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HEPHAISTOS GOD ΗΦΑΙΣΤΟΣ

GENERAL INFO

I) What was Hephaistos the god of?

II) What were his symbols, attributes,
sacred plants and animals?

III) Who were the family & attendants of Hephaistos?

IV) Where and how was he worshipped?

V) What were some of the popular myths about Hephaistos?

PICTURES

I) Depictions of Hephaistos in Greek Vase Painting

These images of Hephaistos come from Ancient Greek Vases, painted approximately 2,500 years ago. NB Click on thumbnails to view full-size images.

II) Other Classical Depictions of Hephaistos

Hephaistos was also depicted in classical statues, stone reliefs, frescoes and coins.

SELECTED MYTHS (short versions)

I) The Fall of Hephaistos from Heaven

"My [Hera's] son Hephaistos whom I bare was weakly among all the blessed gods and shrivelled of foot, a shame and a disgrace to me in heaven, whom I myself took in my hands and cast out so that he fell in the great sea. But silver-shod Thetis the daughter of Nereos took and cared for him with her sisters." Source: Homeric Hymn 3 to Pythian Apollo 310

"She [Thetis] saved me [Hephaistos] when I suffered much at the time of my great fall through the will of my own brazen-faced mother [Hera], who wanted to hide me for being lame. Then my soul would have taken much suffering had not Eurynome and Thetis caught me and held me ... With them I worked nine years as a smith, and wrought many intricate things; pins that bend back, curved clasps, cups, necklaces, working there in the hollow of the cave, and the stream of Okeanos around us went on forever with its foam and its murmur. No other among the gods or among mortal men knew about us except Eurynome and Thetis. They knew since they saved me." Source: Homer, The Iliad 18.136

II) Hephaistos & the Entrapment of Hera

"When Volcanus [Hephaistos] had made golden thrones for Jove [Zeus] and the other gods, he made one of adamant for Juno [Hera], and as soon as she sat down she suddenly found herself hanging in the air. When Volcanus was summoned to free his mother whom he had bound, in anger because he had been thrown from Heaven, he denied that he had a mother. When Father Liber [Dionysos] had brought him back drunk to the council of the gods, he could not refuse this filial duty. Then he obtained freedom of choice from Jove [Zeus], to gain whatever he sought from them. Therefore Neptunus [Poseidon], because he was hostile to Minerva [Athene], urged Volcanus [Hephaistos] to ask for Minerva in marriage." Source: Hyginus, Fabulae 166

III) Hephaistos & the Adultery of Aphrodite

"Sol [Helios the Sun] is thought to have been the first to see Venus’ [Aphrodite’s] adultery with Mars [Ares]: Sol is the first to see all things. Shocked at the sight he told the goddess’ husband, Junonigena [Hephaistos], how he was cuckolded where. Then Volcanus’ [Hephaistos’] heart fell, and from his deft blacksmith’s hands fell too the work he held. At once he forged a net, a mesh of thinnest links of bronze, too fine for eye to see, a triumph not surpassed by finest threads of silk or by the web the spider hands below the rafters’ beam. He fashioned it to respond to the least touch or slightest movement; then with subtle skill arranged it round the bed. So when his wife lay down together with her paramour, her husband’s mesh, so cleverly contrived, secured them both ensnared as they embraced. Straightway Lemnius [Hephaistos] flung wide the ivory doors and ushered in the gods. The two lay there, snarled in their shame. The gods were not displeased; one of them prayed for shame like that. They laughed and laughed; the joyful episode was long the choicest tale to go the rounds of heaven." Source: Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.170

IV) Hephaistos & the Attempted Rape of Athena

"Athene went to Hephaistos because she wanted to make some weapons. But he, deserted by Aphrodite, let himself become aroused by Athene, and started chasing her as she ran from him. When he caught up with her with much effort (for he was lame), he tried to enter her, but she, being the model of virginal self-control, would not let him; so as he ejaculated, his semen fell on her leg. In revulsion Athene wiped it off with some wool, which she threw on the ground. And as she was fleeing and the semen fell to the earth, Erikhthonios came into being." Source: Apollodorus, The Library 3.187

V) Hephaistos Battles the River-God Skamandros

"[Hera] appealed to her own dear son, Hephaistos [to rescue Akhilleus from the River-God Skamandros in the course of the Trojan War]: ‘Rise up, god of the dragging feet, my child; for I believe that whirling Xanthos would be fit antagonist for you in battle. Go now quickly to the help of Akhilleus, make shine a great flame while I raise up and bring in out of the sea a troublesome wind-storm ...’
Hera spoke, and Hephaistos set on them an inhuman fire. First he kindled a fire in the plain and burned the numerous corpses that lay there in abundance ... Then he turned his flame in its shining into the river. The elms burned, the willows and tamarisks, the clover burned and the rushed and the galingale, all those plants that grew in abundance by the lovely stream of the River. The eels were suffering and the fish in the whirl of the water who leaped out along the lovely waters in every direction in affliction under the hot blast of resourceful Hephaistos. The strength of the River was burning away; he gave voice and called out by name: ‘Hephaistos, not one of the gods could stand up against you. I for one could not fight the flame of a fire like this one. Leave your attack. Brilliant Akhilleus can capture the city, now, for me. What have I to do with this quarrel?’
He spoke, blazing with fire, and his lovely waters were seething. And as a cauldron that is propped over a great fire boils ... so Xanthos’ lovely streams were burned with the fire, and the water was boiling and would not flow but stopped under stress of the hot blast strongly blown by resourceful Hephaistos. And now the River cried out to Hera [and begged her to restrain him] ... [and] she spoke to her own dear son, Hephaistos: ‘Hephaistos, hold, my glorious child, since it is not fitting to batter thus an immortal god for the sake of mortals.’ So she spoke, and Hephaistos quenched his inhuman fire." Source: Homer, The Iliad 21.328

FURTHER INFO (10 detailed pages on Hephaistos)

PART 1: INDEX & ILLUSTRATIONS
Index of Hephaistos pages
Illustrations from Greek Vase Paintings
Quotes - Descriptions, Hymns

PART 2: HEPHAISTOS GOD OF
Quotes - describing his various divine functions

PART 3: MYTHS GENERAL
Quotes - general stories about Hephaistos

PART 4: MYTHS FAVOURS & WRATH
Lists of those Favoured & of those Punished
Quotes - stories of heroes blessed or assisted by the god
Quotes - stories of those punished by the god

PART 5A: MYTHS WORKS 1
List of artifacts created by the god
Quotes - descriptions of artifacts

PART 5B: MYTHS WORKS 2
List of armour and weapons created by the god
Quotes - descriptions of arms

PART 6A: MYTHS LOVES
List of Lovers
Quotes - stories of the goddesses and women loved by Hephaistos

PART 6B: MYTHS CHILDREN
List of Children
Quotes - children of Hephaistos

PART 7: ESTATE & ATTENDANTS
Lists of divine Possessions and Attendants
Quotes - items owned by the god; sacred plants and animals
Quotes - attendants of the god

PART 8: CULT & TITLES OF HEPHAISTOS
Quotes - cult of the god organised by region
List of Cult Titles and Poetic Epithets

PAGE BORDER: Derived from on an ancient Greek vase painting