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Vesta was connected to liminality, and the limen ("threshold") was sacred to her: brides were careful not to step on it, else they commit sacrilege by kicking a sacred object. [34] Servius explains that it would be poor judgement for a virgin bride to kick an object sacred to Vesta, a goddess who holds chastity sacred. [35]
2nd-century AD Roman statue of a Virgo Vestalis Maxima (National Roman Museum) 1st-century BC (43–39 BC) aureus depicting a seated Vestal Virgin marked vestalis. In ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins or Vestals (Latin: Vestālēs, singular Vestālis [wɛsˈtaːlɪs]) were priestesses of Vesta, virgin goddess of Rome's sacred hearth and its flame.
Domestic and family life in general were represented by the festival of the goddess of the house and of the spirits of the storechamber — Vesta and the Penates — on Vestalia. [1] On the first day of festivities the penus Vestae ( sanctum sanctorum of the temple of Vesta which was usually curtained off) was opened, for the only time during ...
She was the virgin goddess of the hearth, home, ... Pages in category "Vesta (mythology)" The following 15 pages are in this category, out of 15 total.
While Janus has the first place, Vesta has the last, both in theology and in ritual (Ianus primus, Vesta extrema). The last place implies a direct connexion with the situation of the worshipper, in space and in time. Vesta is thence the goddess of the hearth of homes as well as of the city.
In Greek myth, Hestia was one of the six children of Cronus and Rhea, the first of their three daughters, and thus the eldest of the twelve Olympians. [i] [1] She was the elder sister of Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, and Demeter, and was revered as goddess of the hearth and of domestic life. [2]
Fragment of a Hellenistic relief (1st century BC–1st century AD) depicting the twelve Olympians carrying their attributes in procession; from left to right: Hestia (scepter), Hermes (winged cap and staff), Aphrodite (veiled), Ares (helmet and spear), Demeter (scepter and wheat sheaf), Hephaestus (staff), Hera (scepter), Poseidon (trident), Athena (owl and helmet), Zeus (thunderbolt and staff ...
As the goddess of sacrificial fire, Hestia received the first offering at every domestic sacrifice. In the public domain, the hearth of the prytaneum functioned as her official sanctuary. Whenever a new colony was established, a flame from Hestia's public hearth in the mother city would be carried to the new settlement.