Hestia Hestia Iris Category="Fire goddesses"Category="Greek goddesses"[image]

Greek deitiesseries
Primordial deities
Titans
Aquatic deities
Chthonic deities
Personified concepts
Other deities
Olympians
Zeus and Hera,
Poseidon, Hades,
Hestia, Demeter,
Aphrodite, Athena,
Apollo, Artemis,
Ares, Hephaestus,
Hermes, Dionysus

In Greek mythology, virginal Hestia is the Goddess of the Hearth, of the right ordering of domesticity and the family, who received the first offering at every sacrifice in the household, but had no public cult. In Roman mythology her approximate equivalent was Vesta, who personified the public hearth, and whose cult round the ever-burning hearth bound Romans together in the form of an extended family.

Her name means "home and hearth": the household and its inhabitants. Hestia symbolizes the alliance between the colonies and their mother-cities and is the oldest daughter of Rhea and Cronus, sister to Zeus, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Demeter. Originally listed as one of the Twelve Olympians, Hestia gave up her seat in favour of new-comer Dionysus to tend to the sacred fire on Mt. Olympus. Her altars included every family hearth.

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Immediately after their birth, Cronus swallowed Hestia and her siblings except for Zeus, who later rescued them and led them in a war against Cronus and the other Titans. Hestia was noted for being one of the only Olympians who had few, if any, flaws in her personality. She was always the gentlest deity and despised fighting of any kind. She was often the peacemaker between her warring relatives. As an adult, Hestia vowed to forever remain a Virgin and refused Poseidon and Apollo when they came calling. She was once almost raped by Priapus, a lesser fertility god, but was saved by the braying of a donkey.

Insert non-formatted text hereť==Other meanings==

Hestia may also refer to:

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