vestals were actually not buried alive. Domitian allowed them to choose their method of execution. Only for the last, the Chief Vestal Cornelia in 91, did he insist on the ancient punishment. (...)
Cornelia used the big public spectacle of her immurement as a platform. She announced to the crowd before the descended the steps: “Caesar thinks me unchaste, me who performed the sacraments under which he won, he triumphed?” Because, of course, a successful Domitian meant the favor of Vesta; if the empire was doing well, then surely that meant Cornelia was actually innocent.
On her way down, Cornelia stumbled, and the soldier accompanying her put out a hand automatically to help her. But Cornelia kept her balance without him and shied away from his touch — a sign to those watching (according to Pliny the Younger who recorded the incident) that this Vestal was so chaste she would not even accept the sacrilege of a man’s touch on the way to her execution
Guys the pardon scene got me curious on how all of this worked and it's actually very interesting how immense legal power vestal virgins held. In this case, If a Vestal Virgin accidentally crossed paths with a condemned prisoner being led to execution, she could grant them an official pardon.
Vestal virgins were also allowed own personal property and write their own wills, were granted vip seating at events, and many more powers that put them beyond 'ordinary citizens', (males)
Also, I came to find the following:
Emperor Domitian executed four Vestal Virgins starting in 87 CE. (...) Since the emperor was always Pontifex Maximus, Domitian ran the trials and had no trouble securing convictions.
The first three convicted Vestals were actually not buried alive. Domitian allowed them to choose their method of execution. Only for the last, the Chief Vestal Cornelia in 91, did he insist on the ancient punishment. (...)
Cornelia used the big public spectacle of her immurement as a platform. She announced to the crowd before the descended the steps: “Caesar thinks me unchaste, me who performed the sacraments under which he won, he triumphed?” Because, of course, a successful Domitian meant the favor of Vesta; if the empire was doing well, then surely that meant Cornelia was actually innocent.
On her way down, Cornelia stumbled, and the soldier accompanying her put out a hand automatically to help her. But Cornelia kept her balance without him and shied away from his touch — a sign to those watching (according to Pliny the Younger who recorded the incident) that this Vestal was so chaste she would not even accept the sacrilege of a man’s touch on the way to her execution