Postumia

Postumia was a vestal virgin (Latin: sacerdos vestalis) of Rome accused of the crime of incestum in 420 BC and acquitted of the crime. Other than Postumia's trial, little is known about her life. She was born in the Postumii family, who were Roman patricians and held high offices in the late 5th century BC. She may be the sister of another Postumia who married T. Quinctius. Historians are unsure of her age, her education, her life before the trial, or how she was treated after. For a vestal of Rome, incestum was an especially serious crime, for maintaining chastity was a special tenet of a vessel’s 30-year term of her office. The purity of the vestals was associated with the state of Rome itself, whereby the loss of a vestal’s virginity signaled insecurity for Rome. In Postumia's case, her behavior aroused suspicion; thus, she was placed on trial for her alleged crime, was perhaps deferred, then acquitted. After the trial, the Pontifex Maximus scolded Postumia for her questionable behavior. Postumia's trial is noted by Roman historian Livy in his writing Ab Urbe Condita and the Greek historian Plutarch's essay De Capienda ex Inimicis Utilitate in Moralia.