God of crafts Hephaestus

Hephaestus and his lameness. Hephaestus, the son of Zeus and Hera, was born on bright Olympus. The child was ugly: with thin crooked legs, a frail body and an excessively large head. Hera became angry because her child was so ugly, and threw him down from Olympus. Hephaestus fell to the ground and broke his leg. So, in addition to natural unsightliness, he also received lameness. On earth he was sheltered by Eurynome, the daughter of the gray-haired old man Ocean, and Thetis, the daughter of the prophetic sea old man Nereus.

In an azure grotto at the bottom of the Ocean, they raised Hephaestus, and he became a skilled craftsman. He made many beautiful vessels, combs, brooches from gold and silver for his saviors. Even the Olympian gods, having heard about his skill, turned to him with requests, and Hephaestus helped everyone and fulfilled all orders.

The Golden Throne of Hera. He never did anything to Hera alone. But one day it seemed to the gods that Hephaestus had changed his anger to mercy - he sent Hera a beautiful golden throne. The delighted goddess immediately sat down on him - and then shackles appeared from somewhere, which tightly chained her to the throne. All the efforts of the other gods were in vain, and there was no way to free Hera.

Then they turned to Hephaestus. But he accepted the gods with a proud look and responded to their requests with an unconditional refusal - his mother treated him in childhood in such a way that now he does not have the slightest desire to help her. The great Olympians became despondent, not knowing what to do now, and then Dionysus suggested: “Now let me try to persuade him!” Taking with him several wineskins of wine, he went to Hephaestus and offered him a drink to meet him. He agreed. The first cup was followed by a second, followed by a third, a fourth... when Hephaestus was already completely drunk and, because of this, more accommodating, Dionysus told him how Hera, chained to the throne, was suffering.

Hephaestus leaves for Olympus. By this time, Hephaestus had grown older and had had enough of his revenge, so he agreed to go to Olympus and free his mother. But it’s one thing to agree, and quite another to get to Olympus. Hephaestus was already so drunk that he could not only walk, but even stand on his feet. Then Dionysus called his retinue and ordered him to be seated on a donkey. And so Hephaestus was put on horseback, a wreath of grape leaves was put on his head, and so that he would not fall, the satyrs began to support him from the sides. So, in a noisy Dionysian fias, bawling drunken songs, a new member of the family of Olympian gods entered Olympus. The wine he drank did not deprive Hephaestus of his skills, so he easily freed Hera and completely reconciled with her.

Hephaestus's main forge. Moreover, he not only reconciled, but once suffered greatly for his mother. This happened at a time when Zeus severely punished Hera, and none of the gods dared to contradict him. Only Hephaestus tried to stand up for his mother, and then the Father of immortals and mortals threw him from Olympus a second time. Hephaestus fell on the island of Lemnos and broke his second leg; therefore, he was sometimes called “The Lame of Two Legs.” Since the people of Lemnos treated him well, he fell in love with the island. Here the city of Hephaestius was named in his honor, and here, under a fire-breathing mountain, was his main forge, in which he worked together with the Cyclopes who helped him.

Hephaestus brings the gods a good mood. On Olympus, Hephaestus built majestic palaces for all the gods and for himself, and in his own he built another forge. Covered in sweat, all black with dust and soot, he works in it all his free time. Wonderful things are made in his workshop: indestructible weapons, jewelry made of gold and silver, bowls and goblets. Having finished his work and washed himself, Hephaestus goes, limping slightly, to the feast of the gods, to his father, the thunderer Zeus. Hephaestus is friendly and good-natured, and often manages to stop a quarrel between his parents. When he begins to hobble around the table, pouring nectar into golden goblets, the gods cannot see this without laughing. The fun begins at the feast, all grievances and misunderstandings are forgotten.

Aphrodite is the wife of Hephaestus. The wife of the ugliest of the gods was the most beautiful goddess - Aphrodite. Hephaestus, who had an easy-going character, loved his wife very much and did not attach importance to the fact that she was not always faithful to him. He himself spent more time in his forges than with his wife. Of course, his lameness prevented him from working, but he built himself maids out of gold who could move and carry out all his orders. [Hephaestus was inseparable from his craft, so he was always depicted as a blacksmith - in a pointed leather hat, with a hammer and tongs in his hands. However, not only blacksmiths, but also all artisans considered him their god.]

