Hestia in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Hestia

10 passages from 6 ancient authors that tell of Hestia, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Hestia is the goddess of the hearth, family, and domestic life. She was not worshipped publicly, which is evident by the lack of temples and shrines ... For the story in one place, read our article on Hestia.

Hesiod (1)

Hesiod, Theogony 450–479Rhea and Cronus; the birth of Zeus (450-479)Hecate is made a nurse of the young. Rhea bears Cronus Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus, and Cronus swallows each child as it is born, because Gaia and Uranus have told him his own son will overcome him. When she is about to bear Zeus, Rhea asks her parents for a plan, and they send her to Lyctus in Crete, where Gaia receives the child.

Homer (3)

Homer, The Homeric Hymns 26.1–29.14Hymns 26 to 29: Dionysus, Artemis, Athena, Hestia and HermesFour hymns of moderate length. Dionysus is reared by nymphs in the dells of Nysa and roams the wooded glens, Artemis hunts over the mountains and goes to Delphi to lead the Muses and Graces in their dance, and Athena springs from the head of Zeus, shaking her spear, so that all Olympus reels. The last hymn honours Hestia, who has a place in every house, and Hermes.
Homer, The Homeric Hymns 5.1–104Hymn 5 to Aphrodite (1): Zeus makes Aphrodite love AnchisesThe hymn sings of Aphrodite's power over gods, men, beasts and birds, and says that only Athena, Artemis and Hestia escape it. Zeus, who has been made to lie with mortal women by her, puts into her heart a longing for the Trojan herdsman Anchises. She dresses at Paphos and goes to Mount Ida, where Anchises is playing the lyre alone, and she appears to him as a maiden; he greets her and prays for a long life.
Homer, The Homeric Hymns 20.1–25.7Hymns 20 to 25: Hephaestus, Apollo, Poseidon, Zeus, Hestia and the MusesSix short hymns. Hephaestus taught men crafts, so that they no longer lived in caves like beasts; the swan and the minstrel sing of Apollo; Poseidon tames horses and saves ships; Zeus is the chief of gods; Hestia tends the house of Apollo at Pytho; and the Muses and Apollo are the source of singers, while kings come from Zeus.

Pindar (1)

Pindar, Nemean Odes 11.1–48Nemean 11: for Aristagoras — Hestia and TenedosPindar invokes Hestia, guardian of the hearths of States, and praises Aristagoras of Tenedos on taking office as magistrate, noting that his parents had held him back from the contests at Pytho and Olympia. He recalls Aristagoras' Spartan descent from Peisander, who came from Amyclae with Orestes to colonise Tenedos. He ends by saying that excellence passes from generation to generation as the fields do, and that one should pursue due measure and not unattainable longings.

Diodorus Siculus (1)

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 5.68.1–5.72.5Zeus and the children of Cronus in CreteAccording to the Cretans the children of Cronus and Rhea discovered or introduced many arts, and the sea, the hearth and the corn belong to Poseidon, Hestia and Demeter. The historian gives the conflicting accounts of how Zeus became king, the places in Crete tied to his infancy, his benefactions to mankind and the punishment of the Giants.

Pausanias (3)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.35.1–11Hermion: temples and the festival of Demeter ChthoniaPausanias lists the temples of Hermion: Dionysus of the Black Goatskin, Artemis Iphigenia, Poseidon, Hestia, three Apollos, Fortune, and the cisterns. He describes the sanctuary of Demeter Chthonia on Mount Pron, its two foundation stories, the summer festival with the sacrifice of cows by four old women, the temple of Clymenus, the Colonnade of Echo, the chasm through which Hercules brought up the hound of hell, and the sanctuary of Ilithyia.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 5.11.1–11Olympia: Phidias’ gold and ivory statue of Zeus and its thronePausanias describes the seated gold and ivory Zeus, its Victory, sceptre, sandals and robe, and the throne with its Victories, sphinxes, Niobids and painted barriers by Panaenus. He notes the reliefs on the footstool and pedestal, the unrecommended measurements, the thunderbolt that answered Phidias’ prayer, and the oil that preserves the ivory, comparing the water at Athens and the well under the Aesculapius at Epidaurus.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 5.14.1–10Olympia: Zeus Averter of Flies, the white poplar and the altars in order of sacrificePausanias notes the wonders of the altar, including the kites and Hercules’ sacrifice to Zeus Averter of Flies, and explains the use of white poplar wood. He lists the altars of Olympia in the order the Eleans sacrifice on them, from Hestia and Olympian Zeus to Artemis, Athena, Alpheus, Hephaestus, Hercules and his brothers, then the altars of Hera, the Muses and the Nymphs near the Pelopium.

Orpheus (attributed) (1)

Orpheus (attributed), Orphic Hymns 83–87Hymns 83-87: Ocean, Vesta, Sleep, Dreams, DeathOcean is invoked as the ever-flowing source from which gods and men first arose, and Vesta as the daughter of Saturn whose seat holds an unwearied flame. The collection ends with three hymns to the powers that close the day and life: Sleep, sovereign of gods and men, the divinity of Dreams, the angel of future fates, and Death, whose empire extends to all mortal tribes.