Estia - Vesta/Hestia - Vesta

Estia

Estia (AFI: /esˈtia/; in greco antico: Ἑστία, Estía) è un personaggio della mitologia greca, figlia di Crono e Rea.
Era la dea vergine della casa e del focolare.
Nella mitologia romana la sua figura corrisponde a quella di Vesta.

Genealogia

Estia era la primogenita di Crono e Rea ed apparteneva quindi al ristretto gruppo delle dodici maggiori divinità dell'Olimpo ma essendo venerata come vergine non ebbe figli.

Mitologia

Estia era la dea della famiglia, divinità dell'antica Grecia tenuta in grande onore, era invocata e riceveva la prima offerta nei sacrifici effettuati nell'ambiente domestico.
Estia sacrificò il suo trono sull'Olimpo quando Dioniso divenne dio e per questo venne chiamata anche "ultima dea".
Nonostante Poseidone ed Apollo chiedessero la sua mano, lei fece voto di castità e così Zeus (suo fratello e signore degli dei) per evitare un possibile concorrente al suo trono, respinse le loro proposte.
Dopo un banchetto Priapo, ubriaco, tentò di farle violenza ma un asino con il suo raglio svegliò sia la dea che dormiva che gli altri dei e fu costretto a darsi alla fuga.
L'episodio ha un carattere di avvertimento aneddotico per chi pensi (se accolte in casa come ospiti), di poter abusare delle donne sotto la protezione del focolare domestico in quanto anche l'asino, simbolo della lussuria, ragliando condanna la follia criminale di Priapo.
Omero narra che Estia riuscì a resistere alle seduzioni ed alle persuasioni di Afrodite.
Causa la sua funzione che la portava a non abbandonare mai Olimpo, è protagonista in un numero inferiore di miti rispetto ai suoi fratelli ed è meno nota in epoca contemporanea.

Estia e Vesta

Insieme alla sua equivalente divinità romana, Vesta, non era nota per i miti e le rappresentazioni che la riguardavano, e fu raramente rappresentata da pittori e scultori con sembianze umane, in quanto non aveva un aspetto esteriore caratteristico: la sua importanza stava nei rituali simboleggiati dal fuoco.

Simbologia

Suo simbolo era il cerchio e la sua presenza era avvertita nella fiamma viva posta nel focolare rotondo al centro della casa e nel braciere circolare nel tempio di ogni divinità. Talvolta viene raffigurata assieme ad Ermes, ma mentre quest'ultimo aveva il compito di proteggere dal male e di propiziare una buona sorte, Estia santificava la casa.
La sua prima raffigurazione è stata una pietra, denominata erma, dalla forma di una colonna.

Culto

Ogni città, nell'edificio principale, aveva un braciere comune, il pritaneo, dove ardeva il fuoco sacro di Estia, che non doveva spegnersi mai. Poiché le città erano considerate un allargamento del nucleo familiare, era adorata anche come protettrice di tutte le città greche.
Nelle famiglie, il fuoco di Estia provvedeva a riscaldare la casa e a cuocere i cibi.
Il neonato diventava membro della famiglia cinque giorni dopo la nascita, con un rito (anfidromie) in cui il padre lo portava in braccio girando attorno al focolare.
La novella sposa portava il fuoco preso dal braciere della famiglia di origine nella sua nuova casa, che solo così veniva consacrata.
I coloni che lasciavano la Grecia, portavano con sé una torcia accesa al pritaneo della loro città natale, il cui fuoco sarebbe servito a consacrare ogni nuovo tempio ed edificio. Un rito che sopravvive anche nelle Olimpiadi moderne.
Estia provvedeva il luogo dove sia la famiglia che la comunità si riunivano insieme: il luogo dove si ricevevano gli ospiti, il luogo dove fare ritorno a casa, un rifugio per i supplici. La dea e il fuoco erano una cosa sola e formavano il punto di congiunzione e il sentimento della comunità, sia familiare che civile.

«Per lungo tempo credetti stoltamente che ci fossero statue di Vesta, ma poi appresi che sotto la curva cupola non ci sono affatto statue. Un fuoco sempre vivo si cela in quel tempio e Vesta non ha nessun'effigie, come non ne ha neppure il fuoco.»

(Ovidio, Fasti, VI, 255-258)

L'arazzo di Estia

"L'arazzo di Estia" è una tardiva rappresentazione della dea come “Hestia Polyolbos" (Estia ricca di Grazia) su un arazzo di scuola copta, realizzato in Egitto durante il VI secolo d.C.

Hestia Giustiniani

sconosciuto

Roman, second century CE. Original; c.460 BCE 

Vesta

Vesta, figlia di Saturno (Crono) e di Opi, sorella di Giove, Nettuno, Plutone, Cerere, Giunone, è una figura della mitologia romana, che corrisponde alla divinità greca Estia, con la differenza che il suo culto a Roma assunse una maggiore rilevanza.  