Hephaestus and human affairs. Hephaestus was so busy and passionate about his work that he did not interfere at all in earthly affairs. He happened to make different things for people (for example, he made copper bulls for the king of Colchis Eetus, for Achilles - his weapons and armor, for Hercules - a golden armor, greaves and helmet), but in general their wars do not interest him, and even in He intervened in the Trojan War only once, when with his fire he tamed the raging Scamander River, which threatened to drown Achilles.

God of War Ares

Birth of Ares. As much as Hephaestus is alien to wars, his brother, the violent Ares, the god of war, loves them. They say that he was born in an unusual way. When Hera was angry with Zeus for giving birth to Athena himself, without her participation, she went to the far shores of the Ocean, where she touched herself with a magic flower that was able to cope with any infertility. From this touch Ares was born, who inherited the obstinate character of his mother.

Ares on the battlefield. Only brutal battles can please this god. He loves it when one after another the slain heroes fall to the ground. In sparkling weapons, Ares rushes furiously among the combatants, followed by his two sons, Phobos and Deimos - “Fear” and “Horror”, the goddess of discord - Eris, the bloodthirsty Enyo, instilling confusion in the fighting warriors. The battle is boiling and roaring; Ares, splashed with blood, rejoices. He cuts left and right indiscriminately, piling up piles of wounded bodies around him. He lets out a triumphant cry when he slays a warrior with his terrible sword and hot blood gushes onto the ground. No one can cope with the ferocious and formidable Ares, but if he gets very upset in battle, if too many heroes lose their lives because of him, Zeus allows Pallas Athena to oppose him, and then the formidable god of war is conquered. With wisdom and calm strength, Athena defeats him and forces him to leave the battlefield.

Ares, Aphrodite and Hephaestus. Outwardly, Ares is very attractive: he is strong, athletic, and tall. That is why Aphrodite could not resist his beauty: she began to secretly meet with Ares, thereby disgracing her husband, Hephaestus, in front of all the gods. The benevolent master did not suspect anything for a very long time, but one day the bright Helios, who sees and knows everything, told him about his wife’s betrayal. Hephaestus planned to take revenge. And then one day, when he, as always, went to his forge, Ares appeared on a date with Aphrodite. However, this time everything ended in failure and shame for them: they were entangled in a thin golden net, in which they floundered like fish caught in a net, and all the gods invited by Hephaestus laughed at them. When they finally managed to extricate themselves, they fled and did not dare to appear on Olympus for a long time, fearing ridicule. But then Hephaestus forgave his wife, and everything went as before.

Ares. Roman
copy from Greek
original

Ares is captured. Despite having this appearance, Ares is quite cowardly and does not tolerate pain. When, in the battles of Troy, the hero Diomedes, with the help of Athena, wounded him with a spear, the cry of Ares was as strong as the cry of ten thousand people. And once he was even captured. It happened like this. Once upon a time there lived the brothers Aloada, Ot and Ephialtes, sons of Poseidon. They were so strong that they threatened, having piled Pelion and Ossa, the mountains neighboring Olympus, on top of each other, to overthrow the gods from heaven to earth. So they captured Ares. The mighty god of war was placed in a huge copper barrel and sealed in it. Only after the death of the strong men were the gods able to free Ares from captivity.

Children of Ares. Just as violent and cruel as Ares were his children, born from mortal women: the king of Thrace Diomedes fed his mares with the meat of travelers who wandered into his domain, the king of Elis Oinomaus killed the suitors of his daughter Hippodamia, the king of one of the Greek tribes Phlegias set fire to the temple of Apollo in Delphi. Fortunately for the people, most of them were killed by the heroes who cleared the earth of monsters and villains.

Ares in the eyes of the Greeks.

It is quite natural that no one liked Ares - neither the gods (with the exception of Aphrodite, Phobos and his other companions), nor people. Even Zeus himself said that Ares was most hated by him of all the immortals. Therefore, there were few temples of Ares, and few images of him have reached us. And how could one treat God with love, whose very nicknames spoke of his character - “Bloody”, “Destroyer of Men”, “Destroyer of Cities”, “Furious”, “Furious”, “Raging”! The symbols of Ares were also formidable - a spear, a helmet, a lit torch; his horses bore the names “Shine,” “Flame,” “Noise,” “Horror,” and everywhere Ares’s chariot was accompanied on the ground by flocks of dogs, and in the sky by flocks of kites.

