HESTIA (Roman = Vesta)
Name:
Date:
Per:
The Greek goddess of the hearth (a central symbol of home and family in
ancient Greece) and meal preparation, she was the eldest of the three
daughters of the Titans Kronos and Rhea. Kronos swallowed Hestia, along with
four of her siblings, and they remained in his belly until Zeus made him vomit
them up. After the Titanomachy, Hestia asked Zeus to promise her that she
could remain a virgin and only have to tend to her realms. He agreed and
made it known that he protected her virginity. As goddess of the hearth, her
primary role was to tend to the family’s wellbeing. Her symbol became the
hearth (both the small hearths in homes and the larger community hearths in the
center of villages). Because of this, she had few temples in the Greek world, but
the reality was that every hearth was a temple to her. For her, the primary
element of a family’s wellbeing was food. Thus, loaves of bread and the pig
also became her symbols as primary staples for the family table. Hestia was
always depicted as a caring, modest goddess. She never required the
grandiose examples of worship that her fellow Olympians would. Because she
cared so much for humanity, she was focused on her duties and hated quarrels,
especially those that would tear her away from her work. This primary attribute
of hers would cause her to fade in Greek mythology. She was known to have
“given up” her thrown to Mt. Olympus to its youngest god, Dionysus, when he
came to claim his position as one of the Olympians. Hera, jealous that Zeus had
an affair with Dionysus’ mother, quarreled that there could be only twelve
Olympian gods and thus, Dionysus could not ascend to such a high position. To
stop the fighting and to be allowed to focus solely on her duties, Hestia
volunteered her thrown to him. She would fade into the backdrop of Greek
mythology, but every prayer at a family meal was worship enough for her.
In Rome, however, she would become one of the predominately worshipped
gods. Known by the Romans as Vesta, she remained a virgin and demanded
that her priestesses be virgins (Vestal virgins), too. She became known for her
kindness and purity, and she is one of the very few gods in Roman mythology to
have an active priesthood (clergy who lived, worshipped and maintained her
temples on-site). And, she is the only god who had temples built to her
throughout the kingdom. People, especially women, worshiped her at shrines all
over the Roman world.