This is John Batchelor, a Rome of one's own. This is the new book by Emma Southen,

the subtitled The Forgotten Women of the Roman Empire, Forgotten No Longer. Here, Emma tells the story of a

Vestal Virgin who sacrificed, her name is Opeia, in 483 BCE, sacrificed by the city of Rome.

Why?

Because there's been an omen.

Who knows what kind?

The river flooded, the river drought, a plague, a fire.

There's been an omen.

And what happens to the Vestal Virgins?

How do they use the Vestal Virgins?

The centerpiece of the Republic's religious worship?

Here, Emma explains.

It's both bizarre and tribal and at the same time reveals what Rome represented when it called itself a civilization, superstition.

A Rome of one's own, Emma Sauton to explain.

So they effectively sacrifice her to the gods, but without actually sacrificing her. It's necessary. The way they find

out that a vestal virgin has lost her virginity and stopped being a virgin, is generally that something

terrible will happen and there will be signs and omens from the gods. And they need to placate the gods.

So they make what is effectively a human sacrifice,

but without having to get their own hands dirty

because they don't technically like human sacrifice.

So they hold a funeral for her,

where they parade her through the city

...