Homeric Hymns to Hestia (24 and 29)

Catalogue ID: 02-olympian-gods/115-homeric-hymn-hestia-24-29

Cycle: Olympian gods — Hestia / short Homeric Hymns

Version line: Homeric Hymns XXIV and XXIX — hearth virgin; first and last libations with Hermes

Sources: Homeric Hymn to Hestia (24); Homeric Hymn to Hestia (29)

Source file: /workspace/greek-myth-catalogue/02-olympian-gods/115-homeric-hymn-hestia-24-29.md

Characters

Artemis — his Pytho house cared for in Hymn 24
Hestia — hearth-guardian; first and last in libation; eternal house-seat
The Hours — co-honored with Hestia in mortal houses (Hymn 29)

Places

Houses of gods and men — Hestia’s everlasting seats
Pytho — Apollo’s house in Hymn 24

Themes

None detected.

Narrative

Homeric Hymn 24 asks Hestia who cares for the holy house of Apollo at Pytho to enter with Zeus’s favor and grant grace to the song. Homeric Hymn 29 addresses Hestia as she who holds an everlasting seat in the high houses of all gods and of men who walk on earth—a fair honor and privilege—and pairs her with Hermes as the two who dwell in friendship in the houses of men; without them there are no proper feasts. The singer asks them both to aid the song, and notes that Hestia is honored first and last with libations of honey-sweet wine. These shorts supply the cult wording behind the virgin-hearth privilege summarized elsewhere. Catalogue them as Hestia’s hymn-pair, distinct from the thematic overview at 02/076.