In the Greek Mythology, Héphaïstos or Héphaistos (in Greek old Ἥφαιστος / Hêphaistos ) is the god of fire, of the forging mills and of the Volcan S. It is usually represented under the features of a Forgeron lame, but he is initially a divine inventor and a creator of magic objects. As of Homère, its name is used by Métonymie to indicate fire.

It is assimilated by the Romains to Vulcan (sometimes called Mulciber).

Myth

Birth and infirmity

Héphaïstos is unanimously presented like the son of Héra, but it is not clear that it had a father. Homère makes of them the son of Zeus and Cinéthon that of Talos, a Géant of bronze, but in the version majority, Héra, jealous owing to the fact that Zeus generated only Athéna, and to show him that it could do without him, generates only Héphaïstos. When it gives him the day, it finds it so lame that it throws it in bottom of the Olympe. It falls then into the sea and is collected by Thétis and Eurynomé, which raises it during nine years, without the knowledge of all, in a cave of the island of Lemnos, where it makes its training of craftsman by working jewels.

To be avenged for his/her mother, Héphaïstos manufactures a gold throne to the hinged jibs, which imprisons whoever there assoit, and sends it in the Olympe as a present. Héra settles imprudently and is immobilized there, without no one not knowing how to deliver it. The gods initially entrust to Arès the responsibility to go to seek Héphaïstos, in vain. Enivré by Dionysos, Héphaïstos is let bend and returned in Olympe to deliver his/her mother. Zeus, relieved, proposes to the god blacksmith exaucer one of his wishes: on the council of Poséidon, Héphaïstos asks for the hand of Athéna - request to which, obviously, it is not given continuation; on its side, Dionysos, haloed its success, obtains to enter the assembly of the gods.

Another legend is attached to the infirmity of the god: Héphaïstos takes the party of his/her mother at the time of a quarrel between Zeus and this one; it reproaches his father for having left it suspended in the airs, a chain of gold to the wrist and an anvil with each ankle. Furious, Zeus seizes Héphaïstos by a foot and top of Olympe precipitates it. The fall of the god lasts one day whole; it lands on the island of Lemnos, whose inhabitants, Sintiens, collect it and look after it. The account seems contradictory with that where Héra gets rid of Héphaïstos in the same way, but they could be two separate incidents.

Loves and descent

According to Iliade , Héphaïstos is married with the one of the Charites (or Graces), which bears simply the name of Charis (literally “Grace”). The same applies in the Théogonie (v.  907), but Hésiode quotes explicitly the name of Aglaé, youngest of Charities. However tradition more popular of makes husband of Aphrodite, this version being besides already attested in episode famous of Odyssey (song IX), where it tightens a trap with his wife who misleads it with Arès, and becomes rized of the gods. In both cases, the god marries an incarnation of the beauty: it can be a question of a simple comic contrast between the beautiful one and the lame one, or of a major reflection on the close connection between the craftsman/artist and the beauty.

Contrary to other gods, Héphaïstos is hardly famous for its extra-marital adventures. It is known however that after being given up by Aphrodite, it continues her Athéna advances: its sperm is spread on the thigh of the goddess who it essuie with wool ( ἔριον / érion ) that it throws to ground ( χθών / khthốn ); the ground thus fertilized gives rise to Érichthonios, that Athéna collects and the pupil. So one finds sometimes the expression “children of Héphaïstos” to designate the Athenians.

A minority myth wants that it disputes with Déméter the sovereignty of the Sicily; Etna nymph, which lives the volcano of the same name, it has Palikes, of the demons of the hot sources.

Its descent is very few. One allots in particular the paternity to him of:

  • the nymph Cabiro, from which the Cabires go down - another version makes of Héphaïstos the father of the latter, which it has of Cabiro, and not their grandfather;
  • the disabled person Palémon, one of the Argonautes;
  • the brigand Périphétès (called Corynétès), killed by Thésée on the road of Athens.

Hygin also mentions Philammon, Cécrops, Cercyon (he also killed by Thésée on the road of Athens), Philottos and Spinther.

Craftsman

Very skilful in its art, Héphaïstos works remarkable weapons, like those of Achille, whose shield offers a perfect representation of the world, those of Memnon, the armor of Diomède or the Cnémide S of Héraclès. It also manufactures:

Other adventures

Héphaïstos takes share with the Gigantomachie and fights armed with devouring fire: it kills Mimas thus by recovering it of mild steel. It lines up at the sides of the Achaens in the Trojan War. When at the beginning of Iliade Zeus and Héra quarrel because the king of the gods promised with Thétis to favor the Troyens, Héphaïstos slackens the atmosphere by replacing Ganymède in its office of wine waiter: seeing the lame god taking the place of the gracious young man, the gods burst all of an inextinguishable laughter. It seldom intervenes in the battle, if is not to help Idaios, one of wire of its Darès priest, threatened by Diomède. Thereafter, at the request of Thétis, it saves Achille water of the Scamandre by draining by its flames the god-river.

