#gaia — Public Fediverse posts

Hephaestus

Author’s Note: This post has mentions of (g)rape. If this is triggering, please go on to 1 of our other posts.

He’s the Greek god of artisans, blacksmiths, carpenters, craftsmen, fire, metallurgy, metalworking, sculpture, & volcanoes.

In Greek mythology, Hephaestus was the son of Hera, either on her own or her husband/brother, Zeus. He was cast off Mount Olympus by his mom, Hera, because of his lameness, the result of a congenital impairment. Or, in another account, by Zeus for protecting Hera from his advances.

As a smithing god, Hephaestus created all the weapons of the gods on Olympus. He served as the blacksmith of the gods & was worshipped in the manufacturing & industrial centers of Greece, particularly Athens. The cult of Hephaestus was based in Lemnos. Hephaestus’ symbols are a smith’s hammer, anvil, & a pair of tongs. In Rome, he was equated with Vulcan.

In Hesiod’s Theogony, Hera gives birth to Hephaestus on her own, out of revenge for Zeus having, without her, fathered Athena (the daughter of Zeus & Metis). Apollodorus similarly states that Hera gives birth to Hephaestus alone. Though according to Homer, Hephaestus is 1 of the kids of Zeus & Hera.

Some sources state that the origin myth of Hephaestus was that of a “daemon of fire coming up from the Earth,” that he was also associated with gas “which takes fire & burns & is considered by many people to be divine” & that only later was a volcano considered Hephaestus’ smithy.

He was associated by Greek colonists in southern Italy with the volcano gods Adranus (of Mount Etna) & Vulcanus of the Lipari islands.

The 1st-century sage, Apollonius of Tyana, is said to have observed, “there are many other mountains all over the earth that are on fire, & yet we should never be done with it if we assigned to them giants & gods like Hephaestus.” Nevertheless, Hephaestus’ domain over fire goes back to Homer’s Iliad, where he uses flames to dry the waters of the Scamander River in order to force its eponymous deity, who was attacking Achilles, to retreat.

His favorite place in our mere mortal world was the island of Lemnos. He liked to live among the Sintians. But he also repeatedly went to other volcanic islands like Lipari, Imbros, & Sicily, which were called his abodes/workshops. In 1 version of events, Hera rejects, then ejects Hephaestus from Olympus/the heavens because of his congenital impairment. (It’s implied that his congenital disability is because of Zeus & Hera’s familial relationship, i.e. brother & sister.)

Because of Hera’s actions, he fell into the ocean & of Hera’s actions, he fell into the ocean & was raised by Thetis (Achilles’ mom & 1 of the 50 Nereids) & Eurynome, the Oceanid. In another version, Hephaestus, attempting to rescue his mom from Zeus’ advances, was cast down to earth by Zeus, not Hera!

He (Hephaestus) was cast down for 1 whole day & landed on the island of Lemnos. On Lemnos, he was cared for & taught to be a master craftsman by the Sintians. Later writers describe his physical disability as a result of his 2nd fall. While Homer makes him disabled from birth.

Hephaestus was 1 of the Olympians who came back to Olympus after being exiled. In an archaic story, Hephaestus wanted revenge against Hera for rejecting him by forging her a magical golden throne, which, when she sat on it, didn’t let her stand up again.

The other gods begged Hephaestus to return to Olympus to let her go. But he refused, saying, “I’ve no mom.” It was Ares who undertook the task of fetching Hephaestus at 1st. But he was threatened by the fire god with torches. At last, Dionysus (the wine god) fetched him, got him drunk on wine, & took the subdued smith back to Olympus on the back of a mule, accompanied by revelers.

According to Hyginus, Zeus promised anything to Hephaestus to free Hera. Hephaestus asked for Athena’s hand in marriage (urged by Poseidon, who was hostile toward Athena), leading to his attempted (g)raping of the goddess, who rejected his advances.

In another version, he demanded to be married to Aphrodite to release Hera, & his mom fulfilled the request. Hephaestus had his own palace on Olympus, containing his workshop with an anvil(s) & 20 bellows that worked at his bidding.

He crafted much of the magnificent equipment of the gods, & almost any finely wrought metalwork imbued with powers that appears in Greek myth is said to have been forged by Hephaestus. He designed all the thrones in the Olympian palace, the Aegis breastplate, Hermes’ (not the fashion house) winged helmet & sandals, Aphrodite’s famous girdle, Eros’ bow & arrows, Helios’ chariot, Heracles’ bronze clappers, & the shoulder of Pelops.

