Editing Hestia (section)

== Worship ==
[[File:Altar, part, marble, inscription, 5th–4th c BC, AM Paros, 144002.jpg|alt=Section of a white marble altar on a pale background. It is a rectangular slab, with the inscription ESTIAS ISTHMIAS carved on the forward facing side.|thumb|Part of a marble altar with inscription ESTIAS ISTHMIAS, 5th–4th century BC. The altar was dedicated to the goddess Hestia with the epithet Isthmia ("of the [[isthmus]]". [[Archaeological Museum of Paros]].]]

The worship of Hestia was centered around the hearth, both domestic and civic. The hearth was essential for warmth, food preparation, and the completion of sacrificial offerings to deities. At feasts, Hestia was offered the first and last libations of wine.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0138:hymn=29:Perseus|title=Hymn 29 to Hestia, line 1|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu|accessdate=Jan 1, 2023}}</ref> [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] writes that the [[Eleans]] sacrifice first to Hestia and then to other gods.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-grc1:5.https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-grc1:5.14.4 5.14.4]</ref> [[Xenophon]] in [[Cyropaedia]] wrote that [[Cyrus the Great]] sacrificed first to Hestia, then to sovereign Zeus, and then to any other god that the [[magi]] suggested.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0032.tlg007.perseus-grc1:7.5.57|title=Xenophon, Cyropaedia, *ku/rou *paidei/as *z, chapter 5, section 57|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu|accessdate=Jan 1, 2023}}</ref>

The accidental or negligent extinction of a domestic hearth fire represented a failure of domestic and religious care for the family; failure to maintain Hestia's public fire in her temple or shrine was a breach of duty to the broad community. A hearth fire might be deliberately, ritually extinguished at need; but its lighting should be accompanied by rituals of completion, purification, and renewal, comparable with the rituals and connotations of an [[eternal flame]] and of [[sanctuary lamp]]s. At the level of the ''[[polis]]'', the hearths of Greek [[Colonies in antiquity|colonies]] and their mother cities were allied and sanctified through Hestia's cult. [[Athenaeus]], in the [[Deipnosophistae]], writes that in [[Naucratis]] the people dined in the [[Prytaneion]] on the birthday of Hestia Prytanitis.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.attalus.org/old/athenaeus4.html|title=Athenaeus: Deipnosophists – Book 4|website=www.attalus.org|accessdate=January 1, 2023}}</ref>

[[File:Dedication of altar to Hestia from Karneades, Taormina, 121840.jpg|alt=Large square marble slab that has been engraved. Refer to caption for the inscription.|left|thumb|Dedication of an altar to Hestia in Karneades, Taormina (undated). The inscription states: "Beside these walls of Serapis the warden of the temple Karneades of Barke, son of Eukritos, O foreigner, and his spouse Pythias and his daughter Eraso placed to Hestia a pure altar, as a reward for this, O you that governs the marvelous dwellings of Zeus, grant to them a lovely auspiciousness of life."]]

Responsibility for Hestia's domestic cult usually fell to the leading woman of the household, although sometimes to a man. Hestia's rites at the hearths of public buildings were usually led by holders of civil office; [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] testifies that the ''prytaneum'' of a Greek state or community was sacred to Hestia, who was served by the most powerful state officials.<ref>Kajava, p.&nbsp;5.</ref> However, evidence of her dedicant priesthood is extremely rare. Most stems from the early Roman Imperial era, when [[Sparta]] offers several examples of women with the priestly title "Hestia"; [[Chalcis]] offers one, a daughter of the local elite. Existing civic cults to Hestia probably served as stock for the grafting of Greek [[Imperial cult (ancient Rome)#Greek|ruler-cult]] to the Roman emperor, the Imperial family, and Rome itself. In Athens, a small seating section at the [[Theatre of Dionysus]] was reserved for priesthoods of "Hestia on the [[Acropolis]], [[Livia]], and [[Julia the Elder|Julia]]", and of "Hestia Romain" ("Roman Hestia", thus "The Roman Hearth" or Vesta). At [[Delos]], a priest served "Hestia the Athenian [[Glossary of rhetorical terms#Demos|Demos]]" (the people or state) "and [[Roma (mythology)|Roma]]". An eminent citizen of [[Caria]]n [[Stratonicea (Caria)|Stratoniceia]] described himself as a priest of Hestia and several other deities, as well as holding several civic offices. Hestia's political and civic functions are further evidenced by her very numerous privately funded dedications at civic sites, and the administrative rather than religious titles used by the lay-officials involved in her civic cults.<ref>Kajava, pp.&nbsp;1, 3, 5.</ref>

