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61-486: Hephaestus is the patron god of metal working, craftsmanship, and fire. There were numerous potters' workshops and metal-working shops in the vicinity of the temple, as befits the temple's honoree. Archaeological evidence suggests that there was no earlier building on the site except for a small sanctuary that was burned during the Second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BCE. The name Theseion or Temple of Theseus

122-721: A "wheeled chair" or chariot with which to move around, thus helping support his mobility while demonstrating his skill to the other gods. In the Iliad 18.371, it is stated that Hephaestus built twenty bronze-wheeled tripods to assist him in moving around. Hephaestus's appearance and physical disability are taken by some to represent peripheral neuropathy and skin cancer resulting from arsenicosis , caused by arsenic exposure from metalworking. Bronze Age smiths added arsenic to copper to produce harder arsenical bronze , especially during periods of tin scarcity . Many Bronze Age smiths would have suffered from chronic arsenic poisoning as

183-416: A golden chair with invisible fetters. When Hera sat down she was held fast, and Hephaestus refused to listen to any other of the gods except Dionysus – in him he reposed the fullest trust – and after making him drunk Dionysus brought him to heaven. Though married to Hephaestus, Aphrodite had an affair with Ares , the god of war. Eventually, Hephaestus discovered Aphrodite's affair through Helios ,

244-488: A guarantee that Ares would pay the adulterer's fine, or that he, Poseidon, would pay it himself. Hephaestus states in The Odyssey that he would return Aphrodite to her father and demand back his bride price. The Emily Wilson translation depicts Hephaestus demanding/imploring Zeus before Poseidon offers, however, leading the reader to assume Zeus did not give back the "price" Hephaestus paid for his daughter and that this

305-630: A metal creation, and sometimes his feet are curved back-to-front: Hephaistos amphigyēeis . He walked with the aid of a stick. The Argonaut Palaimonius, "son of Hephaestus" (i.e. a bronze-smith), also had a mobility impairment. Other "sons of Hephaestus" were the Cabeiri on the island of Samothrace , who were identified with the crab ( karkinos ) by the lexicographer Hesychius . The adjective karkinopous ("crab-footed") signified "lame", according to Detienne and Vernant. The Cabeiri were also physically disabled. In some myths, Hephaestus built himself

366-506: A painting of Hephaestus in the temple of Dionysus in Athens. The temple had been built in the 5th century, but may have been decorated at any time before the 2nd century CE. When Pausanias saw it, he said: There are paintings here – Dionysus bringing Hephaestus up to heaven. One of the Greek legends is that Hephaestus, when he was born, was thrown down by Hera. In revenge he sent as a gift

427-516: A result of their livelihood. Consequently, the mythic image of the disabled smith is widespread. As Hephaestus was an iron-age smith, not a bronze-age smith, the connection is one from ancient folk memory. Parallels in other mythological systems for Hephaestus's symbolism include: Solinus wrote that the Lycians dedicated a city to Hephaestus and called it Hephaestia. The Hephaestia in Lemnos

488-666: A slab from the grave of George Watson with a Latin epitaph by Lord Byron . In 1834, the first King of Greece , Otto I , was officially welcomed there. Otto ordered the building to be used as a museum , in which capacity it remained until 1934, when it reverted to its status of an ancient monument and extensive archaeological research was allowed. Hephaestus This is an accepted version of this page Hephaestus ( UK : / h ɪ ˈ f iː s t ə s / hif- EE -stəs , US : / h ɪ ˈ f ɛ s t ə s / hif- EST -əs ; eight spellings ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Ἥφαιστος , translit.   Hḗphaistos )

549-415: A typical Pre-Greek variation and points to an original s . Hephaestus is given many epithets . The meaning of each epithet is: Hephaestus had his own palace on Olympus, containing his workshop with anvil and twenty bellows that worked at his bidding. Hephaestus crafted much of the magnificent equipment of the gods, and almost any finely wrought metalwork imbued with powers that appears in Greek myth

610-430: A vigorous man with a beard and was characterized by his hammer or some other crafting tool, his oval cap, and the chiton . Hephaestus is described in mythological sources as "lame" ( chōlos ) and "halting" ( ēpedanos ). He was depicted with curved feet, an impairment he had either from birth or as a result of his fall from Olympus. In vase paintings, Hephaestus is sometimes shown bent over his anvil, hard at work on

671-459: Is probably associated with the Linear B ( Mycenaean Greek ) inscription 𐀀𐀞𐀂𐀴𐀍 , A-pa-i-ti-jo , found at Knossos . The inscription indirectly attests his worship at that time because it is believed that it reads the theophoric name (H)āpʰaistios , or Hāphaistion . The Greek theonym Hēphaistos is most likely of Pre-Greek origin, as the form without -i- ( Attic Hēphastos ) shows

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732-402: Is referred to as his "ancient wife"), that they have since separated and Hephaestus is now married to Charis. In a much later, interpolated detail, Ares put the young soldier Alectryon , by their door to warn them of Helios's arrival as he suspected that Helios would tell Hephaestus of Aphrodite's infidelity if the two were discovered, but Alectryon fell asleep on guard duty. Helios discovered