Caratteristiche e forme

Era la dea del focolare domestico, venerata privatamente in ogni casa e il cui culto pubblico consisteva principalmente nel mantenere acceso il fuoco sacro nel tempio cittadino: le sacerdotesse legate al suo ordine, quello delle famose vestali, avevano proprio il compito di custodire il fuoco sacro alla dea, acceso all'interno del tempio a lei dedicato, facendo sì che non si spegnesse mai.
In una delle sue raffigurazioni più tipiche la dea indossa una lunga stola e tiene in mano uno scettro. Vesta è raffigurata anche seduta in trono con in mano una patera per il sacrificio e lo scettro.
Il culto del fuoco viene fatto risalire ad un'antica concezione religiosa naturalista degli Indoeuropei, della quale sarebbero un'ulteriore attestazione il dio vedico Agnis ed il culto del fuoco di Estia in Grecia.
Il fuoco sacro, custodito nel tempio di Vesta a Roma, venne spento nel 391 d.C. per ordine dell'imperatore Teodosio.

Celebrazione

Il primo marzo, giorno del capodanno romano, veniva rinnovato il fuoco sacro nel tempio a lei dedicato. La dea Vesta veniva celebrata nelle Vestalia che si svolgevano nella settimana che va dal 7 giugno al 15 giugno. Il primo giorno delle celebrazioni era dedicato all'apertura annuale del tempio per i riti sacrificali.

Vesta antoninianus

 Raffigurazione della dea Vesta che regge una patera e uno scettro sul rovescio di un antoniniano

Classical Numismatic Group, Inc.

 Cornelia Supera, wife of Aemilianus. AR Antoninianus (2.48 gm). :CORNELIA SUPERA, diademed and draped bust right, resting on crescent :VESTA, Vesta standing left, holding patera in right hand, transverse sceptre in left. RIC IV 30; Hunter 1; RSC 5. Nothing is known of this lady other than the information which is imparted by her extremely rare coinage of Roman antoniniani together with several provincial issues in aes. What evidence there is points to her having been the wife of the ephemeral emperor M. Aemilius Aemilianus.

Hestia

In Ancient Greek religion, Hestia (/ˈhɛstiə, ˈhɛstʃə/; Greek: Ἑστία, "hearth" or "fireside") is a virgin goddess of the hearth, architecture, and the right ordering of domesticity, the family, the home, and the state. In Greek mythology, she is a daughter of Kronos and Rhea.
Hestia received the first offering at every sacrifice in the household. In the public domain, the hearth of the prytaneum functioned as her official sanctuary. With the establishment of a new colony, flame from Hestia's public hearth in the mother city would be carried to the new settlement. Her Roman equivalent is Vesta.

Origins and cults

Hestia's name means "hearth, fireplace, altar", stemming from the same root as the English verbal form was (PIE *h₂wes- "to live, dwell, pass the night"). It thus refers to the oikos, the household, house, or family. "An early form of the temple is the hearth house; the early temples at Dreros and Prinias on Crete are of this type as indeed is the temple of Apollo at Delphi which always had its inner hestia". The Mycenaean great hall (megaron), like Homer's hall of Odysseus at Ithaca, had a central hearth. Likewise, the hearth of the later Greek prytaneum was the community and government's ritual and secular focus.
Hestia's name and functions show the hearth's importance in the social, religious, and political life of ancient Greece. It was essential for warmth, food preparation, and the completion of sacrificial offerings to deities; in the latter, Hestia was the "customary recipient of a preliminary, usually cheap, sacrifice". She was also offered the first and last libations of wine at feasts. Her own sacrificial animal was a domestic pig. The accidental or negligent extinction of a domestic hearth-fire represented a failure of domestic and religious care for the family; failure to maintain Hestia's public fire in her temple or shrine was a breach of duty to the broad community. A hearth fire might be deliberately, ritually extinguished at need, and its lighting or relighting should be accompanied by rituals of completion, purification and renewal, comparable with the rituals and connotations of an eternal flame and of sanctuary lamps. At the level of the polis, the hearths of Greek colonies and their mother cities were allied and sanctified through Hestia's cult. Hestia's nearest Roman equivalent, Vesta, had similar functions as a divine personification of Rome's "public", domestic, and colonial hearths, and bound Romans together within a form of extended family. The similarity of names between Hestia and Vesta is, however, misleading: "The relationship hestia-histie-Vesta cannot be explained in terms of Indo-European linguistics; borrowings from a third language must also be involved," according to Walter Burkert.
Responsibility for Hestia's domestic cult usually fell to the leading woman of the household, sometimes to a man. Hestia's rites at the hearths of public buildings were usually led by holders of civil office; Dionysius of Halicarnassus testifies that the prytaneum of a Greek state or community was sacred to Hestia, who was served by the most powerful state officials. Evidence of her priesthoods is extremely rare. Most stems from the early Roman Imperial era, when Sparta offers several examples of women with the priestly title "Hestia"; Chalcis offers one, a daughter of the local elite. Existing civic cults to Hestia probably served as stock for the grafting of Greek ruler-cult to the Roman emperor, the Imperial family and Rome itself. In Athens, a small seating section at the Theatre of Dionysus was reserved for priesthoods of "Hestia on the Acropolis, Livia, and Julia", and of "Hestia Romaion" ("Roman Hestia", thus "The Roman Hearth" or Vesta). A priest at Delos served "Hestia the Athenian Demos" (the people or state) "and Roma". An eminent citizen of Carian Stratoniceia described himself as a priest of Hestia and several other deities, as well as holding several civic offices. Hestia's political and civic functions are further evidenced by her very numerous privately funded dedications at civic sites, and the administrative rather than religious titles used by the lay-officials involved in her civic cults.

