Веста: Древнеримская богиня очага и семьи.

Ancient Roman goddess of the hearth, home, and family

Vesta is the virgin goddess of the hearth, home, and family in Roman religion. She was rarely depicted in human form, and was more often represented by the fire of her temple in the Forum Romanum. Entry to her temple was permitted only to her priestesses, the Vestal Virgins. Their virginity was deemed essential to Rome's survival; if found guilty of inchastity, they were buried or entombed alive. As Vesta was considered a guardian of the Roman people, her festival, the Vestalia (7–15 June), was regarded as one of the most important Roman holidays. During the Vestalia privileged matrons walked barefoot through the city to the temple, where they presented food offerings. Such was Vesta's importance to Roman religion that following the rise of Christianity, hers was one of the last non Christian cults still active, until it was forcibly disbanded by the Christian emperor Theodosius I in AD 391. The myths depicting Vesta and her priestesses were few; the most notable of them were tales of miraculous impregnation of a virgin priestess by a phallus appearing in the flames of the sacred hearth — the manifestation of the goddess combined with a male supernatural being. In some Roman traditions, Rome's founders Romulus and Remus and the benevolent king Servius Tullius were conceived in this way. Vesta was among the Dii Consentes, twelve of the most honored gods in the Roman pantheon. She was the daughter of Saturn and Ops, and sister of Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Juno, and Ceres. Her Greek equivalent is Hestia.

Ovid derived Vesta from Latin vi stando – "standing by power". Cicero supposed that the Latin name Vesta derives from its Greek counterpart, Hestia, which Cornutus claimed to have derived from Greek hestanai dia pantos ("standing for ever"). This etymology is offered by Servius as well. Another proposed etymology is that Vesta derives from Latin vestio ("clothe"), as well as from Greek ἑστία (hestia, "hearth" = focus urbis). None, except perhaps the last, are probable. Georges Dumézil (1898–1986), a French comparative philologist, surmised that the name of the goddess derives from Proto Indo European root *h₁eu , via the derivative form *h₁eu s which alternates with *h₁w es The former is found in Greek εὕειν heuein, Latin urit, ustio and Vedic osathi all conveying 'burning' and the second is found in Vesta. (Beekes considers the Greek goddess name Ἑστία Hestia is probably unrelated.) See also Gallic Celtic visc "fire." Poultney suggests that Vesta may be related to the Umbrian god Uestisier (gen.)/Vestiçe (dat.) (as if Latin *Vesticius), itself related to Umbrian terms for 'libation' uestisiar (gen. sg. ), 'pour a libation' uesticatu (imv.) from *westikia and *westikato:d respectively. Perhaps also related to Oscan Veskeí from the Oscan Tablet also known as the Agnone Dedication.

According to tradition, worship of Vesta in Italy began in Lavinium, the mother city of Alba Longa and the first settlement by the Trojan refugees after their flight from Troy's destruction, led there by Aeneas and guided by Venus. It was believed that from Lavinium, the worship of Vesta was transferred to Alba Longa, a belief evident in the custom of Roman magistrates going to Lavinium, when appointed to higher office, and offering sacrifice both to Vesta and the household gods of the Roman state known as Penates, whose images were kept in Vesta's temple. Alongside those household gods was Vesta, whom the Roman poet refers to as Vesta Iliaca ("Vesta of Ilium/Troy"). Vesta's sacred hearth was also named Iliaci foci ("hearth of Ilium/Troy"). Worship of Vesta, like the worship of many gods, originated in the home, but in Roman historical tradition, it became an established cult of state during the reign of either Romulus, or Numa Pompilius (sources disagree, but most say Numa). The priestesses of Vesta, known as Vestal Virgins, administered her temple and sustained its sacred fire. The existence of Vestal Virgins in Alba Longa is connected with early Roman traditions, for the mother of Romulus' and Remus, Silvia, was a priestess of Vesta, impregnated by either Mars or Hercules.