793-534: Is said to have been forged by Hephaestus. He designed Hermes ' winged helmet and sandals , the Aegis breastplate , Aphrodite 's famed girdle , Agamemnon 's staff of office, Achilles ' armour, Diomedes ' cuirass , Heracles ' bronze clappers , Helios ' chariot, the shoulder of Pelops , and Eros 's bow and arrows. In later accounts, Hephaestus worked with the help of the Cyclopes —among them his assistants in

854-564: Is the Greek god of artisans, blacksmiths, carpenters, craftsmen, fire, metallurgy , metalworking, sculpture and volcanoes. Hephaestus's Roman counterpart is Vulcan . In Greek mythology, Hephaestus was either the son of Zeus and Hera or he was Hera's parthenogenous child. He was cast off Mount Olympus by his mother Hera because of his lameness , the result of a congenital impairment; or in another account, by Zeus for protecting Hera from his advances (in which case his lameness would have been

915-729: The Kabeiroi , who were also called the Hephaistoi , "the Hephaestus-men", in Lemnos. One of the three Lemnian tribes also called themselves Hephaestion and claimed direct descent from the god. Hephaestus is to the male gods as Athena is to the female, for he gives skill to mortal artists and was believed to have taught men the arts alongside Athena. At Athens, they had temples and festivals in common. Both were believed to have great healing powers, and Lemnian earth (terra Lemnia), from

976-597: The Odyssey Homer suddenly makes her his wife. On the island of Lemnos, Hephaestus' consort was the sea nymph Cabeiro , by whom he was the father of two metalworking gods named the Cabeiri . In Sicily, his consort was the nymph Aetna , and his sons were two gods of Sicilian geysers called Palici , who are elsewhere called the sons of Zeus by Aetna, or of Zeus by Thalia (another daughter of Hephaestus), or of Adranos . Hephaestus fathered several children with mortals and immortals alike. One of those children

1037-539: The Persians during their invasion of Greece , but to leave them in ruins, as a perpetual reminder of the war. The Athenians directed their funds towards rebuilding their economy and strengthening their influence in the Delian League . When Pericles came to power, he envisioned a grand plan for transforming Athens into the centre of Greek power and culture. Construction started in 449 BCE, and some scholars believe

1098-616: The persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire . Around CE 700, the temple was turned into a Christian church , dedicated to Saint George . Exactly when the temple was converted to a Christian church remains unknown. There are assumptions however that this possibly occurred in the 7th century. The addition of adjectives to churches, or their commemorated saints, is commonplace in Greek Orthodox tradition. The characterization as Saint George "Akamates" has been given many explanations. One states that it probably derives from

1159-536: The portico called the King's Portico is a temple of Hephaistos. I was not surprised that by it stands a statue of Athena, because I knew the story about Erikhthonios [i.e. the first king of Athens, a son of Hephaistos and Athena, birthed by Gaia the Earth]. In the 3rd century BCE a small garden of pomegranate, myrtle, and laurel trees and shrubs was planted around the temple. The sanctuary would have been closed during

1220-464: The semen off using a tuft of wool , which she tossed into the dust, impregnating Gaia and causing her to give birth to Erichthonius , whom Athena adopted as her own child. The Roman mythographer Hyginus records a similar story in which Hephaestus demanded Zeus to let him marry Athena since he was the one who had smashed open Zeus's skull, allowing Athena to be born. Zeus agreed to this and Hephaestus and Athena were married, but, when Hephaestus

1281-538: The 50 Nereids ) and the Oceanid Eurynome . In another account, Hephaestus, attempting to rescue his mother from Zeus's advances, was flung down from the heavens by Zeus. He fell for an entire 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. Later writers describe his physical disability as

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1342-476: The 5th century BC. He was a younger contemporary of Phidias and noted for the delicacy and finish of his works, among which a Hephaestus and an Aphrodite of the Gardens were conspicuous. Pausanias says that he was the author of one of the pediments of the temple of Zeus at Olympia , but this seems a chronological and stylistic impossibility. Pausanias also refers to a statue of Ares by Alcamenes that

1403-572: The Dionysan throng leading the mule show that the procession was a part of the dithyrambic celebrations that were the forerunners of the satyr plays of fifth-century Athens. According to Hyginus , Zeus promised anything to Hephaestus in order to free Hera. Hephaestus asked for the hand of Athena in marriage (urged by Poseidon, who was hostile toward her), leading to his attempted rape of her. In another version, he demanded to be married to Aphrodite in order to release Hera, and his mother fulfilled

1464-408: The all-seeing Sun, and planned a trap during one of their trysts. While Aphrodite and Ares lay together in bed, Hephaestus ensnared them in an unbreakable chain-link net so small as to be invisible and dragged them to Mount Olympus to shame them in front of the other gods for retribution. The gods laughed at the sight of these naked lovers, and Poseidon persuaded Hephaestus to free them in return for

