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A Place at the Altar illuminates a previously underappreciated dimension of religion in ancient Rome: the role of priestesses in civic cult. Demonstrating that priestesses had a central place in public rituals and institutions, Meghan DiLuzio emphasizes the complex, gender-inclusive nature of Roman priesthood. In ancient Rome, priestly service was a cooperative endeavor, requiring men and women, husbands and wives, and elite Romans and slaves to work together to manage the community's relationship with its gods.Like their male colleagues, priestesses offered sacrifices on behalf of the Roman people, and prayed for the community's well-being. As they carried out their ritual obligations, they were assisted by female cult personnel, many of them slave women. DiLuzio explores the central role of the Vestal Virgins and shows that they occupied just one type of priestly office open to women. Some priestesses, including the flaminica Dialis, the regina sacrorum, and the wives of the curial priests, served as part of priestly couples. Others, such as the priestesses of Ceres and Fortuna Muliebris, were largely autonomous.A Place at the Altar offers a fresh understanding of how the women of ancient Rome played a leading role in public cult.

Women priests --- Rome --- Religious life and customs. --- Religion. --- Bona Dea. --- December rites. --- Fordicidia. --- Fortuna Muliebris. --- Jupiter. --- Magna Mater. --- October House. --- Roman politics. --- Roman priesthood. --- Roman religion. --- Roman ritual system. --- Roman society. --- Roman women. --- Salian Virgins. --- Vesta. --- Vestal Virgins. --- Vestal costume. --- Vestal priesthood. --- Vestal regalia. --- Vestal virgins. --- Vestals. --- ancient Rome. --- authority. --- birth families. --- collegium pontificum. --- cultic assistants. --- female sacrificial incapacity. --- feminine virtue. --- fertility. --- flamen Martialis. --- flamen. --- flamines. --- flaminica Dialis. --- flaminica Martialis. --- flaminicae. --- food supply. --- freedwomen. --- gender constructions. --- internal autonomy. --- laywomen. --- leadership. --- male authority. --- mola salsa. --- moral probity. --- palla. --- pax deorum. --- pontifex. --- pontifical college. --- priest. --- priestess. --- priestesses. --- priestly couples. --- priestly service. --- public careers. --- public cult. --- public cults. --- public priestesses. --- public ritual. --- public slaves. --- regina sacrorum. --- religion. --- religious activities. --- religious official. --- religious orders. --- religious roles. --- religious service. --- rex sacrorum. --- ritual activities. --- ritual impurity. --- ritual purity. --- rituals. --- sacerdotes. --- saliae virgines. --- seni crines hairstyle. --- suffibulum. --- tunica. --- virginity.