Myths and attributes

Hestia is a goddess of the first Olympian generation. She was the eldest daughter of the Titans Rhea and Cronus, and sister to Zeus, Poseidon, Demeter, Hera, and Hades. Immediately after their birth, Cronus swallowed all his children (Hestia was the first who was swallowed) except the last and youngest, Zeus, who forced Cronus to disgorge his siblings and led them in a war against their father and the other Titans. As "first to be devoured . . . and the last to be yielded up again", Hestia was thus both the eldest and youngest daughter; this mythic inversion is found in the Homeric hymn to Aphrodite (700 BC). Hestia rejects the marriage suits of Poseidon and Apollo, and swears herself to perpetual virginity. She thus rejects Aphrodite's values and becomes, to some extent, her chaste, domestic complementary, or antithesis. Aphrodite could not bend or ensnare her heart.
Zeus assigns Hestia a duty to feed and maintain the fires of the Olympian hearth with the fatty, combustible portions of animal sacrifices to the gods. Wherever food was cooked, or an offering was burnt, she thus had her share of honour; also, in all the temples of the gods she has a share of honour. "Among all mortals she was chief of the goddesses".
Hestia's Olympian status is equivocal. At Athens "in Plato's time," notes Kenneth Dorter "there was a discrepancy in the list of the twelve chief gods, as to whether Hestia or Dionysus was included with the other eleven. The altar to them at the agora, for example, included Hestia, but the east frieze of the Parthenon had Dionysus instead." Hestia's omission from some lists of the Twelve Olympians is sometimes taken as illustration of her passive, non-confrontational nature – by giving her Olympian seat to the more forceful Dionysus she prevents heavenly conflict – but no ancient source or myth describes such a surrender or removal. "Since the hearth is immovable Hestia is unable to take part even in the procession of the gods, let alone the other antics of the Olympians", Burkert remarks. Her mythographic status as first-born of Rhea and Cronus seems to justify the tradition in which a small offering is made to Hestia before any sacrifice ("Hestia comes first").
The ambiguities in Hestia's mythology are matched by her indeterminate attributes, character, and iconography. She is identified with the hearth as a physical object, and the abstractions of community and domesticity, but portrayals of her are rare and seldom secure. In classical Greek art, she is occasionally depicted as a woman, simply and modestly cloaked in a head veil. She is sometimes shown with a staff in hand or by a large fire. She sat on a plain wooden throne with a white woollen cushion and did not trouble to choose an emblem for herself. In some stories, Hestia did not have a throne at all. In others, she gave up her throne for Dionysus.
Homeric Hymn 24, To Hestia, is a brief invocation of five lines:

Hestia, you who tend the holy house of the lord Apollo, the Far-shooter at goodly Pytho, with soft oil dripping ever from your locks, come now into this house, come, having one mind with Zeus the all-wise: draw near, and withal bestow grace upon my song.

Homeric Hymn 29, To Hestia is another invocation for the goddess and to Hermes:

"Hestia, in the high dwellings of all, both deathless gods and men who walk on earth, you have gained an everlasting abode and highest honour: glorious is your portion and your right. For without you mortals hold no banquet, -- where one does not duly pour sweet wine in offering to Hestia both first and last. And you, slayer of Argus, Son of Zeus and Maia, messenger of the blessed gods, bearer of the golden rod, giver of good, be favourable and help us, you and Hestia, the worshipful and dear. Come and dwell in this glorious house in friendship together; for you two, well knowing the noble actions of men, aid on their wisdom and their strength. Hail, Daughter of Cronos, and you also, Hermes, bearer of the golden rod! Now I will remember you and another song also."

Hestia Tapestry

The Hestia Tapestry is a Byzantine tapestry, made in Egypt during the 6th century AD. It is a late representation of the goddess, whom it identifies in Greek as Hestia Polyolbos; (Greek: Ἑστία Πολύολβος "Hestia full of Blessings"). Its history and symbolism are discussed in Friedlander (1945).