Hephaestus Hephaestus

(Ήφαιστος, Volcanus). God of fire, son of Zeus and Hera, lame from birth. He was considered a skilled craftsman who processed metals through fire; he built copper palaces for the gods on Olympus, forged the weapons of Achilles, the fatal necklace of Harmony, the armor of Diomedes, the aegis and scepter of Zeus. His forge is located in the crucible of Mount Etna, where the Cyclopes help him. Aphrodite was considered the wife of Hephaestus. His favorite place on earth was the island of Lemnos. The Romans identified their god Vulcan with Hephaestus.

(Source: " Brief dictionary mythology and antiquities." M. Korsh. St. Petersburg, edition by A. S. Suvorin, 1894.)

HEPHAESTUS

(Ήφαιστος), in Greek mythology god of fire and blacksmithing. An Olympian deity of Asia Minor origin, who embodied the most ancient features of the fire element. G. appears either as a fetish of flame (Hom. Il. II 426; IX 468; Hom. Od. XXIV 71), or as the lord of fire. Its origin is interpreted in two ways. He is the son Zeus And Hera(Hom. Il. XIV 338), but he is the son only of Hera, born by her in revenge on Zeus (Hes. Theog. 927 next). His parents did not like him and threw him to the ground twice: once his mother did this, for which he took revenge on her by chaining him to the throne, another time Zeus, when G. defended Hera before him (Apollod. I 3, 5). G. is lame on both legs and ugly, which brings him closer to the archaic elements. But at the same time, being an Olympian, he marries a beautiful goddess Aphrodite, deceiving him with Ares, or charita (Hom. Il. XVIII 382). On Olympus, G. entertains the gods with jokes, treats them with ambrosia and nectar, and generally acts in a kind of service role, which also indicates his non-Greek origin. Apollonius of Rhodes in “Argonautica” (III 219-229) tells that G. dug four springs flowing from under the vine for the Colchian king - milk, wine, oil and water. Horace draws Vulcan-Hephaestus against the background of a blossoming spring nature(Сarm. I 4, 1-8). All this testifies to G.’s chthonic connection with the forces of nature. Myths about G. also reflect the flourishing of artistic and craft creativity in the era of patriarchy. In Attica, one of the phyla (units) bore the name G., and he himself was revered among the main deities by the inhabitants of Attica - “sons of G.” (Aeschyl. Eum. 13). The classic image of G. is a blacksmith and a skilled craftsman in his workshop, his assistants are mechanical maids. He forges Achilles a weapon and a magnificent shield (Hom. Il. XVIII 369-616). The copper bulls of King Eetus (Apoll. Rhod. III 229-238), the bedchamber of Hera (Hom. N. XIV 166-168), the crown of Pandora (Hes. Theog. 579-584) were also made by G. In Virgil’s “Aeneid” (VIII 370-453) gives a grandiose description of the underground forge of G., where Zeus’ thunder and lightning, as well as Aeneas’ weapons, are created. The Homeric hymn unites G. and Athena, who taught people crafts (XX 2-7). G. chains Promethea. but clearly against his will, on the orders of Zeus (Aeschyl. Prom. 14). The Orphic hymn depicts G. as a kind of cosmic force in all its fetishistic intactness. He is a master and an artist, but he is also light, fire, ether. He protects houses, cities and tribes, but he is also the moon and all the luminaries, a shining, all-devouring demon (LXVI), i.e. G. - Olympus, and the underworld, and the highest creativity, and elemental demonism. G. was mainly revered in Athens (in Ceramics), where he was the god of crafts, but could not compete with the more ancient Prometheus (CIA, p. 64) and Daedalus. After G.'s overthrow from Olympus, he was saved by the inhabitants of the island of Lemnos, the Sinthians; there was the city of Hephaestius and Mount Mosikhl with the forge of the god. G. is connected with the island of Samos through his mother Hera of Samos, since it was she who was chained to G., therefore the cities of Hephaistopol and Hephaestion were located on Samos. In Crete there is no slightest indication of the cult of G. The cult of G. was brought to the mainland from the islands of the Aegean Sea by Hellenic settlers. Thus, the chthonic non-Greek deity became one of the most revered gods among the artisans and craftsmen of Athens. In Roman mythology, G. corresponds to Volcano.
Lit.: Losev A.F., Olympic mythology in its socio-historical development, Scientific notes of the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute. Lenina, 1953, t. 72; With. 147-63; Wilamowitz-Moellendorff U. v., Hephaistos, “Nachrtchten Götting. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften., 1895; Malten L., Hephaistos. “Jahrbuch des deutschen archäologischen Institutes., 1912, Bd 27; Brommer F., Die Rückführung des Hephaistos, ibid., 1937, Bd 52, S. 198-219; Schrade H„ Götter und Menschen Homers, Stuttg.. 1952; Delcourt M., Hephaistos ou la légende du magicien, P., 1957.
A. F. Losev.

