Hestia: the goddess of hearth and home-Hestia Greek mythology

Hestia-Goddess-Hearth & Sacrificial Flame god

     


Why is Hestia the goddess of Hestia?

What type of goddess is Hestia?

Who was the goddess of the hearth?

What is the power of Hestia?

                                      (Greek Mythology Explained)

                                                                        

                                                   👉👉👉previously we've discussed Hades Poseidon and Demeter which means out of the original six Olympians were left with Zeus Hera and Hestia today we'll be examining the most overlooked of these Hestia the goddess of the home the hearth and family that means we can leave the troubled couple of Zeus and Hera until last as they are responsible for the majority of stories and drama within Greek mythology something that Hestia tends to stay away from which is why we don't see her in as many stories as some of the other deities as one of the original six Olympians she was the daughter of Cronus and Rhea there is some debate as to who the oldest was out of the three sisters but most poets and historians seem to agree that Hestia was the first spawn which also means she was the first to be swallowed by her father when the Olympians rose to power both Poseidon and Apollo were after Hestia's hand in marriage but she declined both offers instead she took an oath blessed by Zeus stating that she would remain an eternal virgin and take her place upon the royal hearth there is a Homeric hymn which mentions this sequence of events him v is devoted to Aphrodite and names three virgin goddesses Athena Artemis and Hestia it is fairly long so I've just taken the segment's that mentioned Hestia in particular yet there are three hearts she cannot bed nor yet ensnare she being Aphrodite and the three Hearts referring to the Virgin goddesses and Aphrodite's inability to make them fall in love nor yet does the poor maiden Hestia love Aphrodite's works she was the firstborn child of Wiley Cronus and youngest - by the will of Zeus who holds the aigis a queen he made him both Poseidon and apollo sought to wed but she was wholly unwilling nay stubbornly refused and
                                                                   

    


                               👉👉👉touching the head of father Zeus who holds the aigis she that fair goddess wore great oath which in truth had been fulfilled that she would be a maiden all her days so Zeus the father gave her a high honor instead of marriage and she has her place in the midst of the house and has the richest portion in all the temples of the gods she has her share of Honor and among all mortal men she is chief of the goddesses of these three Aphrodite cannot bend or ensnare their hearts there's more than a few things here that need to be explained it says that she was the firstborn child of Cronus but also the youngest what this is referring to is the notion that the Olympians were born twice once from their mother Rhea and then again when they were expelled from their father Hestia was the firstborn which means she was also the first to be swallowed when Zeus came and gave his father the potion which caused him to throw up the rest of the Olympians Hestia was the last which I guess makes sense if she was at the very bottom of his stomach the hem goes on to say that even the most powerful deity such as Zeus and Hera are led astray by Aphrodite which in this case means love and temptation so we do get some insight into Hestia's character it's quite selfless to reject love and then take an oath to remain that way so you can dedicate your life to performing your duties she was known as the goddess of domestic life so all happiness and blessings within the home were attributed to Hestia some believe she and Hermes are responsible for teaching man how to build houses and as a result a small part of Hestia dwells in every household it's also why Hestia and Hermes often appear to get as teachers and protectors of man's work going back to the hymn there are still a few things we need to explain and she has her place in the myths of the house and has the richest portion in all the temples of the God she has her share of honor



                                                                         

