Tuccia (3rd-century BC[1]), was an ancient Roman Vestal Virgin. Its supposed by her nomen that she belonged to the Gens Tuccia. She is known for an incident in which her chastity was questioned by a spurious accusation. The punishment for vestal virgins who lost their chastity were if they could not prove their innocence - were to be sentenced to immurment. In Tuccia's case, to save her reputation and life she utilized a flat perforated basket to carry water, from the Tiber to the Temple of Vesta without the water falling to the ground through the sieve.
After showing she was as chaste as she said, her accuser was never heard from again.[2]
Vestal virgins were thought to possess magical powers[3] by their service to Vesta and thus by performing this miracalous action Tuccia had not only proven her chastity but also that she was favored by Vesta.
This very act was associated with one of the vestal virgins' ritual duties of fetching pure water which had never come into contact with the earth. The vestals even had special vessels to carry this water which might correspond with Tuccias sieve.[4]
- ^ Robin Lorsch Wildfang: Rome's Vestal Virgins
- ^ The Roman Antiquities of Dionysius of Halicarnassus,. Loeb. 1937.
- ^ Fowler, W. Warde (2020). Religious Experience of the Roman People. Outlook Verlag. ISBN 9783752316971.
- ^ Lorsch Wildfang, Robin (2006). Rome's Vestal Virgins. Taylor & Francis. p. 11. ISBN 9781134151660.