Vesta is the Roman virgin goddess of the hearth, chastity, home and family, and one of the extra members of the Roman Pantheon. She is the reincarnation of the Greek goddess Hestia.
Overview[]
She was a daughter of Saturn and Ops, and the eldest sister to Pluto, Ceres, Juno, Neptune and Jupiter, and also a member of the Dii Consentes, the twelve key deities of the Roman Empire. Much like her Greek counterpart, she was an important goddess who blessed the domestic matters of the Roman citizens, often being even depicted as a living flame, rather than a female goddess.
The myths depicting Vesta were few, and were limited to tales of miraculous impregnation by a phallus appearing in the flames of the hearth, the manifestation of the goddess.
History[]
Birth of Romulus and Remus[]
While Tarchetius was king of Alba Longa, a phantom phallus appeared in his hearth. The king visited an oracle of Tethys in Etrusca, who told him that a virgin must have intercourse with this phallus. Tarchetius instructed one of his daughters to do so, but she refused sending a handmaiden in her place. Angered, the king contemplated her execution; however, Vesta appeared to him in his sleep and forbade it.
When the handmaid gave birth to twins by the phantom, Tarchetius handed them over to his subordinate, Teratius, with orders to destroy them. Teratius instead carried them to the shore of the river Tiber and laid them there. Then a she-wolf came to them and breastfed them, birds brought them food and fed them, before an amazed cow-herder came and took the children home with him.
Conception of Servius[]
A phallus rose from the hearth of Vesta in Numa's palace, and Ocresia was the first to see it. She immediately informed the king and queen. King Tarquinius, upon hearing this, was astonished; but Tanaquil, whose knowledge of divination was well-known, told him it was a blessing that a birth by the hearth's phallus and a mortal woman would produce superior offspring. The king then chose Ocresia to have intercourse with it, for she had seen it first. During which either Vulcan, or the tutelary deity of the house, appeared to her. After disappearing, she conceived and delivered Tullius.
Impropriety of Priapus[]
Cybele invited all the gods, satyrs, rural divinities, and nymphs to a feast, though Silenus came uninvited with his donkey. At it, Vesta lay at rest, and Priapus spotted her. He decided to approach her in order to violate her; however, the ass brought by Silenus let out a timely bray: Vesta was woken and Priapus barely escaped the outraged gods.