                                            👉👉👉and among all mortal men she is chief of the goddesses now again some of this at first glance may not make sense we've just discussed how she governed the home so saying she has the richest portion of the house that's fine in all the temples of the gods she has her share of Honor and among all mortal men she's the chief of the goddesses that needs some explaining to most people the chief goddess would either be Athena because of how widely worship she was or Hera as the wife of Zeus but if we approach this idea from a day-to-day perspective the majority of worship and sacrifice would not be done in the temples of the gods much like many religious people today only visit their place of worship once or maybe a few times a week instead the altar in all homes where sacrifices would occur to domestic gods was the hearth Hestia being the goddess of the hearth and the sacrificial flame which was found in all temples was therefore present in the worship of all deities often being invoked first she may not have had the most temples or the biggest cult but Hestia was a gateway to the worship of all other gods she took a share of all the sacrifices offered and to men and women she was the chief goddess because without her there was no worship most towns also had a public earth in some kind of community building because they believed just as Hestia would look after them domestically a public earth would create a harmonious town there were very few temples dedicated to Hestia and those that were rarely had her image merely just an altar but when you take into account that every hearth was technically a place where she could be worshipped it's no surprise the ancient Greeks mostly chose to build temples honoring the other deities on the rare occasion we do see a physical depiction she appears either a hooded woman wearing a modest cloak or as a woman holding a staff near fire interestingly enough it became a superstition for those who move towns to take the fire that burned from their mother town to their new town believing this would bring good fortune if we do go back to him five briefly it was Zeus who granted Hestia her position and given that it is Zeus you'd assume there would be some benefit for him behind everything if you are gonna have someone maintain the fires of the Olympian hearth all day then who better than the goddess of the earth herself if you're also going to have more affairs than warm dinners like Zeus you may need all the domestic blessings you can get when you get back home to Olympus in order to maintain and keep the fires of the Olympian hearth burning Hestia would use fat from animals that were sacrificed by mortals to the gods if the supply ran dry then the fire would no longer burn and as a result the fires on earth would also die so there was quite a big emphasis placed on burning a portion of your food as an offering when cooking to keep both fires burning the court of Hestia much like Demeter was governed by women as they were the ones in control of domestic activity in most households Hestia acted as the woman's guide there is a Homeric hymn to Hestia but it's one of the shortest in the hide Wellings of all both deathless gods and men who walk on earth

                                                               

             

                                                     👉👉👉  you have gained an everlasting abode and highest honor glorious is your portion annual Rite for without you mortals hold no banquet where one does not Julie pour sweet wine in offering to Hestia both first and last and you slayer of argus son of zeus and maya messenger of the Blessed gods bearer of the golden rod giver of good be favourable and help us you and Hestia the worship fallen dear come and dwell in this glorious house in friendship together for you to well knowing the noble actions of men aid on their wisdom and their Hale daughter of Cronus and you also Hermes bearer of the golden rod now I will remember you and another song also this reinforces the notion of how reliant to mortals were on Hestia without her there is no food there is no fire and there is no connection to the gods the second half of this hymn is referring to Hermes who alongside Hestia were man's two greatest teachers and allies among the gods when it comes to stories featuring Hestia only a few come to mind you of course have the story of Cronus swallowing his children but we've already discussed that you also have the time Zeus was the throne and the likes of Poseidon Apollo and Athena argued over which of them should rule Hestia was among the few deities who showed no interest and while the others put their names forward she continued tending the hearth the most eventful story she appears in involves the god Priapus it begins at a great feast held by rare all the gods and goddesses were invited as well as he nymphs and the satyr except salinas but he came anyway all who attended had a great time and consumed so much wine that the entire party was intoxicated everyone was stumbling around and laying on the grass trying to sober up Hestia decided she would take a nap outside Priapus was stalking around the garden looking for some nymphs to get frisky with when he came across Hestia asleep on the grass he approached her quietly as to not wake her but stumbling by on his donkey came salinas as Priapus began to get heavy-handed the donkey led out of bellowing Brae which woke Hestia from her sleep she brushed off Priapus and alerted the other gods who came swiftly and gave him the beating he deserved it does make you wonder if the reaction would have been the same if it was a random nymph or not one of the Virgin goddesses especially one valued as highly as Hestia the Roman iteration of Hestia was known as vesta who was also the goddess of the hearth home and family she did appear in human form occasionally but she was more commonly represented by the fire in her temple the 7th of June until the 15th of June marked a holiday in her name known as the vest alia during this period her female followers would walk her temple barefoot and present to Vesta offerings of food similar to Hestia the Romans valued Vesta extremely highly and her holiday was one of the most important to summarize Hestia is one of those deities from a storytelling standpoint who doesn't really appear in Greek mythology but if you look at the more practical religious side she played a large part in the ancient Greeks daily life whenever I cover Greek mythology and I do always tend to lean towards the storytelling element and that's because that's what I find most interesting but with some deities that just isn't possible and honestly it does make a welcome change from time to time so this is where I throw it over to you how much of Hestia did you know prior to this video do you prefer the more practical deities with less of the crazy stories or are you in it mostly for the stories let me know in the comments below as always I've been your host mythology in fiction explained



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