In works of ancient art, G. is usually depicted in the clothes of a craftsman, with a hammer or tongs. Among the plots: “Hera, caught by G. in a trap,” “G.’s return from Olympus,” “the creation of Pandora,” “G. shows Thetis the shield made for Achilles" (frescoes, vase painting), he participates in scenes: the birth of Athena (relief of the eastern pediment of the Parthenon, vase painting), "Vulcan and the Cyclopes" (reliefs of Roman sarcophagi), Gigantomachy (relief of the northern frieze of the treasury of the Sifnians in Delphi , vase painting). In the 15th-18th centuries. The most common subjects in European painting are: “Venus in the forge of Vulcan” (Giulio Romano, F. Parmigianino, J. Palma the Younger, P. P. Rubens, A. van Dyck, A. Coipelle, F. Boucher, etc.), “ the forge of Vulcan" (Primaticcio, Pietro da Cortona, F. Bassano, Titian, D. Velazquez, L. Giordano, G.B. Tiepolo and others), "Mars and Venus caught by Vulcan" (see in Art. Ares), “Thetis at Vulcan”, etc. Relief by G. R. Donner “Venus in the forge of Vulcan” (18th century).

(Source: “Myths of the Peoples of the World.”)

Hephaestus

God of fire, patron of blacksmithing and a skilled blacksmith himself. Son of Zeus and Hera. Brother of Apollo, Ares, Athena, Hebe and Ilithyia. He was portrayed as powerful and broad-shouldered, but ugly and lame on both legs. According to Homer, the husband of Aphrodite. Father of the Athenian king Erichthonius (from Gaia). It corresponds to the Roman Vulcan.

// François BOUCHER: Visit of Venus to Vulcan // Yiannis RITSOS: Samples // N.A. Kun: HEPHAESTUS

(Source: “Myths of Ancient Greece. Dictionary-reference book.” EdwART, 2009.)

HEPHAESTUS

Hephaestus (1), the son of Zeus and Hera, the god of fire, the blacksmith god, with whom no one can compare in the art of forging, was born on Bright Olympus as a weak and lame child. The great Hera became angry when they showed her an ugly, frail son. She grabbed him and threw him from Olympus down to a distant land.

The unfortunate child rushed through the air for a long time and finally fell into the waves of the boundless sea. The sea goddesses took pity on him - Eurynome, the daughter of the great Ocean, and Thetis, the daughter of the prophetic sea elder Nereus. They picked up little Hephaestus who had fallen into the sea and took him with them deep under the waters of the gray Ocean. There, in the azure grotto, they raised Hephaestus. The god Hephaestus grew up ugly, lame, but with powerful arms, a broad chest and a muscular neck. What a marvelous artist he was in his blacksmith's craft! He forged a lot of magnificent jewelry from gold and silver for his teachers Eurynome and Thetis.

For a long time he harbored anger in his heart against his mother, the goddess Hera, and finally decided to take revenge on her for throwing him off Olympus. He forged a golden chair of extraordinary beauty and sent it to Olympus as a gift to his mother. The wife of the thunderer Zeus was delighted when she saw the wonderful gift. Indeed, only the queen of gods and men could sit on a chair of such extraordinary beauty. But - oh, horror! As soon as Hera sat down in the chair, indestructible chains wrapped around her, and Hera found herself chained to the chair. The gods rushed to her aid. In vain - none of them was able to free Queen Hera. The gods realized that only Hephaestus, who forged the chair, could free his great mother.

