Hestia--Goddess of the Hearth

Greetings fans of Greek and Roman mythology! After having recently written about the Olympians Zeus, Hera, Demeter, Poseidon, Artemis, and Apollo, with a serpentine digression upon Medusa, I will now return to another of the six primary Olympians, Hestia. Hestia was the goddess of the hearth, or fireplace. Her Roman name was Vesta. She was also a child of Cronus and Rhea. Of all the six major Olympians, Hestia has the fewest stories written about her since she never went anywhere or did much of anything. After all, the hearth, or fireside, is immovable, and hence Hestia did not stray far from being a homebody. She never married, never had any children, and was sometimes pictured as a kindly old aunt.

Despite Hestia's vanilla, rather dull character, nevertheless she was extremely important to the security of the people of Greece and Rome. To show their gratitude for protecting them, they granted her the first fruits of every sacrifice in order to keep the "home fires burning." Considering the fact that fire can be so beneficial and yet so destructive, it is no wonder that perhaps this was the goddess who seemed closest to the Greeks and to the Romans, as there was an altar (i.e. the hearth) to Hestia in every Greek and Roman household. The hearth fire of a Roman or Greek household was never allowed to go out, and if it did, a ritual had to be completed to relight it. No flipping a switch to start a fire in the ancient world!

Hestia was both the oldest and youngest of the Olympian gods. She was the first born, and hence swallowed first by Cronus (who swallowed all of his children, except for Zeus). However, she was also the youngest because she was the last one to re-emerge from Cronus's stomach once he was tricked by Zeus into throwing up all the gods once again.

In the great Forum in the City of Rome, the round temple of Vesta housed an eternal flame. The Romans believed that if the Vestal Virgins, or 6 priestesses who tended that flame, were ever to let the fire go out, then Rome would fall. Apparently the priestesses did a pretty good job, as the power of Rome lasted from 753 BCE to 410 CE. Each Vestal virgin could never marry (just as their patron goddess Vesta never married). Each priestess was trained for 10 years to tend the flame, then tended that eternal flame for another 10 years, and then taught new trainees for another 10 years before their service to Rome ended. This 30-year commitment was held in very high regard by all Romans.

**Mythology Book Corner**  Another excellent mythology resource is the comprehensive tome by Pierre Grimal, which is simply laden with Greek mythological facts.  It is in the form of a dictionary, with highly readable entries which tell just about everything there is to know about Greek Myths.  This book, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, has a handy index as well.  If you memorize this book, you'll know just about all there is to know about Greek myth.

*Interesting fact: the Latin word for hearth is focus. As the hearth was the center of classical homes, so too do we mentally center when we "focus."*

Next week I will discuss the last of the six Olympians: Hades, the god of the Underworld.