Hestia Hestia In Ancient Greek religion, Hestia (; , "hearth" or "fireside") is a virgin goddess of the hearth, architecture, and the right ordering of domesticity, the family, the home, and the state. In Greek mythology, she is a daughter of Kronos and Rhea. Hestia 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. Her Roman equivalent is Vesta; Herodotus equates the Scythian
The Cloister and the Hearth contrasted the work with George Eliot's "Romola": If the crowd runs after the false, it must neglect the true. The intolerable "Romola" is praised; the admirable "Cloister and the Hearth" is waived aside. Sir Walter Besant, writing in the novel's introduction, gave this opinion: "The Cloister and the Hearth" is Charles Reade's greatest work—and, I believe, the greatest historical novel in the language… there is portrayed so vigorous, lifelike, and truthful a picture of a time long gone by, and differing in almost every particular from own, that the world has never seen its like. To me it is a