(European mythology)
The Roman hearth goddess. She was the same as the Greek Hestia, daughter of Kronos and Rhea, and associated with the fire burning on the hearth. Vesta received worship in every house, while at Rome, as the national protectress, she resided in an eternal flame, housed inside a circular temple on the Forum and attended by six Vestal Virgins. Any violation of their vow of chastity was cruelly punished: guilty priestesses were buried alive.
Dictionary:
Ves·ta (vĕs'tə)  |
[Latin.]
| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Vesta |
For more information on Vesta, visit Britannica.com.
| Classical Literature Companion: Vesta |
Vesta, in Roman religion, the ancient Roman goddess of the hearth, the etymological and religious equivalent of the Greek goddess Hestia (but unaffected by Greek influence). She was worshipped at the hearth in every Roman household, and since the state cult was based on family cult the sacred fire on the symbolic hearth of the state was kept burning, in a small round temple in the Forum. This fire was rekindled every year on 1 March (the ancient New Year's Day), by rubbing two sticks together, and was looked after for the rest of the year by the Vestal Virgins. The round temple of Vesta was thought to have represented the original round house and hearth of the king of Rome in ancient times, and the Vestals his daughters. In the temple was the storehouse, penus, of the state (see PENATES), where sacred objects were kept including the Palladium, and generally only the Vestals and the pontifex maximus were allowed to enter. On 9 June each year for the festival of Vesta, the Vestālia, it was opened to married women, who walked barefoot to it in procession, bringing simple food-offerings. This festival was also regarded as the bakers' holiday; asses were freed from the treadmill and decked with garlands and little cakes. From 9 to 15 June the temple stood open, a time of ill-omen while the building was cleaned. 15 June was marked in the calendar (Q (uando) St(ercus) D(elatum) F(as)), which meant that it was a normal working day ‘when the dirt has been lawfully cleaned away’.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Vesta |
Vesta is geologically different from the other large asteroids. Images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope show a basaltic surface indicative of ancient lava flows originating from a molten interior and a giant crater, about 285 mi (460 km) across and 8 mi (13 km) deep, that may go all the way through the crust to expose the mantle. The crater is thought to have resulted from a collision with another celestial body, the impact tearing out large chunks of Vesta that formed a distinctive class of small asteroids, some of which have reached earth as meteorites. Alternatively, they all may have originated from the breakup of a large parent body early in the history of the solar system. These hypotheses were made more credible in 1999 when the space probe Deep Space 1 spectroscopically analyzed the small asteroid Braille and found it to be akin in composition to Vesta.
| Wikipedia: Vesta (mythology) |
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Apollo · Ceres · Diana · Juno |
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Other major deities
Divus Augustus · Divus Julius · Fortuna |
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Lesser deities
Adranus · Averrunci · Averruncus |
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Texts
Sibylline Books · Sibylline oracles |
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Vesta was the virgin goddess of the hearth, home, and family in Roman mythology. Although she is often mistaken as analogous to Hestia in Greek mythology, she had a large, albeit mysterious, role in Roman religion long before she appeared in Greece. Little is known about the goddess, since, unlike other Roman deities, she went without mention in myths. Vesta's presence was symbolized by the sacred fire that burned at her hearth and temples.
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Vesta's (in some versions she is called Vestia) fire was guarded at her Temples by her priestesses, the Vestales. Every March 1 the fire was renewed. It burned until 391, when the Emperor Theodosius I forbade public pagan worship. One of the Vestales mentioned in mythology was Rhea Silvia, who with the God Mars conceived Romulus and Remus (see founding of Rome).
The Vestales were one of the few full-time clergy positions in Roman religion. They were drawn from the patrician class and had to observe absolute chastity for 30 years. It was from this that the Vestales were named the Vestal virgins. They could not show excessive care of their person, and they were not allowed to let the fire go out. The Vestal Virgins lived together in a house near the Forum (Atrium Vestae), supervised by the Pontifex Maximus. On becoming a priestess, a Vestal Virgin was legally emancipated from her father's authority and swore a vow of chastity for 30 years. This vow was so sacred that if it were broken, the Vestal was buried alive in the Campus Sceleris ('Field of Wickedness'). It is likely that this is what happened to Rhea Silvia. They were also very independent and had many privileges that normal women did not have. They could move around the city but had to be in a carriage.
Vesta was celebrated at the Vestalia which took place from June 7 to June 15. On the first day of the festivities the penus Vestae (the curtained sanctum sanctorum of her temple) was opened, for the only time during the year, for women to offer sacrifices in. Such sacrifices included the removal of an unborn calf from a pregnant cow.
Vesta was the goddess of the hearth at the centre of atrium and home. It was in the house and home that Vesta was most important because she was the goddess of the hearth and of fire. Vesta was particularly important to women of the household as the hearth was the place where food was prepared and next to it the meal was eaten with offerings being thrown into the fire to seek omens (the future) from the way it burned.
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| Best of the Web: Vesta |
Some good "Vesta" pages on the web:
 Roman Mythology www.pantheon.org |
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Copyrights:
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 | World Mythology Dictionary. A Dictionary of World Mythology. Copyright © Arthur Cotterell 1979, 1986, 2003. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Classical Literature Companion. The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. Copyright © 1993, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Vesta (mythology)". Read more |
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