Genealogy

Hestia's family tree
Uranus Gaia Uranus' genitals Cronus Rhea Zeus Hera Poseidon Hades Demeter HESTIA     a       b  Ares Hephaestus Metis Athena Leto Apollo Artemis Maia Hermes Semele Dionysus Dione     a       b  Aphrodite

Statue of Hestia (Wellesley College, Massachusetts, USA)

Daderot - Self-photographed

Statue of Hestia. Margaret Clapp Library, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts, USA.

Vesta

Vesta (Latin pronunciation: [ˈwɛsta]) is the virgin goddess of the hearth, home, and family in Roman religion. She was rarely depicted in human form, and was often represented by the fire of her temple in the Forum Romanum. Entry to her temple was permitted only to her priestesses, the Vestals, who tended the sacred fire at the hearth in her temple. As she was considered a guardian of the Roman people, her festival, the Vestalia (7–15 June), was regarded as one of the most important Roman holidays. During the Vestalia matrons of the city walked barefoot to the sanctuary of the goddess, and gave offerings. Such was Vesta's importance to Roman religion that hers was one of the last republican pagan cults still active following the rise of Christianity until it was forcibly disbanded by the Christian emperor Theodosius I in AD 391.
The myths depicting Vesta and her priestesses were few, and were limited to tales of miraculous impregnation by a phallus appearing in the flames of the hearth—the manifestation of the goddess. Vesta was among the Dii Consentes, twelve of the most honored gods in the Roman pantheon. She was the daughter of Saturn and Ops, and sister of Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Juno, and Ceres. Her closest Greek equivalent is Hestia.

Etymology

Ovid derived Vesta from Latin vi stando - "standing by power". Cicero supposed that the Latin name Vesta derives from the Greek Hestia, which Cornutus claimed to have derived from Greek hestanai dia pantos ("standing for ever"). This etymology is offered by Servius as well. Another etymology is that Vesta derives from Latin uestio ("clothe"), as well as from Greek έστἰα ("hearth" = focus urbis).
Georges Dumézil (1898–1986), a French comparative philologist, surmised that the name of the goddess derives from Proto-Indo-European root *h₁eu-, via the derivative form *h₁eu-s- which alternates with *h₁w-es-. The former is found in Greek εὕειν heuein, Latin urit, ustio and Vedic osathi all conveying 'burning' and the second is found in Vesta. (Greek goddess-name Ἑστία Hestia is probably unrelated). See also Gallic Celtic visc "fire."

History

Origin

According to tradition, worship of Vesta in Italy began in Lavinium, the mother-city of Alba Longa and the first Trojan settlement. From Lavinium worship of Vesta was transferred to Alba Longa. Upon entering higher office, Roman magistrates would go to Lavinium to offer sacrifice to Vesta and the household gods the Romans called Penates. The Penates were Trojan gods first introduced to Italy by Aeneas. Alongside those household gods was Vesta, who has been referred to as Vesta Iliaca (Vesta of Troy), with her sacred hearth being named Ilaci foci (Trojan hearth).
Worship of Vesta, like the worship of many gods, originated in the home, but became an established cult during the reign of either Romulus, or Numa Pompilius (sources disagree, but most say Numa). The priestesses of Vesta, known as Vestal Virgins, administered her temple and watched the eternal fire. Their existence in Alba Longa is connected with the early Roman traditions, for Romulus' mother Silvia was a priestess.

Roman Empire

Roman tradition required that the leading priest of the Roman state, the pontifex maximus reside in a domus publicus ("publicly owned house"). After assuming the office of pontifex maximus in 12 BC, Augustus gave part of his private house to the Vestals as public property and incorporated a new shrine of Vesta within it. The old shrine remained in the Forum Romanum's temple of Vesta, but Augustus' gift linked the public hearth of the state with the official home of the pontifex maximus and the emperor's Palatine residence. This strengthened the connection between the office of pontifex maximus and the cult of Vesta. Henceforth, the office of pontifex maximus was tied to the title of emperor; Emperors were automatically priests of Vesta, and the pontifices were sometimes referred to as pontifices Vestae ("priests of Vesta"). In 12 BC, 28 April (first of the five day Floralia) was chosen ex senatus consultum to commemorate the new shrine of Vesta in Augustus' home on the Palatine. The latter's hearth was the focus of the Imperial household's traditional religious observances. Various emperors led official revivals and promotions of the Vestals' cult, which in its various locations remained central to Rome's ancient traditional cults into the 4th century. Dedications in the Atrium of Vesta, dating predominantly AD 200 to 300, attest to the service of several Virgines Vestales Maxime. Vesta's worship began to decline with the rise of Christianity. In ca. 379, Gratian stepped down as pontifex maximus; in 382 he confiscated the Atrium Vestae; simultaneously, he withdrew its public funding. In 391, despite official and public protests, Theodosius I closed the temple, and extinguished the sacred flame. Finally, Coelia Concordia stepped down as the last Vestalis Maxima ("chief Vestal") in 394.

