Hephaestus (pronounced /hɨˈfiːstəs/ or /hɨˈfɛstəs/; Greek Ἥφαιστος Hēphaistos) was a Greek god whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan. Greek mythology is the body of stories belonging to the ancient Greeks concerning their gods and Heroes the nature of the world and the origins and significance The ancient Greeks proposed many different ideas about primordial deities in their mythology, which would later be largely adapted by the In Greek mythology, the Titans ( Greek: Tītā́n; plural Tītânes) were a race of powerful Deities that ruled during the legendary The ancient Greeks had a large number of sea deities. The philosopher Plato once remarked that the Greek people were like frogs sitting around a pond -- their Chthonic (from Greek χθόνιος khthonios "of the earth" from khthōn "earth" pertaining to the Earth; earthy subterranean In Greek mythology, the Muses ( Ancient Greek, hai moũsai: perhaps from the Proto-Indo-European root * men- "think" are Asclepius (pronounced /æsˈkliːpiːəs/, Greek, transliterated Asklēpiós; Latin Aesculapius) is the god of Medicine The Twelve Olympians, also known as the Dodekatheon ( Greek: Δωδεκάθεον Zeus (zjuːs in Greek: nominative: Zeús /zdeús/ genitive: Diós; Modern Greek /'zefs/ in Greek mythology In the Olympian pantheon of classical Greek Mythology, Hera (ˈhɪərə or /ˈhɛrə/ Greek) or Here ( in Ionic and Homer In Greek mythology, Poseidon ( Greek:; Latin: Neptūnus) was the god of the Sea and as "Earth-Shaker" Hermes ( Greek,, ˈhɝmiːz in Greek mythology, is the Olympian god of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them of Shepherds and In Greek mythology, virginal Hestia, (Roman name Vesta daughter of Kronus and Rhea, ( ancient Greek) is the Goddess Demeter (dɨˈmiːtɚ Greek:, possibly "distribution-mother" from the noun of the Indo-European mother-earth * dheghom * mater ATHENA was an Antimatter research project that took place at the AD Ring at CERN. In Greek mythology, Artemis language|Greek] ( Nominative), ( Genitive))] was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister In Greek mythology, Ares ( Ancient Greek:, Μodern Greek Άρης) is the son of Zeus and Hera. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly In ancient Roman religion and Hellenic neopaganism, Vulcan is the god of beneficial and hindering fire including the fire of Volcanoes He is also He was the god of technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metals, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes. Technology is a broad concept that deals with a Species ' usage and knowledge of Tools and Crafts and how it affects a species' ability to control and adapt blacksmith is a person who creates objects from Iron or Steel by Forging the Metal; i A craft is a Skill, especially involving practical arts. It may refer to a Trade or particular art An artisan, also called a Craftsman, is a skilled manual worker who crafts items that may be functional or strictly decorative including furniture clothing The M acro E xpansion T emplate A ttribute L anguage complements TAL, providing macros which allow the reuse of code across Metallurgy is a domain of Materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their Fire has been an important part of many cultures and religions from pre-history to modern day and was vital to the development of civilization Plate tectonics and hotspots Divergent plate boundaries At the The center of his cult was Lemnos,^[1] but he was worshipped in all of the manufacturing and industrial centers of Greece, especially Athens. Lemnos (Λήμνος is an island in the northern part of the Aegean Sea. Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία Athens (ˈæθənz Αθήνα Athina,) the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery as one of the world's Hephaestus was identified by Greek colonists in southern Italy with the volcano gods Adranus of Mount Etna and Vulcanus of the Lipari islands. Adranus or Adranos ( Greek:) was a fire god worshipped by the Sicels, the original inhabitants of the island of Sicily. Lipari ( Latin: Lipara; Ancient Greek: Meligunis; Italian: Lipari Sicilian: Lìpari is the largest of the Aeolian His forge was moved there by the poets.

The first-century sage Apollonius of Tyana is said to have observed, "there are many other mountains all over the earth that are on fire, and yet we should never be done with it if we assigned to them giants and gods like Hephaestus". For the Genus of nolid Moths see Tyana (moth. Tyana (or Tyanna) was an ancient city of Anatolia ^[2]

Hephaestus gained revenge against Hera for rejecting him by making her a magical golden throne which, when she sat on it, did not allow her to leave it. The other gods begged Hephaestus to return to Olympus to let her go but he repeatedly refused. Dionysus got him drunk and took him back to Olympus on the back of a mule.

