Editing Vesta (mythology) (section)

===Origin===
According to tradition, worship of Vesta in Italy began in [[Lavinium]], the mother-city of [[Alba Longa]] and the first settlement by the Trojan refugees after their flight from Troy's destruction, led there by [[Aeneas]] and guided by [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]]. It was believed that from Lavinium, the worship of Vesta was transferred to Alba Longa, a belief evident in the custom of Roman magistrates going to Lavinium, when appointed to higher office, and offering sacrifice both to Vesta and the [[Household deity|household gods]] of the Roman state known as [[Penates]], whose images were kept in Vesta's temple. Alongside those household gods was Vesta, whom the Roman poet refers to as ''Vesta Iliaca'' ("Vesta of [[Troy|Ilium/Troy]]").<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Ovid]] |title=Fasti |title-link=Fasti (poem) |at=vi. 265 }}</ref> Vesta's sacred hearth was also named ''Iliaci foci'' ("hearth of [[Troy|Ilium/Troy]]").{{sfnp|Noehden|1817|p=214}}

Worship of Vesta, like the worship of many gods, originated in the home, but in Roman historical tradition, it became an established cult of state during the reign of either [[Romulus]],<ref>
{{harvp|Beard|North|Price|1998a|loc=vol&nbsp;1,  pp&nbsp;189–190, note&nbsp;77 }} which cites:
: {{cite book |author=[[Plutarch]] |title=Life of Romulus |at=22 }}
: {{cite book |author=[[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] |title=[[Roman Antiquities]] |at=II.64.5–69 }}
</ref> or [[Numa Pompilius]]<ref>
{{harvp|Beard|North|Price|1998a||loc=vol&nbsp;1, pp&nbsp;189–190, note&nbsp;77 }} which cites:
: {{cite book |author=[[Virgil]] |title=[[Aeneid]] |at=II.296, 597 }}
: {{cite book |author=[[Ovid]] |title=Fasti |title-link=Fasti (poem) |at=I.527-528, III.29, VI.227 }}
: {{cite book |author=[[Ovid]] |title=[[Metamorphoses]] |at=XV.730 }}
: {{cite book |author=[[Propertius]] |title=Elegiae |at=IV.4.69 }}
: {{cite book |author=[[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] |title=[[Roman Antiquities]] |at=II.65.2 }}
</ref> (sources disagree, but most say Numa).{{sfn|Williams|2008|p=20}} The priestesses of Vesta, known as [[Vestal Virgins]], administered her temple and sustained its sacred fire. The existence of Vestal Virgins in Alba Longa is connected with early Roman traditions, for the mother of Romulus and Remus, [[Rhea Silvia]], was a priestess of Vesta, impregnated by either [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]] or [[Hercules]].<ref>{{cite book |editor-first=W. |editor-last=Smith |editor-link=William Smith (lexicographer) |year=1890 |orig-year=1842 |section=Vestales |title=[[A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities]] |place=London, UK |publisher= |section-url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=vestales-cn |access-date=4 May 2015 |via=perseus.tufts.edu }}</ref>