52 GREEK AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY II. THE DIVINITIES OF THE EARTH 66. It was probably at a later date than the develop- ment of most of the divinities thus far discussed, who embody forces operating in the sky and the air, that another series of real divinities grew up, out of the individual beings to whose activity were ascribed the forces operating on the earth itself in fire, water, and the fruit-bearing soil. The activity of these divinities was therefore now no longer confined to a particular spot and a single action; but they were believed to exert their power in a similar manner in all phenomena of the same sort. 1. THE GODDESS OF FIRE 67. Among these divinities, Hestia ( ( hearth/ Lat. Vesta) , the representative of the hearth fire, was in wor- ship hardly distinguished at all, as a rule, from the ele- ment which she represented. To be sure, she took part in all sacrifices at which fire was necessary, but was seldom actually represented as an individual. When so represented, it was as a maiden clothed in a long garment and veiled, holding a dish or a scepter. Hestia: See Vesta (after 206). 2. WATER DIVINITIES 68. Most of the water divinities, likewise, remained always very closely associated with their element; only certain ones of them, in particular, Poseidon, the ruler of the sea, and the Centauri (< Centaurs ') and Sileni, under the influence of worship, myth, and art, devel-