They immediately sent the god Hermes, the messenger of the gods, for the blacksmith god. Hermes rushed like a whirlwind to the ends of the world to the shores of the Ocean. In the blink of an eye, he swept over the land and sea and appeared in the grotto where Hephaestus was working. For a long time he asked Hephaestus to go with him to high Olympus - to free Queen Hera, but the blacksmith god flatly refused: he remembered the evil that his mother had caused him. Neither the requests nor the pleas of Hermes helped. Dionysus, the cheerful god of wine, came to his aid. With a loud laugh, he brought Hephaestus a cup of fragrant wine, followed by another, and after that another and another. Hephaestus got drunk, now he could do anything with him - take him anywhere. The god of wine Dionysus defeated Hephaestus. Hermes and Dionysus put Hephaestus on a donkey and took him to Olympus. Hephaestus rode swaying. Around Hephaestus, ivy-covered maenads (2) with thyrsus (3) in their hands rushed in a merry dance. The drunken satyrs jumped clumsily. The torches were smoking, the ringing of tympani (4), laughter, and tambourines were loudly heard. And ahead walked the great god Dionysus wearing a wreath of grapes and carrying a thyrsus. The procession moved merrily. Finally we arrived at Olympus. Hephaestus freed his mother in an instant; now he no longer remembered the insult.

Hephaestus remained to live on Olympus. He built majestic golden palaces there for the gods and built himself a palace of gold, silver and bronze. In it he lives with his wife, the beautiful, friendly Harita, the goddess of grace and beauty.

The forge of Hephaestus is also located in the same palace. Hephaestus spends most of his time in his forge, full of wonders. In the middle there is a huge anvil, in the corner there is a forge with a blazing fire and bellows. These bellows are marvelous - they do not need to be moved by hand, they obey the word of Hephaestus. He will say - and the bellows work, fanning the fire in the forge into a brightly burning flame. Covered with sweat, all black from dust and soot, the blacksmith god works in his forge. What marvelous works Hephaestus forges in it: indestructible weapons, jewelry made of gold and silver, bowls and goblets, tripods that roll themselves on golden wheels as if alive.

Having finished his work, having washed his sweat and soot in a fragrant bath, Hephaestus goes, limping and staggering on his weak legs, to the feast of the gods, to his father, the thunderer Zeus. Friendly, good-natured, he often stops the quarrel between Zeus and Hera that is about to flare up. Without laughter, the gods cannot see how the lame Hephaestus hobbles around the banquet table, pouring fragrant nectar to the gods. Laughter makes the gods forget their quarrels.

But the god Hephaestus can also be formidable. Many experienced the power of his fire, and the terrible, powerful blows of his huge hammer. Even the waves of the raging rivers of Xanth and Simois were subdued by the fire of Hephaestus at Troy. Terrible, he struck down mighty giants with his hammer.

The great god of fire, the most skillful, divine blacksmith Hephaestus - he gives warmth and joy, he is affectionate and friendly, but he also punishes menacingly.

(1) Hephaestus (Vulcan to the Romans) - originally the god of fire; with the development of crafts, and especially blacksmithing, he became the patron god of metallurgy of that time. Hephaestus was especially revered in Athens, where crafts reached their greatest development in Greece.

(2) Maenads - companions of Dionysus; translated into Russian, maenads mean raging; Maenads are the same as Bacchantes.

(3) Thyrsus - a stick entwined with ivy or grapes, with a pine cone at the end.

(4) Tympanum - a percussion musical instrument that had the shape of two bronze cups that were struck against each other.

Also, the father of Hephaestus was sometimes considered Helios or, according to Cretan myth, Talos.

His first wife was the beautiful goddess Aphrodite, and his second wife was Aglaya. Hephaestus had a small affair with Athena, after which Erichthonius was born, generated by Gaia-Earth. However, Hephaestus is connected with Athena not only by his son Erichthonius, but also by their craft.

From the nymph Cabiro, daughter of Proteus, Hephaestus had sons Alkon and Eurymedon, who participated in the campaign of Dionysus in India, and Kadmil (or Camillus, or Kasmil), who was sometimes identified with Hermes. The three sons of Hephaestus are called Cabiri.

From Anticlea is the son of Periphetus, who was killed by Theseus in the city of Epidaurus.

The servant of Hephaestus was the cyclops Caedalion, whom Hephaestus gave as a guide to Orion; Plato’s epigram “The Blind and the Lame” was written about him, as well as Sophocles’ drama “Caedalion”.

Myths

The King of the Gods could not break his word, but advised Athena to defend herself. When she came to Hephaestus to ask him to make something for her, Hephaestus decided to take what Zeus had promised and Athena had to fight off Hephaestus. Hephaestus's seed spilled on the goddess's leg, she wiped it with a piece of fur and buried this piece in the Earth. This is how the son of Hephaestus and Athena, Erichthonius, appeared (however, some researchers point out that Gaia-Earth gave birth to Erichthonius, which means that Gaia should be considered the mother of Erichthonius).

