Hestia was the goddess of the hearth in ancient Greece, and Vesta served the same purpose among the Romans. These ancient societies were focused on the hearth. The household hearth was the heart of the home. The public hearth was the center of the city, and the hearth in Rome was the center of the Roman Empire.
While Hestia’s mythology places her among the Olympians, she was not an Olympian goddess worshipped in the same way as her siblings. In Rome, Vesta was considered the oldest goddess on whose favor the integrity of Rome depended. Her cult was maintained by the Vestal Virgins, one of the few female priesthoods of the Roman State.
The Greek Goddess Vesta
Hestia was another of the many children of the Cronos and Rhea, the Titans who gave birth to Zeus and the other Olympians. Like her other siblings, she was swallowed by Cronos, who feared that his children would overthrow him. Zeus freed his siblings, and together, they went to war against the Titans and took control of the heavens. Because Hestia was the firstborn and the last regurgitated, she is sometimes called both the oldest and the youngest daughter of the pair.
Hestia was not counted among the 12 Olympian gods, as she gave up her spot to Hephaestus. Hestia is one of the virgin goddesses, along with Athena and Artemis. But Poseidon and Apollo both fell in love with Hestia and vied for her hand, so she chose to swear an oath to remain a virgin and give Aphrodite no power over her.
Hestia tended the hearth of Olympus, feeding it the fatty parts of the meats received in sacrifices. She was also the goddess of the hearth in every home. She received the first offering in every domestic sacrifice and the first and last libations of wine at feasts. She was also worshipped at a public hearth in cities, including in the “megaron” great halls in the Mycenean world. It was considered a great offense to ever let the public hearth go out. Whenever a new colony was founded, a flame from the public hearth in the mother city was carried to the new settlement.
Very few representations of Hestia survive, she is often represented modestly cloaked in a head veil, and sometimes with a staff in her hand and by a large fire. She sits on a plain wooden throne with a white woolen cushion. Her sacrificial animal was a domestic pig.
The Roman Goddess Vesta
In Rome, the goddess of the hearth was Vesta, and she was considered the guardian of the Roman people. She had Latin origins, considered to have come from Lavinium, the mother city of Alba Longa, the first settlements of the Trojans led to Italy by Aeneas. Her hearth was named the “hearth of Ilius/Troy.” She was later transferred to Rome by Romulus or Numa Pompilius, but Roman magistrates would travel to Lavinium when appointed to office to make a sacrifice to Vesta.
She was a virgin goddess but was also addressed as a mother who granted fertility. She was the oldest goddess and had very little mythology, though the Romans adopted much of Hestia’s mythology for their goddess of the hearth. She was rarely depicted directly, though she did sometimes appear as a veiled woman. She was more often depicted as the fire of her hearth, a fire stick, and even a ritual phallus. The phallus probably relates to her role in fertility.
Describing the hearth of Vesta in Rome, Dionysus of Halicarnassus said: “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” (2.66.3).
According to Roman tradition, the pontifex maximus, the chief priest of Rome, resided in the domus publicus, the public home, which contained the hearth of the state. This was extended when the first emperor Augustus became Pontifex Maximus in 12 BCE. He gave part of his private house to the Vestal Virgins. This linked his private household cult with the public cult of Vesta.
Vestal Virgins
The Vestal Virgins were the group of priests devoted to the worship of Vesta. This appears to be an ancient tradition as the mother of Romulus and Remus is often described as a Vestal at Alba Longa.
They were drawn from Rome’s elite, chosen before puberty to join the college of celibate devotees for the next 30 years. When the cult of Vesta was established in Rome, initially only two Vestals were appointed. This number was increased to four under King Servius Tullius, and their number was increased to six by the time of the Republic.
While there were only six serving Vestals, the priesthood was much larger. Initiates were recruited between the ages of six and ten and had to be free Roman citizens with two living parents. They spent about the first ten years training, learning the duties from the older Vestals. They would then serve for around ten years, before joining the team of older Vestals that oriented the younger ones. There was also a chief Vestal Virgin who was responsible for overseeing the activities of the other priestesses.
Because of their important role in maintaining the hearth of Vesta, the priestesses had incredible status in Roman society. Their bodies were considered sacrosanct, and it was considered blasphemy to injure a Vestal. They were also accompanied by a lictor, both as a bodyguard and a symbol of their status. They also received ringside seats at the public games, and could arrive at these shows in a carpentum, which was a king of enclosed chariot like that used by Roman generals when celebrating a triumph. They had the power to pardon the convicted, famously saving Julus Caesar under Sulla.
Breaking their vows was met with harsh punishment. Becoming a Vestal meant that their body no longer belonged to them, or their father, but to the state under the authority of the pontifex maximus. As long as their bodies remained unpenetrated, the walls of Rome would remain intact. This also meant that they could never leave Rome. They were buried within the confines of the city, which was prohibited for most other men and women.
Having sex with a Vestal was considered interference and the man was publicly beaten to the death by the pontifex maximus. The Vestal also had to be punished, but her blood could not be spilled. Therefore, she was placed in a living tomb that was created underground within the walls of the city, where she would eventually die bloodlessly.
After her 30 years of service, a Vestal was free to retire, as a wealthy woman with a generous pension from the state. Unlike most Roman women, she was independent, and not under the authority of her father or another male relative. She could own property, write a will, and even testify in court. This, combined with the universal respect that the ex-Vestal enjoyed, made them a woman apart. They were free to marry, but many chose not to since it meant giving up their independence.
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