Editing Vesta (mythology) (section)

==Mythography==
[[File:Denario di quinto cassio longino con il tempio di vesta.jpg|thumb|Temple of Vesta on the reverse of a [[denarius]] issued in 55 BC by [[Quintus Cassius Longinus]].]]
Vesta had no official mythology, and she existed as an abstract goddess of the hearth and of chastity.{{sfn|Newlands|1995|pp=129–136}} Only in the account of Ovid at [[Cybele|Cybele's]] party does Vesta appear directly in a myth.{{sfn|Newlands|1995|pp=136–138}}

===Birth of Romulus and Remus===
{{main|Romulus and Remus}}
Plutarch, in his ''Life of Romulus'', told a variation of [[Romulus|Romulus']] birth citing a compilation of Italian history by a Promathion. In this version, while Tarchetius was [[kings of Alba Longa|king of Alba Longa]], a phantom phallus appeared in his hearth. The king visited an oracle of Tethys in Etrusca, who told him that a virgin must have intercourse with this phallus. Tarchetius instructed one of his daughters to do so, but she refused sending a handmaiden in her place. Angered, the king contemplated her execution; however, Vesta appeared to him in his sleep and forbade it. When the handmaid gave birth to twins by the phantom, Tarchetius handed them over to his subordinate, Teratius, with orders to destroy them. Teratius instead carried them to the shore of the river Tiber and laid them there. Then a she-wolf came to them and breastfed them, birds brought them food and fed them, before an amazed cow-herder came and took the children home with him. Thus they were saved, and when they were grown up, they set upon Tarchetius and overcame him.<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Romulus*.html Life of Romulus]'', 2.3–6</ref>{{sfn|Deroux|2008|p=41}} Plutarch concludes with a contrast between Promathion's version of Romulus' birth and that of the more credible [[Fabius Pictor]] which he describes in a detailed narrative and lends support to.{{sfn|Wiseman|1995|p=57}}

===Conception of Servius Tullius===
[[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] recounts a local story regarding the birth of king [[Servius Tullius]]. In it, a phallus rose from the hearth of Vesta in Numa's palace, and Ocresia was the first to see it. She immediately informed the king and queen. King [[Tarquinius Priscus|Tarquinius]], upon hearing this, was astonished; but [[Tanaquil]], whose knowledge of divination was well-known, told him it was a blessing that a birth by the hearth's phallus and a mortal woman would produce superior offspring. The king then chose Ocresia to have intercourse with it, for she had seen it first. During which either Vulcan, or the tutelary deity of the house, appeared to her. After disappearing, she conceived and delivered Tullius.<ref>[[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]], ''[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dionysius_of_Halicarnassus/4A*.html Roman Antiquities]'', 2.1–4</ref> This story of his birth could be based on his name as Servius would euphemistically mean "son of servant", because his mother was a handmaiden.{{sfn|Deroux|2008|p=49}}

===Impropriety of Priapus===
In book 6 of Ovid's ''Fasti'': [[Cybele]] invited all the gods, satyrs, rural divinities, and nymphs to a feast, though [[Silenus]] came uninvited with his donkey. At some point during the feast, Vesta lay at rest, and [[Priapus]] spotted her. As he approached her in order to violate her, the ass brought by Silenus let out a timely bray, whereupon Vesta awoke and Priapus barely escaped the outraged gods.<ref name="Fasti1">[[Ovid]], ''Fasti'' VI. 319-48</ref> Mentioned in book 1 of the ''Fasti'' is a similar instance of Priapus' impropriety involving [[Lotis (mythology)|Lotis]] and Priapus. The Vesta-Priapus account is not as well developed as that involving Lotis, and critics suggest the account of Vesta and Priapus only exists to create a cult drama.{{sfn|Littlewood|2006|p=103}} Ovid says the donkey was adorned with necklaces of bread-bits in memory of the event. Elsewhere, he says donkeys were honored on 9 June during the ''Vestalia'' in thanks for the services they provided in the bakeries.<ref name="Fasti1" />