It is associated in certain versions of the myth with the birth of Athéna: of a blow of its bronze axe, it makes spout out the goddess very armed with cranium of Zeus.

Certain authors also make of Héphaïstos the guard of fire, that Prométhée conceals to give it to the human ones. At the request of Zeus, Héphaïstos connects the robber with the rock of his torment, where an eagle will come the every day to devour the liver to him. In this scene represented by Eschyle, the god, full with pity, regrets the order given by his/her father, and felt sorry for the Titan for the sufferings which it will endure.

A minority myth wants that it disputes with Déméter the sovereignty of the Sicily; Etna nymph, which lives the volcano of the same name, it has Palikes, of the demons of the hot sources. At all events, it installs its forging mill in the volcano where it works, helped by the Cyclops. It takes care thus of the punishment of Typhon, that Zeus struck down and who to lie, inert, under the roots of the mountain.

Worship

The importance of the forging in civilizations of the Bronze Age and with the age of iron explains why the character of the blacksmith was closely associated with the political power and the religion. Thus, to Citium (current Larnaca with Cyprus), a worship is returned to divinities of the ingot of Cuivre, particularly abundant on the island; in the same way, there exists a direct link between the forging mills and the sanctuary. The name of Héphaïstos strictly speaking already seems to have existed in the form have-Pa-I-Ti-OJ with the time mycénienne.

The forging loses of its importance at the time antiquated, then traditional. The worship of Héphaïstos is thus not very widespread. He is venerated mainly with Lemnos, Athens and in the South of the Italy. The first, whose mythology makes the residence of the god, has as a capital Héphaïstias, inhabited until sixth century BC by a not-Greek population that the Greeks call Tyrséniens. It accommodates a festival of purification where new fire is lit, then distributed to the craftsmen. ”

It has three places of worship in Athens:

  • a furnace bridge in the Érechthéion, beside the furnace bridge of Poséidon and that of the hero Boutès;
  • a large temple on the hillock of the Kolonos Agoraios, which accommodates the joint worship of Héphaïstos and Athéna Hephaisteia ;
  • a furnace bridge with the Academy.

Following the example Zeus Phratrios and from Athéna Phratria, the god receives a sacrifice at the time of the festival of the Phratrie S, the Apatouries. He is also with the honor of the festival of the craftsmen, the Chalkeia, at the same time as Athéna Erganè (“industrial”). Lastly, the Héphaisties are especially devoted to him; like the Panathénées and the festivals of Prométhée (Προμηθεια), they comprise a Lampadédromie, i.e. a race with the torches which celebrates new fire.

Lastly, Héphaïstos is venerated in the South of Italy: in the islands Lipari and the area of the Etna, where its forging mill is located as from the traditional time. According to Pythéas, the islands are even the theater of miraculous events: it is enough to deposit there iron with a little gold as wages, and one reytrouve the following day worked iron in a remarkable way.

Artistic representations

Héphaïstos is seldom represented in Greek art except for some very appreciated scenes of the artists. The immobilization of Héra belongs to the carved decoration of the throne of Amyclées, but the return in Olympe is the most popular topic by far. Generally, the god is represented gone up with back of mule, escorted by Dionysos and of the Silène S and led in front of Zeus and Héra, frequently accompanied by other gods: Athéna, Ares, Artémis, Poséidon or Hermes. The most famous example is that of the Vase François, a crater with volutes of 570 av. J. - C. approximately. The scene also appeared in the decoration of the sanctuary of Athéna Khalkiokos (“at the Bronze House”) with Sparte, disappeared today.

The birth of Athéna, where Héphaïstos intervenes with its axe, is also a very snuffed topic. One sees also Héphaïstos in representations of Gigantomachie, armed with clippers and bellows, as on the planks of the treasure of Siphnos, or in a winged tank, probably one of his inventions. Some vases finally show it in its forging mill, surrounded satyrs: it is an allusion two lost dramas satyric and both headings Héphaïstos , one of Achaïos, the other of Épicharme - just as the vase representing a combat between Arès and the god blacksmith.

Héphaïstos is identified in Greek art by like a craftsman: it carries the axe, the grips, the bonnet of craftsman ( pilos ) or the tunic with handles ( exômis ). The infirmity of the god is represented by outwards turned feet, as on the Francois, vase by a crutch, as on the plank Is of the Parthenon, or by the fact of riding sidesaddle on its mule.

Etymology

The Old ones explained the name of Héphaïstos like “ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἧφται ”, i.e. “this (him) which burns, which is lit”.

Epithets, attributes & sanctuary

  • Epithet :
    • κλυτοτέχνης / klutotékhnês : “craftsman illustrates”;
    • περίκλυτος ἀμφιγυήεις / períklutos amphiguếeis : “illustrates lame”.
  • Attributes: the hammer, the anvil, the crutch.
  • Sanctuaries: Lemnos, the Etna, Athèns.
  • Festivals: the Héphaisties and the Chalkeia

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