In ancient Rome from 9 June to 15 June the goddess Vesta was celebrated, daughter of Saturn and Opi, sister of Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Ceres, Juno, she is a figure of Roman mythology corresponding to Hestia.
Vesta, the goddess of the domestic hearth, was venerated in the temple supported by her, the remains of which are still visible in the Roman Forum, and privately in every Roman home. Her public cult consisted of always keeping the sacred fire burning in the temple dedicated to her, a task entrusted to her vestals. The cult of fire is traced back to an ancient naturalist religious concept of the Indo-Europeans, of which the Vedic god Agnis and the fire cult of Hestia in Greece would be further evidence. For the ritual of the three Vedic fires, from which the characteristics of the Roman divinities linked to fire derive, the officiants had to light three fires on the ground: the first, called “fire of the house owner”, represented the sacrificer himself and had the purpose of light the others, the second, “fire of offerings”, brought the sacrifice to the gods by means of smoke, the third, “fire of the right or of the south”, was the sentinel against the attack of evil spirits. In Rome the first two fires would have been transported in the figure of Vesta, and the third in that of Vulcan. The sacred fire, kept in the temple of Vesta in Rome, was extinguished in 391 AD by order of the emperor Theodosius, because it was a pagan cult.
In one of her most typical depictions the goddess wears a long stole and holds a scepter in her hand. Vesta is also depicted sitting on a throne holding a patera for sacrifice and a scepter in her hand.
Vesta was associated with Vulcan, god of fire, as also demonstrated by the Portico of the Dei Consenti, where among the pairs of duodecim deos Consentis there was also the one formed by Vesta and Vulcan.
The Roman cult finds correspondence in the Greek cult of Hestia, daughter of Cronus and Rhea.
The position of the Atrium Vestae, the complex of buildings consisting of the Temple of Vesta and the House of the Vestals, outside the boundaries of the inhabited areas of the Palatine and the Quirinal, suggests that the cult of Vesta was a public cult shared between Latin and Sabine peoples .
On March 1st, the day of the Roman New Year, the sacred fire was renewed in the temple dedicated to her. The goddess Vesta was celebrated in the Vestalia which took place in the week from 9 June to 15 June. The first day of the celebrations was dedicated to the annual opening of the temple for sacrificial rites.