Depictions

Depicted as a good-mannered deity who never involved herself in the quarreling of other gods, Vesta was ambiguous at times due to her contradictory association with the phallus. She was the embodiment of the Phallic Mother: she was not only the most virgin and clean of all the gods, but was addressed as mother and granted fertility. Mythographers tell us that Vesta had no myths save being identified as one of the oldest of the gods who was entitled to preference in veneration and offerings over all other gods. Unlike most gods, Vesta was hardly depicted directly; nonetheless, she was symbolized by her flame, the fire stick, and a ritual phallus (the fascinus).
While Vesta was the flame itself, the symbol of the phallus might relate to Vesta's function in fertility cults, but it maybe also invoked the goddess herself due to its relation to the fire stick used to light the sacred flame. She was sometimes thought of as a personification of the fire stick which was inserted into a hollow piece of wood and rotated - in a phallic manner - to light her flame.

Hearth

Concerning the status of Vesta's hearth, Dionysius of Halicarnassus had this to say: "And they regard the fire as consecrated to Vesta, because that goddess, being the Earth and occupying the central position in the universe, kindles the celestial fires from herself." Ovid agreed, saying: "Vesta is the same as the earth, both have the perennial fire: the Earth and the sacred Fire are both symbolic of home." The sacred flames of the hearth were believed to be indispensable for the preservation and continuity of the Roman State: Cicero states it explicitly. The purity of the flames symbolised the vital force that is the root of the life of the community. It was also because the virgins' ritual concern extended to the agricultural cycle and ensured a good harvest that Vesta enjoyed the title of Mater ("Mother").
The fecundating power of sacred fire is testified in Plutarch's version of the birth of Romulus, the birth of king Servius Tullius (in which his mother Ocresia becomes pregnant after sitting upon a phallus that appeared among the ashes of the ara of god Vulcanus, by order of Tanaquil wife of king Tarquinius Priscus) and the birth of Caeculus, the founder of Praeneste. All these mythical or semilegendary characters show a mystical mastery of fire, e.g., Servius's hair was kindled by his father without hurting him, his statue in the temple of Fortuna Primigenia was unharmed by fire after his assassination. Caeculus kindled and extinguished fires at will.

Marriage

Vesta was connected to liminality, and the limen ("threshold") was sacred to her: brides were careful not to step on it, else they commit sacrilege by kicking a sacred object. Servius explains that it would be poor judgement for a virgin bride to kick an object sacred to Vesta - a goddess that holds chastity sacred. On the other hand, it might merely have been because Romans considered it bad luck to trample any object sacred to the gods. In Plautus' Casina, the bride Casina is cautioned to lift her feet carefully over the threshold following her wedding so she would have the upper hand in her marriage. Likewise, Catullus cautions a bride to keep her feet over the threshold "with a good omen".
In Roman belief, Vesta was present in all weddings, and so was Janus: Vesta was the threshold and Janus the doorway. Similarly, Vesta and Janus were invoked in every sacrifice. It has been noted that because they were invoked so often, the evocation of the two came to simply mean, "to pray". In addition, Vesta was present with Janus in all sacrifices as well. It has also been noted that neither of them were consistently illustrated as human. This has been suggested as evidence of their ancient Italic origin, because neither of them were "fully anthropomorphized"

Agriculture

Counted among the agricultural deities, Vesta has been linked to the deities Tellus and Terra in separate accounts. In Antiquitates rerum humanarum et divinarum, Varro links Vesta to Tellus. He says: "They think Tellus... is Vesta, because she is 'vested' in flowers". Verrius Flaccus, however, had identified Vesta with Terra. Ovid hints at Vesta's connection to both of the deities.

Temple

Where most temples would have a statue, that of Vesta had a hearth. The fire was a religious center of Roman worship, the common hearth (focus publicus) of the whole Roman people. The Vestals were obliged to keep the sacred fire alight. If the fire went out, it must be lit from an arbor felix, auspicious tree, (probably an oak). Water was not allowed into the inner aedes nor could stay longer than strictly needed on the nearby premises. It was carried by the Vestales in vessels called futiles which had a tiny foot that made them unstable.
The temple of Vesta held not only the ignes aeternum ("sacred fire"), but the Palladium of Pallas Athena and the di Penates as well. Both of which are items said to have been brought into Italy by Aeneas. The Palladium of Athena was, in the words of Livy: "fatale pignus imperii Romani" ("[a] pledge of destiny for the Roman empire"). Such was the Palladium's importance, that when the Gauls sacked Rome in 390 BC, the Vestals first buried the Palladium before removing themselves to the safety of nearby Caere. Such objects were kept in the penus Vestae (i.e. the sacred repository of the temple of Vesta).
Despite being one of the most sacred of Roman Shrines, that of Vesta was not a templum in the Roman sense of the word; that is, it was not a building consecrated by the augurs and so it could not be used for meetings by Roman officials. It has been claimed that the shrine of Vesta in Rome was not a templum, because of its round shape. However, a templum was not a building, but rather a sacred space that could contain a building of either rectangular or circular shape. In fact, early templa were often altars that were consecrated and later had buildings erected around them. The temple of Vesta in Rome was an aedes and not a templum, because of the character of the cult of Vesta - the exact reason being unknown.

