>>> Origins

Hestia was the first-born to the Titans Rhea and Cronus, but she wasn't a Titan, but a Goddess: the first Goddess to be exact, and she gave off a powerful aura.

According to a prophecy, Cronus feared one of his children might one day usurp him, so he swallowed each of them as soon as they were born whole. Hestia first, followed by her lovely sisters Demeter and Hera, then her mighty brothers Hades and Poseidon. Displeased by this, Rhea concealed her last child Zeus right after its birth. As he was grown up, thundering Zeus forced Cronus to disgorge the children, emitting them in reverse order. Therefore, while Hestia was the first to be born, she was the last to be disgorged, so she is called the first-born and the last-born at the same time.

Once all-powerful Apollon and earth-shaker Poseidon asked her hand in marriage, but beloved Hestia didn't require the trappings of power, adventure or even love, so she swore an oath to Zeus to remain a maiden. Zeus supported Hestia's wish to remain single and gave her a high honour instead of marriage; he decreed, Hestia's name should be mentioned first in any prayer, as well as she should receive the first portion of any sacrifice and be honored in the temples of each of the Olympian deities. He also handed her the keys to the family home on Mount Olympus and offered her the position of the housekeeper (she is "Chief of the Goddesses"), along with the responsibility of running this vast estate, while the rest of the gods and goddesses wandered around the world having all sorts of adventures.

True to her nature, queenly Hestia was perfectly content and fulfilled, being "Aunt Hestia": She stayed at home, never leaving Mount Olympus and happy with being of service to her family and community, always there to welcome the others and enjoy their "homecomings".

 

>>> Function

Hestia, Goddess of the sacred-fire and one of the twelve Olympians, was for Ancient Greeks once the most important and widely revered of the Goddesses, known as "Chief of the Goddesses" and "Hestia, First and Last".

She was the Goddess of the hearth (or rather the fire burning on the hearth not the fireplace itself!), architecture, and the right ordering of domesticity, the family, the home, and the state. In each place where an eternal fire was kept, it was protected in the Prytaneion, the seat of government. This fire was thought as so important that when a new colony was initiated, flame was taken from the hearth of the home-city by the founders.

Hestia received the first as well as the last offering of every sacrifice in the household, and the hearth - the center of life - functioned as her official sanctuary. She also was a virgin Goddess, signifying a Mystic purity, which has nothing to do with mortal sex. Her eternal virginity is often depicted with flower-branches, which are supposed to be from an chaste-tree - whose blossoms shall have an anti-aphrodisiac effect.

Hestia is associated with the warmth and comfort of the welcoming fireplace. Just as the flames flicker from the hearth soothe us with their warm and mysterious light, the goddess Hestia provides security, peace and comfort to help people accept the truth of their lives with inner grace.

Her name means "the essence", the true nature of things. She simply "is".