The second time Hephaestus was thrown from Olympus by his father, Zeus, the Iliad tells about this. Hera harmed Hercules, her husband’s beloved son from the mortal woman Alcmene, in every possible way. When Hercules was returning from Troy, the Queen of the Gods sent a storm to his ships and scattered them, for which Zeus hung her by her feet in the sky, tying an anvil to her feet. Hephaestus freed his mother, and the enraged Thunderer threw him from Olympus. Hephaestus fell into the sea near the island of Lemnos. After the overthrow of Hephaestus from Olympus, he was saved by the inhabitants of the island of Lemnos, the Synthians; there were the city of Hephaestius and Mount Mosikhlos, where Hephaestus built himself a forge.

Hephaestus participated in the Gigantomachy. One of the one hundred and fifty snake-footed giants Mimanth was killed by Hephaestus when the latter threw hot stones at the giants (according to one version).

Athena rejects Hephaestus' advances (fragment) Paris Bordone 1555-1560

It was Hephaestus who forged the scepter and aegis of Zeus, the thyrsus of Dionysus, the chariot of Helios, the net in which his wife Aphrodite and her lover Ares were caught. Hephaestus forged two mechanical assistants from metal, whom he used as servants in his workshop.

Having finished work in his workshop, Hephaestus goes to a feast with Zeus. He is friendly and good-natured, often stopping a quarrel between his father and Hera that was about to flare up. The gods can hardly contain their laughter as they look at the lame God hobbling around the banquet table, pouring nectar and ambrosia for them. But Hephaestus can also be formidable. He subdued with fire even the waves of raging rivers near Troy.

Name, epithets and character

Presumably the name Hephaestus means "volcanic". The epithets of Hephaestus are Amphigeus, that is, “double-lame” or “double-jointed,” or Killopodium, that is, “bow-legged.” Hephaestus appears either as a flame fetish or as a lord of fire. Its origin is not clearly understood.

On Olympus, Hephaestus entertains the gods with jokes, treats them with ambrosia and nectar, and generally acts in a kind of service role, which also indicates his non-Greek origin. Apollonius of Rhodes in the Argonautica tells that Hephaestus dug four springs flowing from under the vine for the Colchian king - milk, wine, oil and water. Horace paints Vulcan-Hephaestus against the backdrop of blossoming spring nature. All this testifies to the chthonic connection of Hephaestus with the forces of nature. The myths about Hephaestus also reflect the flourishing of artistic and craft creativity in the era of patriarchy. In Attica, one of the phyla (units) bore the name of Hephaestus, and he himself was revered among the main deities by the inhabitants of Attica - the “sons of Hephaestus.”

Initially, Hephaestus served as an expression of the powerful element of fire and was considered as a great creative being, but later, having joined the ranks of the Olympian gods, he became subordinate to Zeus, gradually lost his power and significance and finally turned into a skilled craftsman, melting and processing metals through fire.

The Orphic hymn depicts Hephaestus as a kind of cosmic force in all its fetishistic virginity. He is a master and an artist, but he is also light, fire, ether. He protects houses, cities and tribes, but he is also the moon and all the luminaries, a shining, all-devouring demon, i.e. Hephaestus is Olympus, and the underworld, and the highest creativity, and elemental demonism.

In Roman mythology, Hephaestus corresponds to Vulcan, in Egypt - Ptah (or Phtha).

Cult and symbolism

Hephaestus was predominantly revered in Athens, where he was the god of crafts, but could not compete with the more ancient Prometheus and Daedalus. Hephaestus is connected with the island of Samos through his mother Hera of Samos, because It was she who was chained to the throne by Hephaestus, which is why the cities of Hephaestopol and Hephaestion were located on Samos. In Crete there is no slightest indication of the cult of Hephaestus. The cult of Hephaestus was brought to the mainland from the islands of the Aegean Sea by Hellenic settlers. Thus, the chthonic non-Greek deity became one of the most revered gods among the artisans and craftsmen of Athens.

The cult was strong in Sicily and Campania; Etna and Vesuvius, located there, always filled the inhabitants with awe; it was believed that the forges of God were located inside these volcanoes.

In Athens, ritual competitions with torches were held in honor of Hephaestus. Young men with torches in their hands took part in these races; the winner was the one who was the first to reach the finish line with an unextinguished torch.

Symbols of Hephaestus are an anvil and blacksmith tools.

