The Vestal Virgins were the sacred priestesses of the goddess Vesta (the Roman equivalent of the Greek Hestia, goddess of the hearth), charged with nurturing her eternal fire at the heart of the Temple. The Vestals were chosen as young girls, plucked from the upper strata of Roman society, and inducted into the cult of Vesta, where they vowed to remain chaste for r 30 years, to tend the flame, and perform sacred rituals.