| Origins: Hestia was the first-born to the Titans Rhea and Cronus, but she wasn't a Titan, but the first #GreekGoddess.
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 Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon. Displeased by this, Rhea concealed her last child Zeus right after its birth. As he was grown up, Zeus forced Cronus to disgorge the children.
Function: She was the Goddess of the sacred heart-fire, architecture, and the right ordering of domesticity, the family, the home, and the state.
She got 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. Her virginity is often depicted with flowerbranches, which are supposed to be from an chastetree.
#GreekMythology |
