From the book
The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns
Attributed to Orpheus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordἙστία is the conventional lookup name for the goddess printed as Ἱστίη in both assigned verses.
- In the Orphic HymnsIn XXVII.9 the Mother is said to have been named Hestia and to be called giver of prosperity.
- TranslationThe apparatus attributes the adopted Ἱστίη to Hermann against reported ἑστία in XXVII.9 and ἱστία in LXXXIV.1.
- A place to readHestia is explicitly a name attributed to the Mother.
- English renderings
- Hestia
Meaning
Ἑστία is the conventional lookup name for the goddess printed as Ἱστίη in both assigned verses. The spelling difference is a form of the name, not a fault to be silently repaired. One occurrence names the Mother of the Gods; the other opens Hestia’s own invocation.
Use in the book
In XXVII.9 the Mother is said to have been named Hestia and to be called giver of prosperity. The passive naming construction matters: Hestia is a designation assigned to the addressed Mother within this hymn. It is not simply another goddess entering the scene. The preceding praise of life-sustaining earth and the following gifts of good things give the identification a beneficent setting.
LXXXIV.1 directly addresses Hestia as queen and daughter of powerful Kronos. Her hymn later asks for a smiling reception of offerings and the breathing of prosperity and health. The divine name therefore connects a broad maternal identification with a particular invocation and genealogy. The connection should be preserved without assuming that every epithet applied to the Mother in XXVII must be the dictionary meaning of Hestia elsewhere.
Places to read
- Hymn XXVII · Line 9Hestia is explicitly a name attributed to the Mother.
- Hymn LXXXIV · Line 1The goddess is directly addressed as Kronos’s daughter.
Translation
The apparatus attributes the adopted Ἱστίη to Hermann against reported ἑστία in XXVII.9 and ἱστία in LXXXIV.1. At XXVII.9 it also records a change in the surrounding naming phrase. The reader should see both the printed name-form and its local construction, rather than treat a normalized English Hestia as an exact transcription of Greek.
Attested forms
Ἱστίη
Occurrence inventory
2 in total. XXVII.9; LXXXIV.1
Heading and incense rubric evidence
ΕΣΤΙΑΣ · LXXXIV.heading. LXXXIV. ΕΣΤΙΑΣ
Local sense
Hestia as the hymn's divine recipient
Other access forms
ἑστία