TITLE>Hestia, Vesta Hestia: Goddess of the public and private hearth,
sacred fire, protector of the family and cities

The Hearth of Gentle Hestia.
She is the gentlest of all the Olympians.
Never left Mount Olympus.
She remained a virgin.
Never takes part in the struggles of men or gods.
Discovered how to build houses.
Represented the ideal of purity.
Had no throne of her own as she gave hers to Dionysus.
She is the eldest sister of Zeus and the oldest daughter of Rhea and
Cronus and sister to Demeter.
Most upright and charitable of the Olympians.
Tended the sacred fire in the hall on the Olympus and every hearth
on Earth was her altar.
Hestia's symbol is the eternal flame.

Vesta (Roman), Hestia (Greeks) Was a deity presiding over the public and private hearth. Hestia's
temple was the fireplace in each home and was worshiped. She was
usually associated with womens' work. Hestia is also the protector of
cities because they are by extension a large family.
She is portrayed as a stern woman, wearing a long dress and with her
head covered. The ass is Vesta's sacred animal.
In her temple(made by king Numa Pompilius 715-673 BC). on the
Palatine Hill, the sacred fire of the Roman state burned, which was
maintained by the Vestal Virgins. At the start of the new Roman year,
March 1, the fire was renewed. The sacred fire burned until 394 AD.
Vesta's temple was situated on the Forum Romanum and was built in the
third century BC. None of her temples contained a statue of the
goddess.
Her festival is the Vestalia, which was observed from June 7 - 15. On
the first day of this festival, the 'penus Vestae', the inner sanctum
of the Vesta temple which was kept closed the entire year, was opened
for women who came to bring offerings bare-footed. The temple was
ritually cleansed on the last day.
Hestia also symbolized the alliance of the Metropolis ("mother-city")
with the smaller settlements which were founded in the colonies. The
colonists took fire from the hearth in the prytaneion and kept it
burning in their new towns. The Romans built a temple for her in the
Forum.

She is a virgin goddess, and not liking Aphrodite's works, the goddess
of love never can ensnare her.Both Poseidon and Apollo wished to marry her,
but she refused them, and touching Zeus' head, she swore an oath that she
would be a maiden
all her days. So instead of marriage Zeus granted that her place should
be in the very midst of the house. And for that reason mortals do not
hold banquet without offering to Hestia both first and last, and so
was done in Elis too,
because there they sacrificed first to Hestia and secondly to Zeus.

The Sacret Flame

A sacred fire, tended by six virgin priestesses called
Vestals, flamed in her temple. As the safety of the
city was thought to be connected with the flame.

Vestual Virgins
The priestesses of Vesta. Their sacred duty is to tend the eternal fire of Vesta in her temple.
The Vestal Virgins were chosen at the age of eight from Patrician families by the Pontifex
maximus ("high priest"). After a training of ten years they served for another ten years in the
temple of Vesta and they lived in the Vestal Atrium. During their service to the goddess, they
were expected to keep strict vows of chastity.
The priestesses of Hestia,the Vestal Virgins were six in number,and their duty was to feed the
sacred flame of the temple of the goddess,and to present sacrifices and prayers for the welfare
of the state. Their robes were white,with a fillet around the hair,and a veil. Girls selected
for service in the temple of Hestia were required to be between six and ten years of age when
chosen, and were obliged to take a vow of chastity, and serve in the temple for thirty years,
after which period they could choose to leave, if they wished. Although marriage was allowed
after the girls had left the service of the goddess,generally this practice was frowned upon by
the populace, who feared the wrath of Hestia.
While in the service of the goddess,the Vestal Virgins enjoyed special privileges:their person
was inviolable, they were free from paternal control, and they were allowed dispose of their
property as they saw fit. When they marched in procession through the streets of the city,
should the Virgins meet a criminal on the way to his execution, they had the prerogative of
ordering him set free.

If the priestesses were found to be guilty of neglect of duty, they were most severely dealt
with. A Virgin who allowed the sacred flame in the temple to die out was taken to a dark
chamber,and there she was flogged. Should a Vestal Virgin allow her chastity to be violated, she
was condemned to be buried alive, and her seducer publicly scourged to death.
ONE CASE:
Domitian had three Vestal Virgins executed in 83 on grounds of immorality and in 90 he had the
Chief Vestal buried alive, although she protested her innocence to the end. Her presumed lovers
were beaten to death with rods.

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