The Doric temple of Hephaestus, Agora of Athens – western face

An Athenian founding myth tells that Athena refused a union with Hephaestus, and that when he tried to rape her she disappeared from the bed. The Doric order was one of the three '''orders''' or organizational systems of Ancient Greek or Classical architecture; the other two Canonical The Temple of Hephaestus and Athena Ergane (Ναός του Ηφαίστου και της Αθηνάς Εργάνης also known as the Hephaisteion (Ηφαιστείον The Ancient Agora of Athens is the most well-known example of Agora, located in Athens, Greece. Hephaestus ejaculated on the earth, impregnating Gaia, who subsequently gave birth to Erichthonius of Athens; then the surrogate mother gave the child to Athena to foster, guarded by a serpent. Gaia (ˈgeɪə or /ˈgaɪə/ (" land " or " Earth " from the Ancient Greek Γαîα also Gæa or Gea King Erichthonius (also written Erichthonios, Ancient Greek:) an early ruler of Athens, was according to some legends, autochthonous Serpent is a word of Latin origin (from serpens serpentis "something that creeps snake" that is commonly used in a specifically mythic or Hyginus made an etymology of strife (Eri-) between Athena and Hephaestus and the Earth-child (chthonios). Gaius Julius Hyginus (ca 64 BC &ndash AD 17 was a Latin author but whether a native of Spain or of Alexandria is not sure a pupil of the famous Some readers may have the sense that an earlier, non-virginal Athena is disguised in a convoluted re-making of the myth-element. At any rate, there is a Temple of Hephaestus (Hephaesteum or the so-called "Theseum") located near the Athens agora, or marketplace. The Temple of Hephaestus and Athena Ergane (Ναός του Ηφαίστου και της Αθηνάς Εργάνης also known as the Hephaisteion (Ηφαιστείον (illustration, right).

On the island of Lemnos, his consort was the sea nymph Cabeiro, by whom he was the father of two metalworking gods named the Cabeiri. In Greek mythology, a nymph is any member of a large class of mythological entities in human female form In Greek mythology, the Cabeiri, ( Cabiri, Kabeiroi, Greek: Κάβειροι were a group of enigmatic Chthonic deities In Sicily, his consort was the nymph Aetna, and his sons two gods of Sicilian geysers called Palici. Aetna Inc ( is an American diversified Health care benefits company providing a range of traditional and Consumer directed health care insurance A geyser is a Hot spring characterized by intermittent discharge of water ejected turbulently and accomplished by a vapour phase The Palici (Παλικοί in Greek or Palaci, were a pair of indigenous Sicilian Chthonic deities in Roman mythology, and to a lesser extent

Homer makes Charis the wife of Hephaestus. In Greek mythology, a Charis (Χάρις is one of several Charites (Χάριτες Greek: " Graces " goddesses of charm beauty However, according to most myths, Hephaestus is a husband of Aphrodite, who commits adultery against him with Ares. In Greek mythology, Ares ( Ancient Greek:, Μodern Greek Άρης) is the son of Zeus and Hera.

Hephaestus's craft

Hephaestus also crafted much of the other 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: Hermes's winged helmet and sandals, the Aegis breastplate, Aphrodite's famed girdle, Agamemnon's staff of office,^[3] Achilles' armor, Heracles' bronze clappers, Helios' chariot as well as his own due to his lameness, the shoulder of Pelops, Eros' bow and arrows. Hermes ( Greek,, ˈhɝmiːz in Greek mythology, is the Olympian god of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them of Shepherds and Sandals are an open type of Footwear, consisting of a sole held to the wearer's foot by straps or thongs passing over the instep and around the ankle "Aegis" (ˈiːdʒɨs has entered modern English to mean a shield protection or sponsorship originally from the name of the mythological protective shield of Zeus This can also refer to a piece of riding equipment see Breastplate (tack. This article is about the item of clothing In the Scots language, girdle refers to a cooking griddle. In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (very resolute / ( ancient Greek:) is a hero, the son of King Atreus of Mycenae "Achilleus" redirects here For the emperor with this name see Achilleus (emperor. In Greek mythology, Heracles or Herakles ("glory of Hera " or Bronze is any of a broad range of Copper alloys, usually with Tin as the main additive but sometimes with other elements such as Phosphorus In Greek mythology the Sun was personified as Helios (ˈhiliˌɑs ( Ἥλιος Latinized as Helius) The chariot is the earliest and simplest type of Carriage, used in both peace and war as the chief vehicle of many ancient peoples In Greek mythology, Pelops ( Greek Πέλοψ, from pelios: dark and ops: face eye king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus was venerated Hephaestus worked with the help of the chthonic Cyclopes, his assistants in the forge. Chthonic (from Greek χθόνιος khthonios "of the earth" from khthōn "earth" pertaining to the Earth; earthy subterranean He also built automatons of metal to work for him. This article is about a self-operating machine For other uses of Automaton see Automaton (disambiguation or Automata (disambiguation. He gave to blinded Orion his apprentice Cedalion as a guide. Orion ( Greek or, Latin Orion) was a giant huntsman of Greek mythology whom Zeus placed among the stars as the constellation In Greek mythology, Cedalion or Kedalion was a servant of Hephaestus in Lemnos. In one version of the myth, Prometheus stole the fire that he gave to man from Hephaestus's forge. In Greek mythology, Prometheus (Προμηθεύς "forethought" is a Titan known for his wily intelligence who stole Fire from Zeus Hephaestus also created the gift that the gods gave to man, the woman Pandora and her pithos. In Greek mythology, Pandora (from Greek:, "giver of all all-endowed" was the first woman Pithos (plural pithoi) is the ancient Greek word ( πίθος, πίθοι) for a large storage jar of a characteristic shape