Influence on culture and art

The XX hymn of Homer and the LXVI Orphic hymn are dedicated to Hephaestus. Actor the tragedy of Aeschylus “Chained Prometheus”, the satyr drama of Achaeus of Eretius “Hephaestus”, the play of an unknown author “Hephaestus”, the comedy of Epicharmus “The Feasters, or Hephaestus”.

Unlike other impeccably beautiful and stately gods, Hephaestus is distinguished by his ugliness and physical disabilities. It was his intelligence and skill, inner creativity and ability to create that made him one of the most worthy gods. In art, he is usually depicted as very strong, with a powerful torso and arms. Often a cap is depicted on the head, such as was worn by artisans in Greece; he wears a short tunic, characteristic of workers. Also often in paintings or sculptures, artists leave his right shoulder bare.

Hephaestus was often depicted in frescoes, vase paintings and sculptures by the ancient Greeks. It also appears in later Roman images. And in the Renaissance, artists very often took mythology as the subject of their paintings, and Hephaestus, like other gods, can be seen in Renaissance paintings.

Hephaestus in modern times

The minor planet (2212) Hephaestus, discovered on September 27, 1978 by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Chernykh at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, is named in honor of Hephaestus. This is a near-Earth asteroid, characterized by an extremely elongated orbit and, as a result, has become quite widely known.

The protein “Hephaestin”, which is involved in the metabolism of iron and copper, is also named after Hephaestus.

A famous kitchen line is named after Hephaestus household appliances in Belarus.

The ancient Greek god Hephaestus is the god of fire and blacksmithing, he is the most skilled blacksmith in the world. He is the son of Zeus and his legal wife, the goddess of marriage - Hera. He was born on Olympus itself, and from childhood he was weak and lame. The parents doubted whether such a god was worth living; Hera was horrified and angry when she saw such a helpless son. She angrily threw him from high Olympus to the ground, but Hephaestus survived. He fell into the sea, where the daughters of Nereus and Oceanus took pity on him and took him with them to the gray-haired Ocean. Hephaestus grew up and was raised in his azure grotto.

The adult Hephaestus could not get rid of his limp, as well as his ugly appearance, but he had broad shoulders and strong arms, a muscular neck and a wide chest. For his beautiful teachers, Thetis and Eurynome, he forged a huge variety of wonderful and unique jewelry from silver and gold. And all this time, Hephaestus harbored anger in his heart at his mother for treating him so unfairly and cruelly. And Hephaestus forged a golden throne of indescribable beauty, a chair of enormous size, which he sent to Olympus as a gift to his mother. Hera really liked the chair, she sat down in it and immediately found herself in fetters. The gods could not free Hera, chained to the throne; only the one who forged it could do this.

Hermes flew to Hephaestus in the grotto and began to beg him to return to Olympus to free Hera. But Hephaestus remembered the evil and could not forgive his mother. Then Dionysus came to the aid of Hermes, who poured wine into Hephaestus’s cup until he got drunk and went to Olympus himself. He forgot all the insults and immediately freed Hera from her bonds, and Hephaestus now began to live on Olympus. He built many beautiful golden temples on the mountain of the gods, and erected for himself a dwelling made of bronze, silver and gold. The god of fire married the goddess of beauty and grace, Harita, and began to live with her in his palace.

In the palace of Hephaestus there is also a place for his forge, in which he spends a long time. In the middle there is a huge anvil, and next to it are bellows and a forge with a fire burning inside. And these bellows do not need to be moved by hand, they are magical and obey the word of Hephaestus. And God works in his huge forge, all black from ash and ash, all wet from sweat. He forges everything: wondrous jewelry, unsurpassed weapons, cups and bowls, as well as chariots that do not need horses - they roll themselves, as if alive.

And after his hard work, Hephaestus washes his body and hands in a bath of incense, after which he often goes, limping, to a feast with Zeus and his brothers and sisters from Olympus. And often, if the gods have disputes or quarrels, Hephaestus reconciles them, making them laugh at how clumsily he pours divine nectar into bowls. Hephaestus has a big and kind heart. However, this does not mean that the god of fire is always good-natured and sweet; he can also be a formidable and terrible god. Whoever angers him will immediately feel the power of his fiery hammer. With it he struck both titans and people, so no one dares to confront him in anger, since Hephaestus has the right to forge an indestructible weapon.

