Vesta

Roman virgin goddess of the hearth and the eternal state fire; cf. Hestia.

Parentage

• father: SaturnHyginus, Fabulae, Preface: children of Saturn and Ops (primary)
• mother: OpsHyginus, Fabulae, Preface: children of Saturn and Ops (primary)

Domains

• hearth and state fire
• household and family

Powers

• Keeps the undying fire on which Rome's safety rests
• Remains an inviolate virgin goddess of the hearth
• Is present as the living flame itself rather than in any image

Epithets

• Mater latin · Mater · cultMother; the hearth-mother of the Roman state hearth-fireOv. Fast. 6.249-310; Cic. Har. resp. 12 (primary)
• Iliaca latin · Iliaca · literaryTrojan/Ilian; Vesta whose fire Aeneas carried from TroyVerg. Aen. 2.296-297; Ov. Fast. 3.29; 6.227 (primary)

Relations

• sibling: PlutoFull sibling — shares the same attested parentage (Saturn & Ops) per the figures' cited genealogy.
• father: SaturnHyginus, Fabulae, Preface: children of Saturn and Ops (primary)
• mother: OpsHyginus, Fabulae, Preface: children of Saturn and Ops (primary)
• counterpart of: HestiaLatin mythographic counterpart of the Greek record; identities and accounts remain distinct.Hyginus, Fabulae, Preface; Hesiod, Theogony 453–458, 912–939 (primary)

Sources

• existence: Ovid, Fasti 6.249-348 (primary)