Editing Vestal Virgin (section)

==={{lang|la|Vestalis Maxima}}===
The chief Vestal ({{lang|la|Virgo Vestalis Maxima}} or {{lang|la|Vestalium Maxima}}, "greatest of the Vestals") oversaw the work and morals of the Vestals and was a member of the [[College of Pontiffs]]. The chief Vestal was probably the most influential and independent of Rome's high priestesses, committed to maintaining several different cults, maintaining personal connections to her birth family, and cultivating the society of her equals among the Roman elite. The {{lang|la|Vestalis Maxima}} Occia presided over the Vestals for 57 years, according to [[Tacitus]]. The {{lang|la|[[Flamen Dialis|Flaminica Dialis]]}} and the {{lang|la|[[rex sacrorum|regina sacrorum]]}} also held unique responsibility for certain religious rites, but each held office by virtue of their standing as the spouse of a male priest.<ref>DiLuzio, M. J., ''A Place at the Altar. Priestesses in Republican Rome''. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016, pp. 47–48</ref><ref>Schultz, C. E., ''Women's Religious Activity in the Roman Republic''. The University of North Carolina Press, 2006, pp. 80–81</ref>

[[File:ReliefVestals.jpg|thumb|[[Relief]] of the Vestal Virgins at a banquet, found in 1935 near Rome's {{lang|la|[[Via del Corso]]}} ([[Museum of the Ara Pacis|Museum of the {{lang|fr|cat=no|Ara Pacis}}]])]]