Hephaestus also created the gift that the gods gave to mankind: the 1st woman, Pandora, & her pithos (a large jar)/box. In some versions, Prometheus stole the fire that he gave to man from Hephaestus’ forge. Hephaestus gave to the blinded Orion his apprentice Cedalion as a guide. In later accounts, Hephaestus worked with the Cyclopes Brontes, Steropes, & Arges, who were highly skilled blacksmiths in their own right & forged Zeus’ thunderbolts, Poseidon’s trident, & Hades’ helmet of darkness/invisibility.

According to Homer, Hephaestus built automatons of metal to work for him or others. This includes tripods with golden wheels, able to move at his wish in & out of the assembly hall of the celestials; & “handmaidens wrought of gold in the semblance of living maids,” who had “understanding in their hearts, & speech & strength,” as a gift of the gods.

They moved to support Hephaestus while walking. Hephaestus also put golden & silver lions & dogs at the entrance of the palace of Alkinoos in such a way that they could bite the invaders. These guard dogs didn’t age or perish. (So does this mean that they could possibly still be around, hidden somewhere? Like the Nag Hammadi library.)

A similar golden dog was set by Rhea to guard the infant Zeus & his nurse (the goat Amaltheia) on the island of Krete/Crete. Later, Tantalus was said to have stolen the automaton when it guarded Zeus’ temple, or to have persuaded Pandareos to steal it for him.

Later texts attempt to replace the automaton with the idea that the golden dog was actually Rhea, transformed by Hephaestus. Hephaestus fought against the giants & killed Mimas by throwing molten iron at him. He also fought another giant, Aristaeus, but he fled.

During the battle, Hephaestus fell down exhausted & was picked up by Helios in his chariot. As a gift of gratitude, Hephaestus forged 4 ever-flowing fountains & fire-breathing bulls for Helios’ son Aeetus. At the marriage of Peleus & Thetis, Hephaestus gave a knife as a wedding present.

When the Trojan War began, Hephaestus sided with the Greeks & forged the armor of Achilles, the cuirass of Diomedes, & Agamemnon’s staff of office. But Hephaestus was also worshipped by the Trojans & saved 1 of their men from being killed by Diomedes.

Though she was married to Hephaestus, Aphrodite had an affair with Ares, the god of war. Eventually, Hephaestus discovered Aphrodite’s affair through Helios, the all-seeing sun (We’re gonna circle back to this. Keep this in mind.), & planned a trap during 1 of their trysts.

While the lovers lay together in bed, Hephaestus ensnared them in an unbreakable chain-link net so small as to be invisible & dragged them to Mount Olympus to shame them in front of the other gods for retribution. The gods had a good laugh at the sight of these unclothed adulterers. Poseidon persuaded Hephaestus to free them in return for a guarantee that Ares would pay the adulterers’ fine, or Poseidon would pay it himself.

In The Odyssey, Hephaestus says he would give Aphrodite back to Zeus & demand back his bride price. Some versions of the myth state that Zeus didn’t return the dowry. In fact, Aphrodite “simply charmed her way back again into her husband’s good graces.”

In The Iliad, Hephaestus is described as being married to the Grace named Charis during the events depicted in the Trojan War. While in Theogeny, he’s married to the Grace named Aglaea, with no indication of having ever been married to Aphrodite.

In Dionysiaca by Nonnus explicitly stated that, though Hephaestus & Aphrodite were once married (she’s referred to as his “ancient wife”). They’ve since separated & Hephaestus is now married to Charis.

Here’s the keep-in-mind part: In a later detail, Ares put the young soldier, Alectryon, by their door to warn them of Helios’ arrival, as he suspected that Helios would tell Hephaestus of Aphrodite’s infidelity if the 2 were discovered. But Alectryon fell asleep on guard duty. Helios finds the 2 & alerts Hephaestus. Ares, in a rage, turned Alectryon into a rooster, which always crows at dawn when the sun is about to rise.

The Thebans said that the spicy time union of Ares & Aphrodite produced Harmonia. But that of the union of Hephaestus with Aphrodite, there’s usually no issue. Because Harmonia was conceived during Aphrodite’s marriage to Hephaestus, for revenge, on Harmonia’s wedding day to Cadmus, Hephaestus gifted her with a finely worked but cursed necklace that brought immense suffering to her descendants, culminating in Oedipus. (Check out our post on Oedipus.)

An Athenian founding myth tells the city’s patron goddess, Athena, refused a union (spicy time) with Hephaestus. Pseudo-Apollodorus records an archaic legend, which claims that Hephaestus once tried to (g)rape Athena. But she pushed him away, causing him to ejaculate on her thigh.

Athena wiped the happy time juice off using a tuft of wool. She tossed it into the dust. This impregnated Gaia (his own great-grandma). This caused her to give birth to King Erichthonius, whom Athena adopted as her own kid.

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