=== Shrines, temples and colonies ===
[[File:East pediment E Parthenon BM.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Hestia from the [[Pediments of the Parthenon#East Pediment|eastern pediment]] of the [[Parthenon]], mid-fifth century BC, [[British Museum]]]]

Every private and public hearth was regarded as a sanctuary of the goddess, and a portion of the sacrifices, to whatever divinity they were offered, belonged to her. [[Aeschines]], ''On the Embassy'', declares that "the hearth of the Prytaneum was regarded as the common hearth of the state and a statue of Hestia was there, and in the senate-house there was an altar of the goddess."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0002:speech=2:section=45|title=Aeschines, On the Embassy, section 45|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu|accessdate=Jan 1, 2023}}</ref> A temple at [[Ephesus]] was dedicated to Hestia Boulaea – Hestia "of the senate", or [[Boule (ancient Greece)|boule]]. Pausanias reports a figurative statue of Hestia in the Athenian Prytaneum, together with one of the goddess [[Eirene (goddess)|Eirene]] ("Peace").<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], 1.18.3</ref> Hestia offered sanctuary from persecution to those who showed her respect and would punish those who offended her. [[Diodorus Siculus]] writes that [[Theramenes]] sought asylum directly from Hestia at the Council Chamber, leaping onto her hearth not to save himself, but in the hope that his slayers would demonstrate their impiety by killing him there".<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0083%3Abook%3D14%3Achapter%3D4 14.4]</ref>

Very few free-standing temples were dedicated to Hestia. Pausanias mentions one in [[Hermione (Argolis)|Hermione]] and one in [[Sparta]], the latter having an altar but no image.<ref>Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D35%3Asection%3D1 2.35.1] & [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D11%3Asection%3D11 3.11.11]</ref> [[Xenophon]]'s ''[[Hellenica]]'' mentions fighting around and within [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]]'s temple of Hestia, a building separate from the city's council hall and adjoining theatre.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0032.tlg001.perseus-grc1:7.4.31|title=Xenophon, Hellenica, *(ellhnikw=n *z, chapter 4, section 31|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu|accessdate=Jan 1, 2023}}</ref> A temple to Hestia was in [[Andros]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0006:entry=andros&highlight=hestia|title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, ANDROS One of the Cyclades, Greece|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu|accessdate=January 1, 2023}}</ref>

Prospective founders of city-states and colonies sought approval and guidance not only of their "mother city" (represented by Hestia) but of [[Apollo]], through one or another of his various oracles. He acted as consulting [[archegetes]] (founder) at [[Delphi]]. Among his various functions, he was patron god of colonies, architecture, constitutions and city planning. Additional [[Greek city-state patron gods|patron deities]] might also be persuaded to support the new settlement, but without Hestia, her sacred hearth, an ''[[agora]]'' and prytaneum there could be no ''polis''.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/20163970|title=The Gods of Politics in Early Greek Cities|last1=Detienne |first1=Marcel|last2=Lloyd |first2=Janet|year=2004|journal=Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics|volume=12|issue=2|pages=49–66|jstor=20163970 |accessdate=January 1, 2023}}</ref>

=== Hymns, odes and oaths ===
Homeric Hymn 24, ''To Hestia'', is an invocation of five lines, alluding to her role as an attendant to Apollo:

