Hephaestus

## Relevant Pages

“

> The god of blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metals, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes
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—Hesiod

**Hephaestus** is a character in Hesiod and Homer's myth. He débuts, with his appearance in around 700 B.C. and usually ends at around the 9th Century.

Hephaestus is the greek god of crafts in Greek Mythology.

## History

Hephaestus is a deity and the son of Zeus *and* Hera, on most accounts, just Hera because she got jealous when Zeus bore Athena all on his own. When the Olympian gods defeated the titans in the titanomachy, the titans were destroyed and Mount Olympus was made.

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 centers of Greece, particularly Athens. The cult of Hephaestus was based in Lemnos. Hephaestus' symbols are a smith's hammer, anvil, and a pair of tongs.

Aphrodite would *unfortunately* always go to cheat on Hephaestus with Ares, but one day, Helios witnessed Aphrodite and Ares enjoying each others pleasures in Hephaestus' halls so he rushed to tell him about it and one day he put a trap in the bed and at an exact point Ares and Aphrodite were enjoying pleasures, the net trap caught them entangled together and they were both found very embarrassed.

But Hephaestus was not satisfied with his revenge, so he invited the Olympian gods and goddesses to view the unfortunate pair. For the sake of modesty, the goddesses demurred, but the male gods went to witness the sight. Some commented on the beauty of Aphrodite, others remarked that they would eagerly trade places with Ares, but all who were present mocked the two. Once the couple were loosed, Ares, embarrassed, returned to his homeland, Thrace, and Aphrodite went to Paphos.

In a much later interpolated detail, Ares put the youth Alectryon by his door to warn them of Helios's arrival, as Helios would tell Hephaestus of Aphrodite's infidelity if the two were discovered, but Alectryon fell asleep. Helios discovered the two and alerted Hephaestus. Furious Ares turned the sleepy Alectryon into a rooster, which now always announces the arrival of the sun in the morning.

## Family

URANUS †---------------------------------------------------------------------------GAIA

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CRONUS †---------------------------------------------------------------------------RHEA

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HESTIA \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_DEMETER\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ HERA\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ HADES\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ POSEIDON\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ZEUS--HERA

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                                                                         **HEPHAESTUS**

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*Notes:*

* Solid lines denote parent-child blood relationships
* Dashed lines denote marriage relationships that result in offspring
* **†** denotes the deceased

### Notes

* **Hephaestus** had only two consorts.
	+ They were Aphrodite and Aglaea.

## References

1. ↑ Walter Burkert, Greek Religion 1985: III.2.ii; see coverage of Lemnos-based traditions and legends at Mythic Lemnos)
2. ↑ Hera got green with envy so she went to bore a baby on her own
3. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `hephaestus`

Mount Olympus