God of fire, volcanoes, metalworking, artisans, metallurgy, carpenters, forges, sculpting, and blacksmiths
Member of the Twelve Olympians
Hephaestus at the Forge by Guillaume Coustou the Younger (Louvre)
Abode
Mount Olympus
Symbol
hammer, anvil, tongs
Personal information
Parents
Zeus and Hera, or Hera alone
Siblings
Ares, Hebe, Eileithyia, and many paternal half-siblings
Consort
Aphrodite (divorced) Aglaea
Children
Thalia, Erichthonius, Eucleia, Eupheme, Philophrosyne, Cabeiri and Euthenia
Equivalents
Roman equivalent
Vulcan
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Hephaestus (UK: /hɪˈfiːstəs/hif-EE-stəs, US: /hɪˈfɛstəs/hif-EST-əs; eight spellings; Greek: Ἥφαιστος, translit. Hḗphaistos) is the Greek god of artisans, blacksmiths, carpenters, craftsmen, fire, metallurgy, metalworking, sculpture and volcanoes.[1] Hephaestus's Roman counterpart is Vulcan. 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; or in another account, by Zeus for protecting Hera from his advances (in which case his lameness would have been the result of his fall rather than the reason for it).[2][3][4]
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.[1] Hephaestus's symbols are a smith's hammer, anvil, and a pair of tongs.
^ abWalter Burkert, Greek Religion 1985: III.2.ii; see coverage of Lemnos-based traditions and legends at Mythic Lemnos
^Graves, Robert (1955). The Greek Myths: 1. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books. p. 51. ISBN 0736621121.
^Cite error: The named reference Foot was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference Hera was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Athens. The cult of Hephaestus was based in Lemnos. Hephaestus's symbols are a smith's hammer, anvil, and a pair of tongs. Hephaestus is probably associated...
The Temple of Hephaestus or Hephaisteion (also "Hephesteum" or "Hephaesteum"; Ancient Greek: Ἡφαιστεῖον, Greek: Ναός Ηφαίστου, and formerly called in error...
interference with the battle as she tells Hephaestus to prevent the river from harming Achilles. Hephaestus sets the battlefield ablaze, causing the river...
Hephaestus makes many appearances in popular culture. Hephaestus appears in W H Auden's poem "The Shield of Achilles" Hephaestus participates in a story...
the hall of Hephaestus, her husband. Helios reported the incident to Hephaestus. Contriving to catch the illicit couple in the act, Hephaestus fashioned...
associated with both Hephaestus and Prometheus. Kerényi suggests that Hephaestus may in fact be the "successor" of Prometheus, despite Hephaestus being himself...
own bow and arrows. Hephaestus hardly seems to believe that, but Apollo tells him to check if he's missing anything, and Hephaestus discovers his pincers...
Odyssey 8.312, Hephaestus was apparently the son of Hera and Zeus, see Gantz, p. 74. According to Hesiod, Theogony 927–929, Hephaestus was produced by...
quite capable of unsettling the divine order. (Slatkin 1986:12) When Hephaestus was thrown from Olympus, whether cast out by Hera for his lameness or...
only four columns, it is now the symbol of modern Agrigento. Temple of Hephaestus (Vulcan), also dating from the 5th century BC. It is thought to have been...
poet Callimachus makes the Hesiodic Cyclopes the assistants of smith-god Hephaestus; as does Virgil in the Latin epic Aeneid, where he seems to equate the...
the infant god Zeus. Guard Dogs of Hephaestus Temple, a pack of sacred dogs that guarded the temple of Hephaestus at Mount Etna. Laelaps, a female dog...
shores three times daily. Talos is usually said to have been made by Hephaestus at the request of Zeus, to protect Europa from people who would want to...
allowing Athena to be born. Zeus agreed to this and Hephaestus and Athena were married, but, when Hephaestus was about to consummate the union, Athena vanished...
14°17′19″E / 36.017459°N 14.288641°E / 36.017459; 14.288641 MT or MV Hephaestus was a bunkering oil tanker which ran aground off Qawra, Malta on 10 February...
commands Hephaestus to mold from earth the first woman, a "beautiful evil" whose descendants would torment the human race. After Hephaestus does so, Athena...
the smith god Hephaestus. In the Iliad, Aglaea invites Thetis into their shared home on Olympus so that the latter may ask for Hephaestus to forge armor...
Perseus, Andromeda and Agenor set out to find Hephaestus on a hidden island. Agenor explains that Hephaestus created three weapons which Zeus, Hades, and...
Mecyclothorax hephaestus is a species of ground beetle in the subfamily Psydrinae. It was described by Liebherr in 2008. "Mecyclothorax hephaestus Liebherr...
Jackson and the Olympians as Hephaestus, the Greek God of Forges and blacksmiths. Like Omundson, the character Hephaestus suffers from a disability and...
Pseudalsophis hephaestus, otherwise known as the Santiago racer, is a species of snake of the family Colubridae. The snake is endemic to Santiago Island...
The Hephaestus Fossae are a system of troughs and channels in the Amenthes quadrangle of Mars, with a location centered at 21.1 N and 237.5 W. They are...
that Hera produces Hephaestus on her own after Athena is born from Zeus's head, other versions, including Homer, have Hephaestus as a child of Zeus and...
grunter (Hephaestus raymondi) of New Guinea. The colourful juveniles are found in the aquarium trade. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hephaestus carbo...
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