A satyr supports the drunken Hephaestus. |
Hephaestus
Roman name: Vulcan
God of fire, volcanoes and metalworking; patron of blacksmiths.
Associated iconography: Hephaestus was ugly and lame, sometimes depicted with a walking stick. He is often pictured bent over his anvil.
Hephaestus’ Roman name, Vulcan, reveals his status as the god of volcanoes: the scientific study of volcanoes is known as vulcanology.
Hephaestus’ family
Hephaestus is known as the son of Hera and Zeus; however, he was born as a result of parthenogenesis: reproduction without sexual union (parthenic = virginal, genesis = generation/ creation). Hera produced Hephaestus by herself, parthenogenetically, as revenge upon Zeus who had made the goddess Metis pregnant.
Hephaestus was born weak and crippled and, in one version of events, his mother – repulsed by his physical condition – threw him off Mount Olympus, from where he fell for a whole day before landing in the sea. He was rescued by sea-nymphs who took him to the island of Lemnos. In another version of the story, Zeus – angered when Hephaestus sided with his mother in an argument – threw his son off Mount Olympus with such force that he fell for nine days and nine nights, landing on Lemnos. Hephaestus built his palace on the island and established his forgery under its volcano.
Resentful at his rejection, Hephaestus decided to take revenge upon his mother. He wrought a magic throne that would entrap her when she sat in it, and sent the gift to Mount Olympus. The throne imprisoned Hera, and Hephaestus ignored the other gods’ pleas to release her. However, Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility, made Hephaestus drunk and then took him from Lemnos to Mount Olympus slumped over the back of a mule: a comic scene that became a favourite subject of Greek artists (see the image above). Hephaestus agreed to release Hera when Zeus gave him Aphrodite’s hand in marriage.
Hephaestus’ lovers
Zeus married the beautiful Aphrodite to Hephaestus to prevent the other gods from fighting over her, but Aphrodite was dissatisfied with her ugly, malformed husband, and was frequently unfaithful to him. Hephaestus tried to win her affections with the gift of a precious golden girdle whose magical powers made it impossible for anyone to resist her, but she used it to enjoy love affairs with many gods and mortals. When Hephaestus discovered that she was having an affair with Ares (Mars), the god of war, he covered her bed in invisibly fine nets of bronze to catch the lovers in the act.
One myth describes how Hephaestus wanted to marry the beautiful goddess Athena, who was also a patron of blacksmiths, but she refused him because of his ugliness. Another version describes how he married Athena but she disappeared from the bridal bed before their marriage was consummated, leaving Hephaestus to spill his seed on the floor.
Hephaestus’ craftsmanship
Hephaestus crafted many extraordinary objects with the assistance of the Cyclopes. He made Zeus’ thunderbolts, Eros’ arrows, Athena’s aegis (or shield), Achilles’ invincible armour, and the chariot in which the sun god, Helios, rode across the sky.