MYTHOLOGY

Hephaestus (Greek)

Crippled god of fire, metalworking, and crafts. Husband to Aphrodite. Either the son of Zeus and Hera or Hera alone, he is the smith of the gods and the husband of the adulterous Aphrodite. He was usually depicted as a bearded man with hammer, tongs and anvil-the tools of a smith-and sometimes riding a donkey. His sacred animals are the donkey, the guard dog and the crane. Among his creations was the armor of Achilles. Hephaestus used the fire of the forge as a creative force, but his Roman counterpart Vulcan was feared for his destructive potential and associated with the volcanic power of the earth.

Abode Mount Olympus

Symbol Hammer, anvil, tongs, and/or quail

Consort Aphrodite, Aglaea

Parents Hera and Zeus, or Hera alone

Siblings Ares, Eileithyia, Enyo, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, Dionysus, Hebe, Hermes, Heracles, Helen of Troy, Perseus, Minos, the Muses, the Graces

Children Thalia, Eucleia, Eupheme, Philophrosyne, Cabeiri and Euthenia

Roman equivalent Vulcan

Hephaestus (/hɪˈfiːstəs/, /həˈfɛstəs/ or /hɨˈfɛstəs/; eight spellings; Ancient Greek: Ἥφαιστος Hēphaistos) is the Greek god of blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metals, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes.[1] Hephaestus' Roman equivalent is Vulcan. In Greek mythology, Hephaestus was the son of Zeus and Hera, the king and queen of the gods.

As a smithing god, Hephaestus made all the weapons of the gods in Olympus. He served as the blacksmith of the gods, and was worshipped in the manufacturing and industrial centers of Greece, particularly Athens. The cult of Hephaestus was based in Lemnos.[2] Hephaestus' symbols are a smith's hammer, anvil, and a pair of tongs.Hephaestus had his own palace on Olympus, containing his workshop with anvil and twenty bellows that worked at his bidding.[11] Hephaestus crafted much of the magnificent equipment of the gods, and almost any finely-wrought metalwork imbued with powers that appears in Greek myth is said to have been forged by Hephaestus. He designed Hermes' winged helmet and sandals, the Aegis breastplate, Aphrodite's famed girdle, Agamemnon's staff of office,[12] Achilles' armor, Heracles' bronze clappers, Helios' chariot, the shoulder of Pelops, and Eros' bow and arrows. In later accounts, Hephaestus worked with the help of the chthonic Cyclopes-among them his assistants in the forge, Brontes, Steropes and Pyracmon.[13][14]

Hephaestus also built automatons of metal to work for him. This included tripods that walked to and from Mount Olympus. He gave to the blinded Orion his apprentice Cedalion as a guide. Prometheus stole the fire that he gave to man from Hephaestus's forge. Hephaestus also created the gift that the gods gave to man, the woman Pandora and her pithos. Being a skilled blacksmith, Hephaestus created all the thrones in the Palace of Olympus.[15]

The Greek myths and the Homeric poems sanctified in stories that Hephaestus had a special power to produce motion.[16] He made the golden and silver lions and dogs at the entrance of the palace of Alkinoos in such a way that they could bite the invaders.[17] The Greeks maintained in their civilization an animistic idea that statues are in some sense alive. This kind of art and the animistic belief goes back to the Minoan period, when Daedalus, the builder of the labyrinth made images which moved of their own accord.[18] A statue of the god was somehow the god himself, and the image on a man's tomb indicated somehow his presence.[19]

Parentage

Homer's Odyssey and Iliad, as well as some Attic vase paintings, have Hephaestus being born of the union of Zeus and Hera.[20] In another tradition, attested by Hesiod, Hera bore Hephaestus alone.[21] In Hesiod's Zeus-centered cosmology, Hera gave birth to Hephaestus as revenge at Zeus for his asexual birthing of Athena. Several later texts follow Hesiod's account, including Bibliotheke,[22] Hyginus, and the preface to Fabulae. However, in the account of Attic vase-painters, Hephaestus was present at the birth of Athena and wields the axe with which he split Zeus' head to free her. In the latter account, Hephaestus is there represented as older than Athena, so the mythology of Hephaestus is inconsistent in this respect.