Homeric Hymn 24: To Hestia
A 5-line invocation to Hestia, keeper of Apollo's house at Delphi, dripping with soft oil — asking her to come with one mind with Zeus and bestow grace upon the poet's song.
About the Poem
The twenty-fourth Homeric Hymn is a complete 5-line invocation to Hestia (Ἑστία), the goddess of the hearth and sacred fire. This hymn is addressed to Hestia specifically in her role as keeper of Apollo’s house at Pytho (Delphi) — tending the eternal sacred hearth of the oracle. The image of Hestia with “soft oil dripping ever from your locks” suggests the anointing with olive oil used in ritual purification and the tending of cult statues.
The poet asks Hestia to “come with one mind with Zeus” — recalling the theological formula by which the hearth goddess and the sky god together sanctify a house, a ritual, or a poem. This hymn is a companion to Hymn 29, which addresses Hestia and Hermes jointly.
Complete Text
Greek (Homeric)
Ἑστίη, ἥ τε ἄνακτος Ἀπόλλωνος ἑκάτοιο ἱερὸν ἐν Πυθοῖ ναίεις πεφιδημένον, αἰεί κεκλιμένη μαλακαῖσιν ἀπολείβεις λιπαρῇσι χαίτῃσιν· δεῦρ’ ἐλθὲ τόδε δώμα, σύ τ’ ἄρα Ζηνὶ φρονεῖσα ξυνῆισι σαόφρονι, καί μοι ἀοιδὴν πρόφαινε εὔχαριν.
(Full Greek text at Perseus Digital Library, link below.)
English (Hugh G. Evelyn-White, 1914 — public domain)
[1] Hestia, you who tend the holy house of the lord Apollo, the Far-shooter at goodly Pytho, with soft oil dripping ever from your locks, come now into this house, come, having one mind with Zeus the all-wise — draw near, and withal bestow grace upon my song.
Hestia: First and Last
Hestia has the unusual theological distinction of being the first-born and last-born child of Cronos and Rhea: she was swallowed first (as the eldest) and disgorged last when Zeus forced Cronos to regurgitate his children. This makes her simultaneously the eldest and youngest of the Olympian generation — a paradox that mirrors her sacred role: every sacrifice begins and ends with an offering to Hestia. Every meal, every prayer, every festival opens with Hestia first, closes with Hestia last.
The sacred fire at Delphi that Hestia tended was considered the omphalos (navel/center) of the Greek world — the point from which all sacred fires were kindled. When Athenian colonists founded a new city, they carried fire from the prytaneion (civic hearth) in Athens, which in turn traced its fire back to Delphi. The sacred fire was the literal transmission of civilization.
Unlike most Olympian deities, Hestia has no mythology — no adventures, no love affairs, no conflicts. She remains at home, tending the fire. This absence from myth is itself her theological statement: she is the unchanging center, the constant hearth, the still point around which all movement occurs.
Citations
- Evelyn-White, H. G. (trans.). Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns and Homerica. Loeb Classical Library 57. Harvard University Press, 1914. Public domain. https://www.theoi.com/Text/HomericHymns3.html
- Vernant, Jean-Pierre. “Hestia-Hermes: The Religious Expression of Space and Movement in Ancient Greece.” In Myth and Thought among the Greeks. London: Routledge, 2006.
- See also Homeric Hymn 29 (To Hestia and Hermes jointly).
- Perseus Digital Library, Homeric Hymns (Greek text): http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0137:hymn=24