Episode #17
Hestia the Asexual
Hestia is the Goddess of the Hearth. She was the first born child of Kronos and Rheia, and the first to be eaten by the Crooked Kronos. Once Zeus claimed the celestial throne for himself, she and the other Kronian Gods were regurgitated and took up their new roles on Olympus. Rather than be married to anyone, Hestia strongly declared her refusal to marry, and Zeus granted her the 'opposite of marriage'. So Hestia became the Goddess of the Hearth, who tends the hearth on Olympus as well as overseeing the sacred eternal flame in every Greek and Roman town, and the fires of each individual household. So this asexual deity became one of the most present of all of the Olympian Gods. Hestia (called Vesta in Latin) flourished at Rome under the watchful eyes of the Vestal Virgins. Academic studies of this iconic order of priestesses often reflect scholars attempts to understand the early Roman Kingdom. Yet each of these interpretations were inadequate to actually understand the multiple social roles played by the Vestals. Eventually scholars understood that the liminal queerness of the order was the actual source of their power. Hestia shows that Asexuality is just about as old as erotic love. Asexuality is as ancient as Erotic love!
