Hestia

First and last

Hestia was the eldest child of Cronus and Rhea, so she was the first to be swallowed by her father and the last to be set free. The Greeks expressed her place with a saying: begin with Hestia. She received the first offering at every sacrifice and feast.

The keeper of the flame

Courted by both Poseidon and Apollo, Hestia swore to remain unmarried forever, and Zeus granted her the place at the centre of every household. She rarely appears in myths, because she never left her hearth to join the quarrels and adventures of the other gods. Some ancient lists count her among the Twelve Olympians, while others give her place to Dionysus.

Key myths

• Being the first swallowed and the last released by Cronus
• Her oath to remain unmarried, refusing Poseidon and Apollo
• Receiving the first portion of every sacrifice

Worship

Each city kept a public hearth in its prytaneion, or town hall, where a flame burned constantly. When Greeks founded a colony, they carried fire from the hearth of the mother city to light the new one, binding the two together. Her Roman counterpart, Vesta, was tended by the famous Vestal Virgins.