Hephaestus is the Greek god of blacksmiths, metalworking, carpenters, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metallurgy, fire (compare, however, with Hestia), and volcanoes. In Greek mythology, Hephaestus was either the son of Zeus and Hera or he was Hera’s parthenogenous child. He was cast off Mount Olympus by his mother Hera because of his lameness, the result of a congenital impairment.
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 centres of Greece, particularly Athens. The cult of Hephaestus was based in Lemnos.Hephaestus’s 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. 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, Achilles’ armour, Diomedes’ cuirass, Heracles’ bronze clappers, Helios’ chariot, the shoulder of Pelops, and Eros’s bow and arrows.
Aditional
Information
Symbols
Hammer, anvil, tongs
Parents
Zeus and Hera, or Hera alone
Siblings
Aeacus, Angelos, Aphrodite, Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Athena, Dionysus, Eileithyia, Enyo, Eris, Ersa, Hebe, Helen of Troy, Heracles, Hermes, Minos, Pandia, Persephone, Perseus, Rhadamanthus, the Graces, the Horae, the Litae, the Muses, the Moirai
Consort
Aphrodite, Aglaea
Children
Thalia, Erichthonius, Eucleia, Eupheme, Philophrosyne, Cabeiri and Euthenia
WORK
HARD
AND DON’T
GIVE UP