In Greek mythology, the god Hephaestus is a talented blacksmith who serves the entire Olympic army. Many legends have survived to this day telling about the deeds of this deity, in which he appears either as the embodiment of the fiery element, or as an object of numerous ridicule from other inhabitants of Olympus.

Unhappy childhood

All Greek myths agree that the mother of the god Hephaestus was Hera. But there are different versions about his father. Some believed that Hephaestus was the son of Zeus. Other myths claimed that Hera, tired of her husband’s endless betrayals, started an affair and gave birth to a son in revenge.

In any case, an unloved child was born. All the Olympic deities were distinguished by their pleasant appearance and were perfect. Hephaestus was born lame. Hera, ashamed to present such a child to the host of deities, threw him from Olympus, but Hephaestus survived. For this, he later took revenge on his mother by chaining her to the throne.

But he still had warm feelings for Hera. When she began to reprimand her husband for yet another betrayal, and Zeus wanted to hit his wife, Hephaestus stood up for her. The enraged Thunderer grabbed his son and threw him from Olympus for the second time.

Hephaestus and Aphrodite

It seems strange that the goddess of love and female beauty became the wife of such an ugly creature as the god Hephaestus. Myths explain this as follows. When Hephaestus chained Hera to a golden chair, all the gods asked him to free his mother, but he did not agree. Then the patron of winemakers, Dionysus, came to the rescue. He got Hephaestus drunk, and then he persuaded him to let Hera go. During the time spent on the chair, the mother thought about her behavior and decided to recognize her son. And to atone for her guilt, she forced Zeus to marry Hephaestus to Aphrodite.

However, marriage obligations did not stop the goddess of love much. Many myths have survived that say that she cheats on her husband with many other gods and beautiful mortal youths.

Divine Artisan

Myths are not just a collection interesting stories, preserved from the cultural heritage of Ancient Greece. The god Hephaestus, as can be seen from a more careful reading of them, is of non-Greek origin. His cult was borrowed from the peoples who were assimilated by the Greeks in ancient times.

This is already indicated by Hephaestus’s love for the blacksmith’s craft, of which he is the god in Greek mythology. If other deities engage in any physical labor, it is only under duress. Hephaestus regularly forges armor and weapons for his brothers and even serves them at the table.

It is difficult to say at what time Hephaestus entered the host of the Greek gods. His clearly expressed physical imperfection, as well as his close connection with fire, indicate the character’s connection with faith in the power of the elements, characteristic of the archaic stage of the development of religious views.

Two mothers

Another evidence that the cult of the god Hephaestus was borrowed is stored in the already mentioned myths about his birth. If we take a closer look at the first of them, according to which Hera gave birth to a son in order to take revenge on Zeus, an interesting detail will be revealed: she gave birth to a son... of herself. This is a unique case in all of Greek mythology. Usually, if a god was borrowed from another people, his origin in myth was associated with the area in which his cult had previously been developed. Hephaestus is born on Olympus and has only a mother. Therefore, it can be assumed that his cult was adopted by the Greeks in a very ancient era.

Some hints can be found in the second myth. When Hera throws Hephaestus from Olympus, he falls into the ocean, where the goddess Thetis finds him. The area of ​​her special veneration was Thessaly and Sparta, where the descendants of those who subjugated them lived at the turn of the 13th-12th centuries. BC e. Greece of the Dorians. The close connection between Thetis and Hephaestus is confirmed by other myths. In particular, at her request, the divine blacksmith makes a shield for her son Achilles. All this indirectly indicates the time of the possible appearance of the cult of Hephaestus in Greece, as well as in the territory where he was originally revered.

Worship of Hephaestus

First of all, blacksmiths and other artisans offered prayers to Hephaestus. The place of special veneration of this god was Lemnos: it was there that Hephaestus fell after Zeus threw him from Olympus. Another area where special veneration was paid to the divine blacksmith was the island of Samos. According to Greek myths, it was on this island that Hephaestus erected a chair to which he later chained his mother.

In addition to blacksmithing, Hephaestus was known as the patron of knowledge. Together with Athena, he taught people many crafts. Even in an era when people could already do without constant prompting from supernatural forces, he invariably comes to the rescue at the first request. So, in addition to the shield for Achilles, he made weapons for the hero of Roman epic poetry Aeneas.

After Greece lost its independence, the Olympic cult was adopted by the Romans. In the Latin tradition, Hephaestus retained his functions as a blacksmith and cupbearer of the gods and received the name Vulcan.