Hephaestus

=**Hephaestus**=

By: François Boucher (1703-1770) Venus with Arms for Aeneas

By: Paris Bordon (1500-1571) **Athena Scorning the Advances of Hephaestus**

=**Greek and Roman names**:=
 * Greek**: Hephaestus
 * Roman**: Vulcan

=**What he/she represents:**= He was the lame god of fire and crafts or the two together, the god of blacksmiths. He was lame, which gave him a grotesque appearance in Greek eyes.

=**Symbols associated with the god:**= Hephaestus's symbols are a smith's hammer, an anvil and a pair of tongs, although sometimes he is portrayed holding an axe.

=**Stories associated with the god**:= Hephaestus was the son of Zeus and Hera or, in some accounts, of Hera alone. He limped because he was born lame, which caused his mother to throw him off Mount Olympus. Or in other accounts he interceded in a fight between Zeus and Hera, and Zeus took him by the foot and threw him from Olympus to the earth far below.
 * Fall from Mount Olympus:**

Some say that he fell for only a day and landed on the island of Lemnos, where he was cared for and taught to be a master craftsman by the Sintians, an ancient tribe native to that island.

In an archaic story, Hephaestus gained revenge against Hera for rejecting him by making her a magical golden throne, which, when she sat on it, did not allow her to leave it. The other gods begged Hephaestus to return to Olympus to let her go, but he refused, saying "I have no mother".

Hephaestus accomplished numerous prodigies of craftsmanship, such as the marvelous palaces that he built for the gods atop Mount Olympus, or the armor that he made for Achilles during the siege of Troy
 * Crafts:**

Hephaestus also created the first woman, Pandora, at the command of Zeus, in retaliation for the various tricks by which the Titan Prometheus had benefited mortal men at the expense of the gods. Pandora was given to the Titan's brother, Epimetheus, as his wife. For her dowry she brought a jar filled with evils from which she removed the lid, thereby afflicting men for the first time with hard work and sickness. Only hope remained inside the jar.

=**Interesting or fun facts:**= He served as the blacksmith of the gods, and he was worshipped in the manufacturing and industrial centers of Greece, particularly in Athens. The center of his cult was in Lemnos.

Hephaestus was the only god said to have returned to Olympus after being exiled.