Vesta was the Goddess of the Hearth, Family, and Home in
Roman belief.
Hestia was her Greek counterpart.
Vesta was the sister of
Jupiter,
Juno,
Neptune,
Ceres, and
Pluto. At one time an Olympian, but she gave up her throne to (most say)
Bacchus, who was the God of Wine and was
Vesta's nephew (being
Jupiter's son).
Vesta didn't mind this at all, as she was really happier tending her hearth than sitting on a throne.
Vesta was something of the deities' black sheep, for she wasn't argumentative, loud, trouble-making, or otherwise "difficult". Indeed, she was a quiet, calm woman; some say she didn't even have a distinct personality! She didn't have any inclination to marry or any desire to give up her virginity, so she had no lovers or children. She simply spent most of her existence tending the divine hearth as well as the hearths of mortals.
Because of her low-key nature and monontanous job, there aren't many tales about
Vesta's adventures (or lack thereof, really). However, she was widely worshipped by the Romans, for she watched over life-sustaining hearths as well as the families and homes that contained them.
The Vestal Virgins were
Vesta's special priestesses. Their most important duty was to keep
Vesta's holy fire burning; if a Virgin let the sacred fire go out, she would be executed.
More info may be found on Wikipedia:
http://snipurl.com/eqt7 (
Vesta),
http://snipurl.com/eqtc (
Hestia), and
http://snipurl.com/eqtd (Vestal Virgins).
EDIT: + more info
Miranda
"Six hours later I still haven't done my homework, but I did come up with 245 name combos, seven of which I might name my child." — Modified LJ icon quote
Proud adopter of 15 punctuation marks.This message was edited 5/8/2005, 5:30 PM