{{blockquote|Hestia, you who tend the holy house of the lord Apollo, the Far-shooter at goodly [[Delphi|Pytho]], with soft oil dripping ever from your locks, come now into this house, come, having one mind with Zeus the all-wise: draw near, and withal bestow grace upon my song.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.01.0138%3ahymn%3d24 ''Hymn&nbsp;24 to Hestia''].</ref>}}

Homeric Hymn 29, ''To Hestia'' invokes Hestia and Hermes:

{{blockquote|Hestia, in the high dwellings of all, both deathless gods and men who walk on earth, you have gained an everlasting abode and highest honor: glorious is your portion and your right. For without you mortals hold no banquet, – where one does not duly pour sweet wine in offering to Hestia both first and last. And you, slayer of Argus ([[Hermes#Argeïphontes|an epithet of Hermes]]), Son of Zeus and Maia, the messenger of the blessed gods, bearer of the goldenrod, the giver of good, be favorable and help us, you and Hestia, the worshipful and dear. Come and dwell in this glorious house in friendship together; for you two, well knowing the noble actions of men, aid on their wisdom and their strength. Hail, Daughter of Cronos, and you also, Hermes, bearer of the goldenrod! Now I will remember you and another song also.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0137:hymn=29:card=1|title=Hymn 29 to Hestia, line 1|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu|accessdate=Jan 1, 2023}}</ref>}}

[[Bacchylides]] Ode 14b, ''For Aristoteles of Larisa'':

[[File:Hestia tapestry.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.0|''Hestia full of Blessings'', Egypt, 6th&nbsp;century tapestry ([[Dumbarton Oaks]] Collection)|alt=Byzantine tapestry, featuring Hestia seated in the middle. There are attendants surrounding her offering her gifts. The primary colors are green, red, and black on a yellowed background. ]]

{{blockquote|Golden-throned Hestia ({{lang|grc|Ἐστία χρυσόθρον᾽}}), you who increase the great prosperity of the rich Agathocleadae, seated in the midst of city streets near the fragrant [[Pineios (Thessaly)|river Peneius]] in the valleys of sheep-nurturing [[Thessaly]]. From there Aristoteles came to flourishing [[Cirrha]], and was twice crowned, for the glory of horse-mastering [[Larissa|Larisa]] ... (The rest of the ode is lost)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0063:book=Ep:poem=14b|title=Bacchylides, Epinicians, Ode 14b *)aristotelei *larisai/w&#124; *(/ippois !!] g?i?a|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu|accessdate=Jan 1, 2023}}</ref>}}

''[[Orphic Hymn]]'' 84 and [[Pindar]]'s 11th Nemean ode are dedicated to Hestia.<ref>''[[Orphic Hymn]]'' 84 ''to Hestia'' (Athanassakis & Wolkow, pp. 64–65).</ref><ref>[[Pindar]], ''Nemean Odes'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0033.tlg003.perseus-eng1:11 11.1, EN]</ref>

In one military oath found at [[Acharnai]], from the Sanctuary of [[Ares]] and [[Athena]] Areia, dated 350–325 BC, Hestia is called, among many others, to bear witness.<ref>[https://topostext.org/work/649#2.1 topostext, 2.1] "Witnesses the gods Aglauros, Hestia, Enyo, Enyalios, Ares and Athena Areia, Zeus, Thallo, Auxo, Hegemone, Herakles, and the boundaries of my fatherland, wheat, barley, vines, olives, figs."</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.atticinscriptions.com/inscription/RO/88|title=RO 88 Dedication from Acharnai with military oaths|website=www.atticinscriptions.com|accessdate=Jan 1, 2023}}</ref>

=== Hestia tapestry ===
{{main|Hestia Tapestry}}

The Hestia tapestry is a [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] [[tapestry]], made in Egypt during the 6th century AD. It is a late and very rare representation of the goddess, whom it identifies in [[Greek language|Greek]] as ''Hestia Polyolbos''; ({{langx|el|Ἑστία Πολύολβος}} "Hestia full of Blessings"). Its history and symbolism are discussed in Friedlander (1945).<ref>Friedlander, Paul. (1945). ''Documents of Dying Paganism''. University of California Press.</ref>