Vesta
Known to the Greeks as Hestia.
A goddess, daughter of Rhea and Saturn.
The Palladium, a celebrated statue of Pallas, was supposed to be preserved within her sanctuary, where a fire was kept continually burning.
Vestales (The Vestais). Priestesses consecrated to the service of Vesta. They were required to be of good families and free from blemish and deformity. One of their chief duties was to see that the sacred fire of Vesta was not extinguished.
Vesuvius or Vesvius. The celebrated volcanic mountain in Campania, rising out of the plain southeast of Neapolis. There are no records of any eruption of Vesuvius before the Christian era, but the ancient writers were aware of its volcanic nature from the igneous appearance of its rocks. On the 24th of August, A. D. 79, occurred the first great eruption of Vesuvius, which overwhelmed the cities of Stabiae, Herculaneum, and Pompeii. It was in this eruption that the elder Pliny lost his life. Since the eruption of 1506 it has remained burning. Vetulonia, Vetulonium, or Vetulonii. An ancient city of Etruria, and one of the twelve cities of the Etruscan confederation. From this city the Romans are said to have borrowed the insignia of their magistrates the fasces, sella curulis, and togo praetexta-as well as the use of the brazen trumpet in war.