Hestia

"I am here because when all else fails, when all the other mighty gods have gone off to war, I am all that's left. Home. Hearth. I am the last Olympian."

- Hestia

In Greek mythology Hestia (Ancient Greek: Ἑστία meaning "hearth" or "fireside") is the eldest child of Kronos and Rhea, is the virgin goddess of the hearth, architecture, and of the right ordering of domesticity and the family. She received the first offering at every sacrifice in the household. In the public domain, the hearth of the prytaneum functioned as her official sanctuary. With the establishment of a new colony, flame from Hestia's public hearth in the mother city would be carried to the new settlement. She sat on a plain wooden throne with a white woollen cushion and did not trouble to choose an emblem for herself.

In Roman mythology, her more specifically civic approximate equivalent was Vesta, who personified the public hearth, and whose cult of the ever-burning hearth bound Romans together in the form of an extended family. The similarity of names between Hestia and Vesta, is misleading: "The relationship hestia-histie-Vesta cannot be explained in terms of Indo-European linguistics; borrowings from a third language must also be involved," scholar Walter Burkert has written. At some primitive level her name means "home and hearth", the oikos, the household and its inhabitants. "An early form of the temple is the hearth house; the early temples at Dreros and Prinias on Crete are of this type as indeed is the temple of Apollo at Delphi which always had its inner hestia" Among classical Greeks the altar was always in the open air with no roof but the sky, and that of the oracle at Delphi was the shrine of the Goddess before it was assumed by Apollo. The Mycenaean great hall, such as the hall of Odysseus at Ithaca was a megaron, with a central hearth fire.

The hearth fire of a Greek or a Roman household was not allowed to go out, unless it was ritually extinguished and ritually renewed, accompanied by impressive rituals of completion, purification and renewal. Compare the rituals and connotations of an eternal flame and of sanctuary lamps. At the more developed level of the polis, Hestia symbolizes the alliance between the colonies and their mother cities.

History
Hestia was the first born child of the Titans Kronos and Rhea. She was the goddess of the hearth and home, and every household in Greece had a sacrificial flame in her honor. Like Hades, Poseidon and the rest of their siblings, she was swallowed by Kronos, and spent her childhood inside his stomach, until her brother, Zeus, came and rescued her and her siblings. Because she was the first to be born and swallowed and the last to be to be thrown up by Kronos, she is called both the oldest and the youngest of Kronos' and Rhea's children.

The Lightning Thief
Hestia is first mentioned by Chiron to Percy while discussing the arguments between Zeus and Poseidon, and how she, along with their sisters, Demeter and Hera, could possibly calm them down.

In the final book of the series, it is revealed that the little girl tending the hearth when Percy first arrived at Camp Half-Blood was, in fact, the goddess Hestia. This makes her the first of the Olympian gods that Percy actually encountered but the last to have her identity revealed.

The Last Olympian
Hestia makes her second appearance in The Last Olympian. She first appears as an eight-year-old girl in Westport, Connecticut after Percy and Nico meet Ms. Castellan. She tells Percy that in order to understand Luke, his enemy, he must first understand Luke's family. She gives Percy constant visions of Luke's upbringing as a way to gain insight as to what he has gone through and why he made the choices that he did.Hestia tells Percy that sometimes the hardest power to master is the power of yielding. She reminded Percy that when Dionysus was made a god she gave up her throne for him to avoid civil war among the gods. At Olympus, She helps Rachel realize her destiny as the Oracle of Delphi. In the end, Hestia reminds Percy that when all the other gods are away in the fight, hearth and home are what will always remain.

It is this that makes Luke regain control when Annabeth reminds him of his promise to protect her, and his statement that they were a family. Percy also entrusts her with Pandora's Pithos, which Prometheus had given him in order to tempt him into surrender. He claims that she should be its guardian because hope survives best at the hearth, and the Pithos does not continue to follow Percy relentlessly. She also has a minor part in the ultimate battle with Kronos, where she super heats the scythe when it falls in the hearth; assuring it cannot be handled, making her the only shown God to participate in a fight with Kronos. Percy then sees her image in the flames looking disapprovingly at her father. At the end of the series, she is seen again as a little girl tending the hearth at Camp and winking at Percy, implying that she is content not being noticed, as long as some people do notice her once in a while.



Personality
Hestia appears to be of a calm and humble disposition. She is very wise as it was she who told Percy of the strength that comes from relinquishing power. Having vowed to be a virgin forever, Hestia has no children and places value on chastity.

Appearance
Hestia is described by Percy (when he first meets her) as an eight year old girl with mousy-brown hair and eyes that are filled with fire (similar to Ares' eyes, although Hestia's are described as being warm and cozy). She wears a simple brown dress (or sometimes brown robes) with a scarf wrapped around her head, and is often seen with a stick that she uses to tend to fires.

Powers

 * Control over fire as she is the personification of the hearth.
 * Can allow others to witness events from the past, present, and future that deal with the family.
 * As the goddess of home and family, all things related to homes and family relationships are under her power.
 * Can summon delicious food, a power also exhibited by Hera. Percy says that her food tastes like the home-cooked meals everyone should have had growing up with.
 * Possesses the standard abilities of a goddess.

Vesta
Hestia can change her appearance and turn into her Roman counterpart, Vesta. As Vesta, she becomes more disciplined, warlike, and militaristic. In ancient times, the Vestal Virgins were maiden priestesses who maintained the sacred fire that was spread to every Roman household. As such, it is possible that the Vestal Virgins are the Roman counterpart of the Hunters of Artemis. Hestia was envisioned by the Greeks as the gentle goddess of domesticity whereas Vesta was considered to be the stern guardian of the Roman state.

Trivia

 * When asked to describe Hestia's cabin at camp, Riordan said that she has no cabin because it just wasn't her style.
 * Hestia would be the last Olympian as if the thrones of the gods are destroyed, her place is at the hearth and the home so she does not have a throne.
 * The fact that she is the first Olympian encountered by Percy but the last to have her identity revealed may be a reference to her being the first of Kronos' children born but the last regurgitated by him.
 * She is one of the Three Virgin Goddesses, Athena (whose children are born through a meeting of minds, not bodies) and Artemis are the other two.
 * Vesta, the second largest object in the asteroid belt, is named after Hestia's Roman counterpart.
 * In The Lost Hero, Hera states "I am the goddess of family. My family has been divided for too long," which can be confusing as Hestia is considered the goddess of the family centre and well-being.
 * Percy describes her to look like 8 or 9 years old when he first meets her, but she appears older during his first visit to Olympus in The Last Olympian.
 * The priestesses of her Roman counterpart Vesta were known as Vestal Virgins. Rhea Silvia, mother of Romulus and Remus was to become a Vestal Virgin, but wasn't able to due to her siring of Romulus and Remus by Ares (Mars).
 * 4 Vesta, is an asteriod named after her roman counterpart, Vesta.
 * Vesta family, a group of asteriods, is named after her Roman counterpart.
 * 46 Hestia, a large, dark main-belt asteriod, is named after her.