Hymn to Hestia
Hestia · Hermes · Zeus · Maia · CronusThe only hymn in the collection addressed to two deities at once, and the pairing is not accidental.
Hestia is assigned presbēïda timēn, the honour of the eldest, and it is justified by a ritual fact: without her there are no feasts at which a libation is not poured to Hestia "first and last". So it was done: the hearth libation opened and closed the meal. The goddess does not take part in the feast — she is its frame.
And Hermes is set beside her, her exact opposite: Hestia is motionless, never leaves the house and has no myths; Hermes is a messenger, a god of roads, always in transit. A household needs both: a centre that will not shift, and a door through which people come and go.
Ναίετε δώματα καλά, φίλα φρεσὶν ἀλλήλοισιν — dwell in the fair house, friendly to one another in mind. An unusual request: not for favour towards men but that two deities should get on. The welfare of the house is derived from the concord of its gods.
The Romans divided a household among deities in the same way — the Lar attached to the place, the Penates to the stores (lares-002), while the road belonged to the Lares of the highways (lares-003).