The Roman goddess of the hearth, home and family was Vesta.
Vesta represented the household hearth and, by extension, the continuity of family and state. Unlike many Roman gods, she had little conventional mythology and was often understood through the sacred fire associated with her rather than through human-shaped statues or dramatic adventures.
Her public cult centered on the round Temple of Vesta in the Roman Forum. The Vestal Virgins, a college of priestesses, guarded the temple’s sacred flame. Romans believed that keeping this fire alive symbolized the survival and stability of Rome itself; the Vestals’ ritual purity was therefore treated as a matter of public importance.
Vesta’s festival, the Vestalia, ran from June 7 to 15. On its opening day, Roman matrons brought offerings to the sanctuary, sometimes walking barefoot. Her Greek counterpart was Hestia. Vesta is not Minerva, whose sphere included wisdom and strategy; nor is she Ceres, who was principally associated with agriculture and grain.