The Sacred fire of Vesta reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Sacred fire of Vesta

The Sacred fire of Vesta, the Roman goddess of the hearth, was a symbol of the hearth and the home. The maintenance of the sacred fire, in the primary temple of Vesta, was the primary responsibility of the Vestal Virgins. The fire was renewed on the first day of March. Vesta and her sacred fire were considered tightly bound to the fortunes of the city, and failure to show proper respect for either was punishable by death.

The temple was located on Aventine Hill (Tempio della Fortuna Virile) and existed from pre-republican times until 394. It is reported that the temple occasionally caught fire from the Sacred fire.

It has been speculated that the "fire" was actually an electrical plasma. Nikola Tesla, in the article "A fairy tale of electricity" (published September 9, 1915), stated: "The records, though scanty, are of a nature to fill us with conviction that a few initiated, at least, had a deeper knowledge of amber-phenomena.... It is very plausible to assume that...the vestal fires of the Romans were electrical." [1]

See also: Ark of the Covenant

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