Hephaestus(Vulcan)Ancient Greek God of creative fireHephaestus is a master artisan with metal. He is a blacksmith of great skill making objects like the shield of Achilles and the first woman, Pandora. He is a lame god that walks with a limp and he is usually depicted covered in soot from his forge. He is linked closely with Athena due to both of them being great artisans. In her cult center of Athens he even has a temple in the Agora, just below the Acropolis. The island of Lemnos is another important center for his worshipers, because one myth says that it was here that he was cast off of Olympus by his mother, Hera, who was ashamed of his deformity. He is often associated with the Cyclopes since they forge the thunderbolts for mighty Zeus. Hephaestus is married to the ancient Greek goddess Aphrodite. They form a strange union of beauty and deformity. Her infidelities, mostly with the Greek god Ares, cause him much sadness and grief. The lame god out wits AresHephaestus heard from Helius (the Sun) of his wife, Aphrodite, cheating on him with Ares in his own bed. So he thought of a way to capture the two in the act and humiliate them in front of the other gods. Due to his lameness, this ancient Greek god is not as fast as Ares and he couldn't fight the god of brutal war. So instead he went to his forge and constructed chains that could neither be loosened or broken. Then he went to his bedside and spread the chains around the bedpost and hung them from the ceiling. The chains were made with such skill as to be invisible, even to the other gods, like a spider's web. After doing this he pretended to set out on a mission to Lemnos, a land that was dear to him. Ares had been watching Hephaestus's house and seized his opportunity seeing that he had left. He went into the house and sat by Aphrodite, persuading her to go to bed with him. Once in bed they were snared by the chains the god of the creative fire had forged. Very quickly they realized that they weren't able to move or escape these chains. Hephaestus returned home, saddened by this deception. He called out to the other Greek gods and goddesses to come over and witness his cunning work in catching Ares in his bed with his wife. Gods such as Poseidon, Hermes, and Apollo came to witness the event, but all of the goddesses stayed at home out of modesty. The other gods laughed at the ingenious skill of the lame god and Poseidon was able to persuade him to let the two out of their bonds, promising that they would pay for their injustice to him. Once freed, Ares and Aphrodite split apart and ran away to their separate sanctuaries. LinksHephaestus
|
