Vesta (mythology)

Vesta
Goddess of the hearth, home, and family
Abode	Forum Romanum
Symbol	The hearth and its fire
Parents	Saturn and Ops
Siblings	Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto Juno, Ceres
Greek equivalent	Hestia
Festivals	Vestalia (7-15 June)

Vesta (Latin pronunciation: [ˈwɛsta]) is the virgin goddess of the hearth, home, and family in Roman religion. She was rarely depicted in human form, and was often personified by the fire of her temple in the Forum Romanum. Entry to her temple was permitted only to her priestesses, the Vestals, who tended the sacred fire at the hearth in her temple. As she was considered a guardian of the Roman people, her festival, the Vestalia (7-15 June), was regarded as one of the most important Roman holidays. During the Vestalia matrons of the city walked barefoot to the sanctuary of the goddess, and gave offerings. Such was Vesta's importance to Roman religion that hers was one of the last republican pagan cults still active following the rise of Christianity until it was forcibly disbanded by the Christian emperor Theodosius I in AD 391.

The myths depicting Vesta and her priestesses were few, and were limited to tales of miraculous impregnation by a phallus appearing in the flames of the hearth - the manifestation of the goddess. Vesta was among the Dii Consentes, twelve of the most honored gods in the Roman pantheon. She was the daughter of Saturn and Ops, and sister of; Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Juno, and Ceres. Her closest Greek equivalent is Hestia.

Ovid derived Vesta from Latin vi stando - "standing by power". Cicero supposed that the Latin name Vesta derives from the Greek Hestia, which Cornutus claimed to have derived from Greek hestanai dia pantos ("standing for ever"). This etymology is offered by Servius as well. Another etymology is that Vesta derives from Latin uestio ("clothe"), as well as from Greek έστἰα ("hearth" = focus urbis).

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