Hestia is the goddess of the hearth, home, family, and chastity. Her symbols are the hearth (floor of the fireplace) and kettle. She was pure and never had any romantic encounters or relationships with others. When the gods Apollo and Poseidon sought for her hand in marriage, Hestia refused and asked Zeus to let her remain eternally pure and untouched. He agreed, and she took her place at his royal hearth. Zeus assigned
Hestia the duty of feeding and maintaining the fires of the Olympian hearth with the fatty, flammable portions of animal sacrifices to the gods.
Hestia sat on a plain wooden throne with a white woolen cushion. In some accounts, Hestia gave up her seat as one of the Twelve Olympians in favor of Dionysus, the god of wine. She plays little role in
Greek myths. Her counterpart Vesta, however, was a major deity (god) of the Roman state.
Hestia is often not identifiable and portrayals of her in
Greek art are rare. In the art in which she is recognizable, she was depicted as a modestly veiled woman sometimes holding a flowered branch or staff in her hand. In classical sculpture she was also veiled, with a kettle as her attribute.
In myth, Hestis is the daughter of Rhea and Cronus and sister of Zeus, Poseidon, Demeter, Hera, and Hades.
Hestia, the first born child, was swallowed by her father at birth. Zeus later forced the old Titan to disgorge
Hestia and her siblings. As the first to be swallowed, she was also the last to be disgorged, and so she was named as both the eldest and youngest of the six Cronides.
In the Greek home, Hestia always received the first offering at every sacrifice in the household. With the establishment of any new settlement, the flame from Hestia's public hearth in the mother city would be carried to the new settlement.
In return for a vow of chastity, Zeus assigned honor to Hestia in human homes. Hestia's name and functions show the importance of the hearth and its fire in the social, religious, and political life of ancient Greece. Fire was essential for warmth, food preparation, and the completion of sacrificial offerings to gods. She was also offered the first and last libations of wine at feasts. Her own sacrificial animal was a domestic pig.