Vestal Virgins

The Vestales were one of the few full-time clergy positions in Roman religion. They were drawn from the patrician class and had to observe absolute chastity for 30 years. It was from this that the Vestales were named the Vestal virgins. They wore a particular style of dress and they were not allowed to let the fire go out, on pain of a whipping. The Vestal Virgins lived together in a house near the Forum (Atrium Vestae), supervised by the Pontifex Maximus. On becoming a priestess, a Vestal Virgin was legally emancipated from her father's authority and swore a vow of chastity for 30 years. A Vestal who broke this vow could be tried for incestum and if found guilty, buried alive in the Campus Sceleris ('Field of Wickedness').
The februae (lanas: woolen threads) that were an essential part of the Vestal costume were supplied by the rex sacrorum and flamen dialis. Once a year, the Vestals gave the rex sacrorum a ritualised warning to be vigilant in his duties, using the phrase "Vigilasne rex, vigila!" In Cicero's opinion, the Vestals ensured that Rome kept its contact with the gods.
A peculiar duty of the Vestals was the preparation and conservation of the sacred salamoia muries used for the savouring of the mola salsa, a salted flour mixture to be sprinkled on sacrificial victims (hence the Latin verb immolare, "to put on the mola, to sacrifice"). This dough too was prepared by them on fixed days. Theirs also the task of preparing the suffimen for the Parilia.

Festivals

Domestic and family life in general were represented by the festival of the goddess of the house and of the spirits of the storechamber - Vesta and the Penates - on Vestalia (7 - 15 June). On the first day of festivities the penus Vestae (sanctum sanctorum of her temple which was usually curtained off) was opened, for the only time during the year, at which women offered sacrifices. As long as the curtain remained open, mothers could come, barefoot and disheveled, to leave offerings to the goddess in exchange for a blessing to them and their family. The animal consecrated to Vesta, the donkey, was crowned with garlands of flowers and bits of bread on 9 June. The final day (15 June) was Q(uando) S(tercum) D(elatum) F(as) ["when dung may be removed lawfully"] - the penus Vestae was solemnly closed; the Flaminica Dialis observed mourning, and the temple was subjected to a purification called stercoratio: the filth was swept from the temple and carried next by the route called clivus Capitolinus and then into the Tiber.
In the military Feriale Duranum (AD 224) the first day of Vestalia is Vesta apperit[ur] and the last day is Vesta cluditur. This year records a supplicatio dedicated to Vesta for 9 June, and records of the Arval Brethren on this day observe a blood sacrifice to her as well. Found in the Codex-Calendar of 354, 13 February had become the holiday Virgo Vestalis parentat, a public holiday which by then had replaced the older parentalia where the sacrifice of cattle over flames is now dedicated to Vesta. This also marks the first participation of the Vestal Virgins in rites associated with the Manes.

Mythography

Vesta had no official mythology, and she existed as an abstract goddess of the hearth and of chastity. Only in the account of Ovid at Cybele's party does Vesta appear directly in a myth.

Birth of Romulus and Remus

Plutarch, in his Life of Romulus, told a variation of Romulus' birth citing a compilation of Italian history by a Promathion. In this version, while Tarchetius was king of Alba Longa, a phantom phallus appeared in his hearth. The king visited an oracle of Tethys in Etrusca, who told him that a virgin must have intercourse with this phallus. Tarchetius instructed one of his daughters to do so, but she refused sending a handmaiden in her place. Angered, the king contemplated her execution; however, Vesta appeared to him in his sleep and forbade it. When the handmaid gave birth to twins by the phantom, Tarchetius handed them over to his subordinate, Teratius, with orders to destroy them. Teratius instead carried them to the shore of the river Tiber and laid them there. Then a she-wolf came to them and breastfed them, birds brought them food and fed them, before an amazed cow-herder came and took the children home with him. Thus they were saved, and when they were grown up, they set upon Tarchetius and overcame him. Plutarch concludes with a contrast between Promathion's version of Romulus' birth and that of the more credible Fabius Pictor which he describes in a detailed narrative and lends support to.

