By Laura Favreau

Who is he? One of the 12 major gods of Olympus God of fire and metal working. Roman name : Vulcan.

Why significant? Made most of the god’s equipment, such as Hermes' winged helmet and sandals, the Aegis breastplate, Aphrodite's famed girdle, and all of the gods thrones. Works with the help of the Cyclops.

His birth and expulsion His parents were Zeus and Hera, sometimes said to be Hera’s son alone. When he was born she cast him from Olympus because he was ugly and lame. He fell into the ocean and was raised by Thetis and the Oceanid Eurynome. In another version, he tried to rescue his mother from Zeus’ advances and was flung from Olympus by Zeus. He fell for an entire day and landed on the island of Lemnos, where he was cared for and taught to be a master smith by Sintians. In some accounts, the second fall caused his lameness. In others, he was lame and weak from birth.

His return In revenge, he made Hera a golden throne which, when she sat upon, didn’t allow her to stand up. The other gods begged him to return to olympus to fix it, but he refused. Finally, Dionyssus went down, got him drunk, and brought him back to Olympus on the back of a mule. This scene appears in much poetry and was even reported to be painted in a temple of Athens.

His Marriage He was given Aphrodite’s hand in marriage by Zeus in order to prevent conflict with the other gods. Unhappy, she began an affair with Ares. When Hephaestus found out, he ensnared them in a net so thin it was invisible and brought them back to Olympus to shame them. Eventually Poseidon convinced him to let them go. Aphrodite is unfaithful to him with many mortals and gods, which is a recurring theme throughout Greek mythology. Beauty and the beast

Myths involving him Prometheus stole the fire that he gave to man from Hephaestus's forge. In the Trojan War he supported the Greeks but was also worshipped by the Trojans and saved one of their men.

His lameness He was depicted with crippled feet and was misshapen. In vase-paintings, he’s usually shown lame over his anvil, hard at work. In some myths he builds himself a wheelchair in order to get around. In Homer’s Iliad, he builds several bronze humans machines to help him. It makes sense, though, that the smith god is lame. In place of tin, arsenic was added to copper in the Bronze Age to harden it; most smiths of the Bronze Age would have suffered from chronic poisoning as a result.

το τέλος (The end)