AARP Online Community: triket63

triket63

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I am a retired educational psychologist and High School English teacher. My husband and I have been married 45 years and still find each moment a gift. We raised three sons; lived and traveled all over the country. But thoroughly enjoy our country house in the farm field of Wisconsin. I love to read and discuss interesting topics. We enjoy a quiet, peaceful life but find retirement takes great courage

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I am also the owner of the Mythologies group

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Hestia

HESTIA

Hestia is one of the three Great Goddesses of the first Olympian generation: Hestia, Demeter and Hera . She was described as both the oldest and youngest ^[4] of the three daughters of Rhea and Kronos , the sisters to three brothers Zeus , Poseidon , and Hades . Originally listed as one of the Twelve Olympians , Hestia gave up her seat in favour of newcomer Dionysus to tend to the sacred fire on Mt. Olympus . Every family hearth was her altar.

Of the Olympian gods, Hestia has the fewest exploits "since the hearth is immovable Hestia is unable to take part even in the procession of the gods, let alone the other antics of the Olympians," Burkert remarks. ^[5] Sometimes this is assumed to be due to her passive, non-confrontational nature. This nature is illustrated by her giving up her seat in the Olympian twelve to prevent conflict. She is considered to be the first-born of Rhea and Kronos; this is evidenced by the fact that in Greek (and later Roman) culture ritual offerings to all gods began with a small offering to Hestia; the phrase "Hestia comes first" from ancient Greek culture denotes this. ^[6]

Immediately after their birth, Kronos swallowed Hestia and her siblings except for the last and youngest, Zeus, who later rescued them and led them in a war against Kronos and the other Titans . Hestia, the eldest daughter "became their youngest child, since she was the first to be devoured by their father and the last to be yielded up again" (Kereny 1951:91) — the clearest possible example of mythic inversion, a paradox that is noted in the Homeric hymn to Aphrodite (ca 700 BCE):

She was the first-born child of wily Kronus — and youngest too.

Poseidon, and Apollo of the younger generation each aspired to court Hestia, but the goddess was unmoved by Aphrodite's works and swore on the head of Zeus to retain her virginity . The Homeric hymns, like all early Greek literature, are concerned to reinforce the supremacy of Zeus, and Hestia's oath taken upon the head of Zeus is an example of surety. A measure of the goddess's ancient primacy—"queenly maid...among all mortal men she is chief of the goddesses", in the words of the Homeric hymn— is that she was owed the first as well as the last sacrifice at every ceremonial assembly of Hellenes, a pious duty related by the mythographers as the gift of Zeus, as if it had been his to bestow: another mythic inversion if, as is likely, the ritual was too deep-seated and essential for the Olympian reordering to overturn. There are theories (by modern neopagans among others) that Hestia, as goddess of "home and hearth", was one of the most ancient of all gods later worshipped as Olympians; as a maternal goddess of humans finding safety and homes in caves around a fire, worship of Hestia, by other names, may literally be hundreds of thousands of years old and has continued through Classical Greek times to the present day.

Hestia, not wanting to be involved in the gods' quarrels, decided to leave Olympus to tend to her sacred hearth. She became a lesser goddess in the same ranks of Pan and Dionysus , the latter of whom later rose to the place of Olympian when Zeus chose him to take Hestia's place

Added: November 20, 2009
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Comments (3)

AARPTeri says:

I love your profile icon!

Posted: November 19, 2009 10:42AM EST

myra86 says:

Good Morning,
Thank you for asking me to be a friend, I look forward to chatting with you and getting to know you better.
I am having my morning coffee and checking in with friends & loved ones here on the computer. Then I will finish my house cleaning for today, (vacuuming & dusting) and as a added treat I have 3 books from the library to read, well 2, as I read one yesterday, Linda Howard, ICE. It was pretty good.
Looks like we will have some sunshine today, but the weather is still chilly, which I just love.
Hope you have a great day and look forward to hearing from you.
Myra

Posted: November 19, 2009 9:03AM EST