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Hestia
Hestia is the goddess of the Hearth.Her name translates
to the very word. Hestia's role is even more ancient than any of the deities in this section we have been discussing.
She presides over fire used for cooking and warmth as well as for scaring wild beasts.. Hestia remains as custodian
of family life, even in historical times each house, and a designated hall in each town, and the special facilities
at Delphi and Olympia kept fires burning continually.She is also seen as a bringer of good luck. She has rejected
the advances of both Poseidon and Apollo and has vowed to remain a virgin.Hestia would stay home when the other
deities were out feasting. During a very ancient time, fire was found burning in nature, taken from burning grasslands,
and preserved as precious , since there was no easy way of reproducing it anew. Fire was revered for is importance
in daily life and religious ceremony. The domestic and communal hearth were designated holy areas, and the goddess
herself resided over them.
Hestia is in some ways a deity of fire, with her role transferred to home and the purity of family life. Hestia is a very important goddess and yet there is very little written about her, and even fewer depiction's to be found of her in classical art or otherwise. Yet she still is every present in our lives, and can be felt strongly when cooking a large meal for the family with love on a holiday such as Thanksgiving, in America. If ever there was need of such a spirit, the time is now with the falling of family values and kinship with our neighbors.
Hestia represents the conversion of Woman from procreator to householder and family
cook, a change of function which is bound to happen in the proliferating world which Aphrodite creates.
There are two Homeric hymns to Hestia, the first here calls upon her briefly as the manifestation of the protecting flame of the sacred hearth in a temple:
Hestia, you who tend the hallowed house of the far-shooter Apollo in holy Pytho, liquid oil always drips from your hair. Come to this house, enter in sympatheris support, along with Zeus, the wise counselor. Grant as well a pleasing grace to my song.
In this one, Hestia is invoked as the protectress of the hearth in the home; Homer appeals also to the god Hermes,
since both deities protect the house and bring good fortune.
Hestia, you have as your due an everlasting
place in the lofty homes of immortal gods and human beings who walk on earth--the highest of honors and a precious
right. For without you, there are no banquets for mortals where one does not offer honey-sweet wine as a libation
to Hestia, first and last.
And you, Hermes, the Slayer of Argus, son of Zeus and Maia, messenger of the blessed gods, bearer of the golden
staff and giver of good things, along with revered and beloved Hestia, be kind and help me. Come and inhabit beautiful
homes, in loving harmony. For since you both know of splendid achievements of men on earth, follow in attendance
with intelligence and beauty.
Hail daughter of Cronus, you and Hermes, bearer of a golden staff; yet I shall remember you both and another song too.
(Are you taking notes? This is good stuff!)