In Iliad i. 590, Zeus threw Hephaestus from Olympus because he released his mother Hera who was suspended by a golden chain between earth and sky, after an argument she had with Zeus. Hephaestus fell for nine days and nights before landing on the island of Lemnos where he grew to be a master craftsman and was allowed back into Olympus when his ability and usefulness became known to the gods.

Haphaestus in his forge, by Andrea Mantegna (1431)-(1506). Andrea Mantegna (c 1431 &ndash September 13, 1506) was an Italian Renaissance artist a student of Roman Archeology, and son in law of

The lame smith

In a Homeric version of Hephaestus's myth, Hera, mortified to have brought forth such grotesque offspring, promptly threw him from Mount Olympus. Homer ( Ancient Greek:, Homēros) is a legendary ancient Greek epic Poet, traditionally said to be the author of the epic poems the Mount Olympus (Όλυμπος also transliterated as Ólympos, and on Greek maps Óros Ólimbos) is the highest Mountain in Greece He fell many days and nights and landed in the ocean,^[4] where he was brought up by the Oceanids Thetis (mother of Achilles) and Eurynome. In Greek and Roman mythology, the Oceanids ( Greek: Ὠκεανίδαι pl This article is about the Greek sea nymph Thetis should not be confused with Themis, the embodiment of the laws of nature but see the sea-goddess Tethys.

Hephaestus gained revenge against Hera for rejecting him by making her a magical golden throne which, when she sat on it, did not allow her to leave it. The other gods begged Hephaestus to return to Olympus to let her go but he repeatedly refused. Dionysus got him drunk and took him back to Olympus on the back of a mule. In Classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos (in Greek, Διόνυσος or Διώνυσος; associated with Roman

Hephaestus was reported in myth as cholōs, "lame",^[5] crippled, halting (ēpedanos) and misshapen, either from birth or as a result of his fall: in the vase-paintings, Hephaestus was shown lame and bent over his anvil, his feet sometimes back-to-front: Hephaistos amphigyēeis. He walked with the aid of a stick. The Argonaut Palaimonius, "son of Hephaestus"— which is to say a bronze-smith— was also lame. ^[6] Other "sons of Hephaestus" were the Kabeiroi on the island of Samothrace; they were identified with the crab (karkinos) by the lexicographer Hesychius, and the adjective karkinopous, "crab-footed" signified "lame", Detienne and Vernant^[7] have observed: the Kabeiroi were seen as lame too. In Greek mythology, the Cabeiri, ( Cabiri, Kabeiroi, Greek: Κάβειροι were a group of enigmatic Chthonic deities Samothrace (Σαμοθράκη is an island municipality in Greece, in the northern Aegean Sea. ^[8]

Hephaestus’s physical appearance indicates arsenicosis, low levels of arsenic poisoning, resulting in lameness and skin cancers. Arsenic Poisoning kills by Allosteric inhibition of essential metabolic Enzymes, leading to death from multi-system Arsenic (ˈɑrsənɪk is a Chemical element that has the symbol As and Atomic number of 33 Skin cancer is a Malignant growth on the Skin which can have many causes In place of less available tin, arsenic was added to copper in the Bronze Age to harden it; most smiths of the Bronze Age would have suffered from chronic workplace poisoning, and the mythic image of the lame smith is widespread. Tin is a Chemical element with the symbol Sn (stannum and Atomic number 50 The term Bronze Age refers to a period in human cultural development when the most advanced Metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use included techniques for ^[9]

Hephaestus and Aphrodite

Hephaestus released Hera after being given Aphrodite, the goddess of love, as his wife. In another version of the myth, Hephaestus, being the most unfaltering of the gods, was given Aphrodite’s hand in marriage by Zeus in order to prevent conflict over her between the other gods.

