Editing Hestia (section)

=== Equivalence ===
[[File:Greek - Procession of Twelve Gods and Goddesses - Walters 2340.jpg|thumb|upright=1.8|Fragment of a [[Hellenistic]] [[relief sculpture|relief]] (1st century BC – 1st century AD) depicting the twelve Olympians carrying their attributes in procession; Hestia with scepter to the left, from the [[Walters Art Museum]]<ref>[[Walters Art Museum]], [http://art.thewalters.org/detail/38764 accession number 23.40].</ref>]]

Her Roman equivalent is [[Vesta (mythology)|Vesta]];<ref name=Lar>Hughes, James. (1995). ''Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia'', p.&nbsp;215. Larousse/[[The Book People]].</ref> Vesta has similar functions as a divine personification of Rome's "public", domestic, and colonial hearths, binding Romans together within a form of extended family. The similarity of names between Hestia and Vesta is, however, misleading: "The relationship ''hestia-histie-Vesta'' cannot be explained in terms of [[Indo-European studies|Indo-European]] linguistics; borrowings from a third language must also be involved", according to [[Walter Burkert]].<ref>Burkert, [https://archive.org/details/greekreligion0000burk/page/415/mode/2up?view=theater p. 415, 3.3.1 n.&nbsp;2].</ref>
[[Herodotus]] equates Hestia with the high ranking [[Scythian religion|Scythian]] deity [[Tabiti]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Sulimirski |first=T. |year=1985 |chapter=The Scyths |editor-last=Fisher |editor-first=W. B. |title=The Cambridge History of Iran |volume=2: The Median and Achaemenian Periods |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-20091-1 |pages=158–159}} citing Herodotus, Book IV</ref> [[Procopius]] equates her with the [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] holy fire (''[[atar]]'') of the [[Sasanians]] in [[Takht-e Soleymān|Adhur Gushnasp]].<ref>Procopius, ''History of the Wars'', Book II, XXIV.</ref>

To Vesta is attributed one more story not found in Greek tradition by the Roman poet [[Ovid]] in his poem ''[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]]'', where during a feast of the gods Vesta is nearly raped in her sleep by the god [[Priapus]], and only avoids this fate when a donkey cries out, alerting Vesta and prompting the other gods to attack Priapus in defense of the goddess. This story is an almost word-for-word repeat of the myth of Priapus and [[Lotis (mythology)|Lotis]], recounted earlier in the same book, with the difference that Lotis had to transform into a lotus tree to escape Priapus, making some scholars suggest the account where Vesta supplants Lotis only exists in order to create some cult drama.<ref>{{cite book | last = Littlewood | first = R. Joy | date = 2006 | title = A Commentary on Ovid: Fasti book VI | location = [[Oxford]]; [[New York City]] | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]] | isbn = 978-0-19927-134-4 | page = 103}}</ref>