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Hestia: Goddess of the Home
The home is where we spend most of our time. The leader of the home for Greek mythology, Hestia, therefore has a huge job. She presides over domestic life, which includes the hearth fire.
Besides Hestia’s role as goddess over the hearth fire, she was goddess of the sacrificial flame. During the time of Greek mythology, people made sacrifices to the gods. Hestia received a portion of each of those sacrifices. Part of the communal feast, the cooking of the sacrificial meat, was also part of her domain.
Hestia was born as the oldest daughter of Rhea and Cronus. Because of that birth order and her renowned parents, she is the eldest sister of Zeus. She earned her position on Mt. Olympus due to that family background.
Although she is a goddess of Mt. Olympus, she didn’t have a throne. She instead tended to the fire in the hall on Mt. Olympus, and every hearth on Earth was her altar. Her domestic nature made her the gentlest of all the Olympians.
Hestia swore to always remain a virgin. Although she was wooed by both Poseidon and Apollo, she swore by the head of Zeus to remain a virgin. He agreed to this stature and provided her an eternal place at his hearth.
Hestia was depicted visually in a few ways. One sculpture shows her veiled with a kettle by her feet. Athenian vase painting also depicts her with a moderate veil, as well as holding a flowered branch, possibly from a chaste tree.
Works Cited
“Hestia.” Theoi.com. 2008. Theoi Project. 16 March 2009
<http://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Hestia.html>.
Lindemans, Micha F. “Hestia.” Encyclopedia Mythica. 3 Mar. 1997. Encyclopedia
Mythica. 13 March 2009 <http://www.pantheon.org/articles/h/hestia.html>.
Comments (2)
bjennings said
at 1:15 pm on Mar 27, 2009
Good job Mrs. Lux!
SydneyP said
at 2:19 pm on Dec 8, 2009
very interesting
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