Conception of Servius Tullius

Dionysius of Halicarnassus recounts a local story regarding the birth of king Servius Tullius. In it, a phallus rose from the hearth of Vesta in Numa's palace, and Ocresia was the first to see it. She immediately informed the king and queen. King Tarquinius, upon hearing this, was astonished; but Tanaquil, whose knowledge of divination was well-known, told him it was a blessing that a birth by the hearth's phallus and a mortal woman would produce superior offspring. The king then chose Ocresia to have intercourse with it, for she had seen it first. During which either Vulcan, or the tutelary deity of the house, appeared to her. After disappearing, she conceived and delivered Tullius. This story of his birth could be based off his name as Servius would euphemistically mean "son of servant", because his mother was a handmaiden.

Impropriety of Priapus

In book 6 of Ovid's Fasti: Cybele invited all the gods, satyrs, rural divinities, and nymphs to a feast, though Silenus came uninvited with his donkey. At it, Vesta lay carelessly at rest, and Priapus spotted her. He decided to approach her in order to violate her; however, the ass brought by Silenus let out a timely bray: Vesta was woken and Priapus barely escaped the outraged gods. Mentioned in book 1 of the Fasti is a similar instance of Priapus' impropriety involving Lotis and Priapus. The Vesta-Priapus account is not as well developed as that involving Lotis, and critics suggest the account of Vesta and Priapus only exists to create a cult drama. Ovid says the donkey was adorned with necklaces of bread-bits in memory of the event. Elsewhere, he says donkeys were honored on 9 June during the Vestalia in thanks for the services they provided in the bakeries.

Vesta outside Rome

Vesta's cult is attested at Bovillae, Lavinium and Tibur. At Bovillae were located the Alban Vestals (Albanae Longanae Bovillenses), supposed to be continuing the Alban Vestals. Lavinium had the Vestals of the Laurentes Lavinates. The two orders were rooted in the most ancient tradition predating Rome. Tibur too had his own vestals who are attested epigraphically.
Vestals might have been present in the sanctuary of Diana Nemorensis near Aricia.

Vesta was the virgin goddess of the hearth, home, and family in Roman mythology.

Published by Guillaume Rouille (1518?-1589) - "Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum"

 "Estia in Grazia", Egitto, VI secolo d.C., Collezione Dumbarton Oaks.

Tempio dedicato a Vesta a Tivoli, di Adam Elsheimer
 1600 circa

Coin issued under Nero: the reverse depicts the cult statue of Vesta, holding a patera and scepter, within her hexastyle temple.

Classical Numismatic Group, Inc.NERO. 54-68 AD. AR Denarius (18mm, 3.51 gm, 6h). Rome mint. Struck circa 65-66 AD. NERO CAESAR AVGVSTVS, laureate head right VESTA above, hexastyle temple with four steps; Vesta seated within facing, head left, holding patera and sceptre. RIC I 62; WCN 61; BMCRE 104; RSC 335.

 De precipuis, totius universi urbibus, Liber Secundus

Georg Braun, Franz Hogenberg - Civitates Orbis Terraum, Volume 2 

1572

Temple of Vesta 

Yellow.Cat from Roma, Italy - flickr (temple of Vesta) Uploaded by tm

Bronzen zittende moeder met kind, voorstellende Hestia. Zij was de godin van het haardvuur, de familie, en de gemeenschap. 1964, Marius van Beek.

Hanno Lans - Opera propria   

Vestale (Roma, Museo di Palazzo Braschi)

Lalupa - Opera propria

 The Virgo Vestalis Maxima depicted in a Roman statue

G. Ferrero, The Women of the Caesars, New York, 1911.

From the statue in Rome. Costume of a chief vestal (virgo vestalis maxima).

 Greek mythology systematized (1880)

Title: Greek mythology systematized Year: 1880 (1880s) Authors: Scull, Sarah Amelia Subjects: Mythology, Greek Emblems Publisher: Philadelphia : Porter & Coates

 Title: Manual of mythology : Greek and Roman, Norse, and old German, Hindoo and Egyptian mythology Year: 1875 (1870s) Authors: Murray, A. S. (Alexander Stuart), 1841-1904 Subjects: Mythology Publisher: New York : Scribner, Armstrong Contributing Library: New York Public Library

Text Appearing After Image: Demeter, or Ceres. Hestia, or Vesta.

 Hestia

 hestia 

sconosciuto

 Francesco Piranesi  Raccolta de' tempj antichi, tav. 1-X. Raccolta de' tempj antichi, tav. 1-X // Opere di Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Francesco Piranesi e d'altri. Firmin Didot Freres, Paris, 1835-1839. Tomo 6. 

