- Looks after
- Fire, metalwork and craft
- Roman name
- Vulcan
- Often shown with
- The hammer, the anvil, tongs.
Hephaestus
Ἥφαιστος
Hephaestus is the smith of the gods, who makes their weapons, jewels and palaces, and is the one lame god.
Hephaestus is the god of fire, forges and metalworking, and the divine craftsman. In Homer he is the son of Zeus and Hera. In Hesiod, Hera bore him alone, without Zeus. He was either born lame or made lame when thrown from Olympus, by Hera in one account and by Zeus in another.
He made the shield of Achilles in the Iliad, the aegis, the thunderbolts of Zeus in some accounts, and the golden attendants who help him walk. He is also credited with making Pandora, at the command of Zeus, from earth and water.
He married Aphrodite, in Homer, and in the Odyssey he trapped her with Ares in a net. In Hesiod, though, his wife is the youngest of the Graces, Aglaia.
His workshop was said to lie beneath volcanoes. In Athens, he shared a temple with Athena, since both were gods of craft; the well-preserved Hephaisteion overlooks the ancient Agora.
In later art and language
His Roman form, Vulcan, gave English the word volcano, and the Temple of Hephaestus in the Athenian Agora is one of the best preserved Greek temples.
Ancient sources
- Homer, Iliad 1.571-600, 18.368-617, Odyssey 8.266-366
- Hesiod, Theogony 927-929, Works and Days 60-82
The family of Hephaestus
In Hesiod, Hera bears him without Zeus.