Vesta, the Roman goddess of the hearth, identified with the Greek Hestia; was the guardian of domestic life and had a shrine in every household; had a temple in Rome in which a heaven-kindled fire was kept constantly burning and guarded by first four then six virgins called Vestals, whose persons were held sacred as well as their office, since any laxity in its discharge might be disastrous to the city.
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Vespucci, Amerigo * Vestal Virgins