Hestia, Vesta

Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.

“Hestia,” from The Mythology of Ancient Greece and Italy by Thomas Keightley, 1838.

Chapter VI

The Kronids:—Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hestia

The Kronids, or children of Kronos and Rhea, were Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Hera, and Demeter. The four first we shall place here: the two last, as wives of Zeus, will find their more appropriate situation along with their children.

Hestia, Vesta.

An idea of the sanctity of the domestic hearth, the point of assembly of the family, and the symbol of the social union, gave the Greeks occasion to fancy it to be under the guardianship of a peculiar deity, whom they named from it, Hestia. This goddess does not appear in the poem of Homer, though he had abundant opportunities of noticing her. By Hesiod she is said to have been the daughter of Kronos and Rhea.

The hymn to Aphrodite relates that Hestia, Artemis, and Athena were the only goddess who escaped the power of the queen of love. When wooed by Poseidon and Apollo, placing her hand on the head of Zeus, vowed perpetual virginity. Zeus, in place of marriage, gave her to sit in the middle of the house ‘receiving fat,’ and to be honoured in all the temples of the gods.

In the Prytaneion of every Grecian city stood the hearth, on which the sacred fire flamed, and where the offerings were made to Hestia. In that of Athens there was a statue of the goddess.

Keightley, Thomas. The Mythology of Ancient Greece and Italy. Whittaker, 1838.

Thomas Keightley

World Mythology

A collection of myths, legends, and other stories that teach us something about the world. Note that myths are often tied into the history and religion of the people who tell them, and they should always be treated and read with respect!

View Group