 Hestia- Goddess of fire. (Greek mythology) I hope you like it! ♡ by Jefezoarts

  Title: Raphaelis Fabretti Gasparis F. Vrbinatis De columna Traiani syntagma : accesserunt explicatio veteris tabellae anaglyphae Homer Iliadem atque ex Stesichoro, Arctino et Lesche Ilii excidium continentis & emissarii lacus Fucini descriptio Year: 1683 (1680s) Authors: Fabretti, Raffaele, 1618-1700 Chacón, Alfonso, 1540-1599. Historia vtriusque belli dacini a Traiano Caesare gesti Subjects: Homer Trajan's Column (Rome, Italy) Monuments Inscriptions, Latin Publisher: Romae : Ex officinâ Nicolai Angeli Tinassij Contributing Library: Getty Research Institute

more vetufto,Fert tnijfos Vefl^furapatelUcihos.Ecce coronatis panis dependetafeliis)Et veiant fcahras floreafertamolas.Sola priusfurnis torrehant far-ra coioni,Et Fornacaii funt fuafacra^De<eiSuppofrtum cineri panemfocusipfe parahat 5Strataque erat tepido tegultL^quajfafolo^Vndefocumferuat Piflory dominamquefocorum,Et qu<epumiceas lerfat afelia molas.Scorpus itaque Agitator fexies Martiahs carminibus celebratus, a nobis quo- •quc in aliquo, vera eius effigie e tenebris antiquitatis eruta honoratus eft: quoetiam het, vt pra^grandem illum nafum, quo eundem Scorpum Domitius in_iComment. epig. XXVI.lib. V. onerauit, hac imagine sequc-cnafus menfursejrcftituatur, fimul^ue dodiflimi Commentatoris Raderi meliori nafu fufpen-datur. Huic etiam cippo reperto, memoriam & elogium ex Epigrammatarioinfcribimus. liie e£ofum Scorpus, clamofi gloriaCircilPiaufus Koma tui, deiici<eque hreues jInuida qnem Lacljefs raptum trieteride nona. ,Vum numeratpalmas, credidit ejfefenem. Vu 1 Aetas Text Appearing After Image: VE^TAE i-ACJCVM. C.PVPIVlT PIUAIINVS ETMVDAiEKTA. • TROPHIME 340 RAPHAELIS FABRETTI \ Mus, ^ua Scorpus hic noller floruit, cx Martiale cos^iio, colligitur in tempora iDomitianiincidiirejipruniquenomenJibertJ//<»/0!ninumfuumcgentc Flauia aliquem indicat» Aliam quoque coniei^luram fuggerit nobiscum Lipfio Bpiftolic. Qu;rft. lib.I. cp, V. P.RaderusadEpig, Martialis 1XVU.lib, IV, ex infcriptione apud Gruterum pag. CCCXXXVH. in qua hLA VIVSSCORPVS, tancjuam ex corundem Ca;farum famili^ vocatur, & cum Thalio,vt apud Martialem , iungitur. Quamuis enim infcriptio aiium Sco pum affi-cere prima fronte videatur ? ex quo Diocles initia fuarum vi^Soriarum in varijsfadionibuSj referat ad confulatus fub Imperio Hadriani initos, eo temporc, quoiam Scorpus noftcr 5 & Martialis deceftcrat, attamen (vt de hoc me dubitanteraoptime admonuitf$pe laudatus,femper quemihi &omnibus laudandus P.No-ris) in ea infcriptioncjideo Scorpusjalijque fato func^i aurig^ memoran

 Hestia Goddess of the Hearth

 Sebastiano Ricci

 

Hestia, virgin goddess of the fire

Headpiece by Adolphe Giraldon featuring Vesta, patron of the month of December

Adolphe Giraldon - Larousse mensuel illustré, 1911

Hestia Goddess of the Hearth

Wenceslas Hollar - The Greek gods. Vesta

Wenceslaus Hollar - Artwork from University of Toronto Wenceslaus Hollar Digital Collection

Unknown date (author lived 1607-1677) 

 Hestia

en:Ceres and en:Vesta conjunction July 5, 2014

Tomruen - Opera propria

 Hestia

 Vesta

 Hestia

 Vesta The fire Goddess by AntonellaB

 Hestia: Goddess of the Hearth by ranichi17

Artist's impression of a Roman woman, dressed as a Priestess of Vesta, performing sacred rites.
Invocation by Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton (1830–1896 CE). Oil on Canvas.  

Hestia - The Greek Goddess of the Hearth and Home - YouTube

YouTube

Hestia - The Greek Goddess of the Hearth and Home

Hestia, Hera, and Demeter by respositob

Goddess Vesta - YouTube

YouTube

Goddess Vesta

 Marble head from a portrait statue of a veiled priestess of the goddess Vesta. The headdress identifies the subject as a Vestal Virgin. Above her hair are six folds of the infula, a long woollen band wrapped about the head to hang in two loops, passed behind the ears.
 © The Trustees of the British Museum

Hestia's perpetual fire burned in every Greek village. Image by Christian Baitg/Image Bank/Getty Images

Vesta (seated on the left) with Vestal Virgins, classical relief sculpture; in the Palermo Museum, Italy

 Courtesy of the Regional Museum of Archaeology, Palermo

 

HESTIA - GREEK GODS PROJECT by ISIKOL