In either case, Hephaestus and Aphrodite had an arranged marriage and Aphrodite, disliking the idea of being married to unsightly Hephaestus, began an affair with Ares, the god of war. Eventually, Hephaestus found out about Aphrodite’s promiscuity from Helios, the all-seeing Sun, and planned a trap for them during one of their trysts. In Greek mythology the Sun was personified as Helios (ˈhiliˌɑs ( Ἥλιος Latinized as Helius) While Aphrodite and Ares lay together in bed, Hephaestus ensnared them in an unbreakable, chain-link net and dragged them to Mount Olympus to shame them in front of the other gods for retribution. However, the gods laughed at the sight of these naked lovers and Poseidon persuaded Hephaestus to free them in return for a guarantee that Ares would pay the adulterer's fine. In Greek mythology, Poseidon ( Greek:; Latin: Neptūnus) was the god of the Sea and as "Earth-Shaker" Adultery is the voluntary Sexual intercourse between a married person and another person who is not his or her Spouse, though in many places it is Hephaestus states in the Odyssey that he would return Aphrodite to her father and demand back his bride price: this is the one episode that links them. The Odyssey ( Greek: Ὀδύσσεια or Odússeia) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer.

In Homer's Iliad the consort of Hephaestus is a lesser Aphrodite, Charis "the grace" or Aglaia "the glorious", the youngest of the Graces, as Hesiod calls her. The Iliad ( Greek: Ἰλιάς (Ancient Ιλιάδα (Modern is together with the Odyssey, one of two ancient Aglaea or Aglaïa ( Greek: Ἀγλαΐα is the name of five figures in Greek mythology. In Greek mythology, a Charis (Χάρις is one of several Charites (Χάριτες Greek: " Graces " goddesses of charm beauty Hesiod ( Greek: Hesiodos) was an early Greek Poet and Rhapsode, who presumably lived around 700 BCE ^[10] Hephaestus fathered several children with mortals and immortals alike. One of those children was the robber Periphetes. Periphetes is the name of two characters from Greek mythology. With Thalia, Hephaestus was sometimes considered the father of the Palici. Thalia can refer to four distinct entities in Greek mythology, two of whom were daughters of Zeus, and a third of whom bore him sons The Palici (Παλικοί in Greek or Palaci, were a pair of indigenous Sicilian Chthonic deities in Roman mythology, and to a lesser extent

Additional information

The Thebans told that the union with Ares and Aphrodite produced Harmonia, as lovely as a second Aphrodite. Thebes ( Classic Greek Θῆβαι, Mod Θήβα) is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range which divides In Greek mythology, Harmonia is the immortal Goddess of harmony and concord But of her union with Hephaestus, there was no issue, unless Virgil was serious when he said that Eros was their child. Publius Vergilius Maro ( October 15, 70 BCE &ndash September 21, 19 BCE later called Virgilius, and known in English as Virgil or Eros (Ἔρως in Greek mythology, was the primordial god of lust, Love, and Intercourse; he was also worshipped as a fertility ^[11] Later authors might explain this statement when they say the love-god was sired by Ares but passed off to Hephaestus as his own son.

Hephaestus's symbols are a smith's hammer, an anvil and a pair of tongs. An anvil is a manufacturing tool made of a hard and massive block of stone or metal used as a support for Chiseling and Hammering other objects such as in Tongs are gripping and lifting Tools of which there are many forms adapted to their specific use Sometimes he holds an axe.

In some myths, Hephaestus built himself a "wheeled chair" or charioteer with which to move around, thus helping him overcome his lameness while showing the other gods his skill. ^[12]

Hephaestus was somehow connected with the archaic, pre-Greek Phrygian and Thracian mystery cult of the Kabeiroi, who were also called the Hephaistoi, "the Hephaestus-men," in Lemnos. In antiquity Phrygia (Φρυγία was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. Thrace (Тракия Trakiya or "Trakija" or Trakia, Θράκη Thráki, Trakya is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe In Greek mythology, the Cabeiri, ( Cabiri, Kabeiroi, Greek: Κάβειροι were a group of enigmatic Chthonic deities One of the three Lemnian tribes also called themselves Hephaestion and claimed direct descent from the god. He had a follower who named himself Hephacules after him.

Hephaestus had comparatively few epithets. One was Hephaestus Aetnaeus, owing to his workshop supposedly being located below Mount Aetna. ^[13]

Legacy

• The minor planet 2212 Hephaistos discovered in 1978 by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Chernykh is named in his honor. Minor planet is a term used since the 19th century to describe objects such as Asteroids that are in Orbit around the Sun but are not Planets The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 ^[14]

Notes

External links

• Theoi Project, Hephaestus in classical literature and art
• Greek Mythology Link, Hephaestus summary of the myths of Hephaestus