1525-462: The assembly hall of the celestials; and "handmaidens wrought of gold in the semblance of living maids", who had "understanding in their hearts, and speech and strength", as a gift of the gods. They moved to support Hephaestus while walking. And he put golden and silver lions and 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 nor perish. A similar golden dog ( Κυων Χρυσεος )

1586-465: The battle Hephaestus fell down exhausted, and was picked up by Helios in his chariot. As a gift of gratitude, Hephaestus forged four ever-flowing fountains and fire-breathing bulls for Helios' son Aeëtes . The epithets and surnames by which Hephaestus is known by the poets generally allude to his skill in the plastic arts or to his figure or disability. The Greeks frequently placed miniature statues of Hephaestus near their hearths, and these figures are

1647-534: The building not to have been completed for some three decades, funds and workers having been redirected towards the Parthenon . The western frieze was completed between 445–440 BCE, during which time the statue of Athena Hephaistia had been added to the shrine next to the cult statue of Hephaestus, while the eastern frieze, the western pediment and several changes in the building's interior are dated by these scholars to 435–430 BCE, largely on stylistic grounds. It

1708-522: The consequence of his second fall, while Homer makes him disabled from birth. Hephaestus was one of the Olympians who returned to Olympus after being exiled. 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 stand up again. The other gods begged Hephaestus to return to Olympus to let her go, but he refused, saying "I have no mother". It

1769-690: The consort of Hephaestus is Charis ("the grace"), with whom he lives in a bronze-wrought home on Olympus, a name used later in Nonnus 's Dionysiaca . However, Hesiod names the member of the Charites who is married to Hephaestus as Aglaea , and the Orphic Fragments compiled by Otto Kern say that by Hephaestus, Aglaea became mother of Eucleia ("Good Repute"), Eupheme ("Acclaim"), Euthenia ("Prosperity"), and Philophrosyne ("Welcome"). Some scholars conclude that these references refer to

1830-509: The earth that are on fire, and yet we should never be done with it if we assigned to them giants and gods like Hephaestus". Nevertheless, Hephaestus’ domain over fire goes back to Homer’s Iliad , where he uses flames to dry the waters of Scamandrus River in order to force its eponymous deity , who was attacking Achilles , to retreat. In the Trojan war, Hephaestus sided with the Greeks, but

1891-504: The earth where it impregnates Gaia." In Athens , there is a Temple of Hephaestus , the Hephaesteum (miscalled the "Theseum") near the agora . An Athenian founding myth tells that the city's patron goddess, Athena , refused a union with Hephaestus. Pseudo-Apollodorus records an archaic legend, which claims that Hephaestus once attempted to rape Athena, but she pushed him away, causing him to ejaculate on her thigh. Athena wiped

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1952-516: The earth"—that he was also associated with gas "which takes fire and burns [and] is considered by many people to be divine" and that only later was a volcano considered Hephaestus's smithy. Hephaestus was associated by Greek colonists in southern Italy with the volcano gods Adranus (of Mount Etna ) and Vulcanus of the Lipari islands. The first-century sage, Apollonius of Tyana , is said to have observed, "there are many other mountains all over

2013-460: The first to celebrate a Divine Liturgy in the church. The last Divine Liturgy in the temple took place on 21 February 1833, during the celebrations for the arrival of Otto of Greece to his new kingdom. In the presence of the Athenians and of many others the bishop Neophytos Talantiou of Atalante gave a speech. When Athens became the official capital of Greece in 1834, the publication of

2074-623: The forge: Brontes, Steropes and Arges. He gave to the blinded Orion his apprentice Cedalion as a guide. In some versions of the myth, Prometheus stole the fire that he gave to man from Hephaestus's forge. Hephaestus also created the gift that the gods gave to man, the woman Pandora and her pithos . Being a skilled blacksmith, Hephaestus created all the thrones in the Palace of Olympus. According to Homer, Hephaestus built automatons of metal to work for him or others. This included tripods with golden wheels, able to move at his wish in and out

2135-569: The long north and south sides depict the Labours of Theseus. According to Pausanias , the temple housed bronze statues of Athena and Hephaestus. An inscription records payments between 421–415 BCE for two bronze statues but it does not mention the sculptor. Tradition attributes the work to Alcamenes . Pausanias described the temple in the 2nd century: Above the Kerameikos [in Athens] and

2196-484: The name of Akamantas, the son of Theseus and Pheadra , later transformed to Akamatos, and later still to Akamates. Another is based on the literal sense of the word akamates (= flaneur, or loiterer), because during the Ottoman Era the temple was used only once a year, on the day of the feast of St. George. A third option is that the name is from Archbishop of Athens Michael Akominatos, who might have been

2257-488: The oldest of all his representations. At the marriage of Peleus and Thetis he gave a knife as a wedding present. According to most versions, Hephaestus's consort is Aphrodite , who is unfaithful to Hephaestus with a number of gods and mortals, including Ares (see Hephaestus and Aphrodite, above ). However, some sources say that Hephaestus is married to one of the Charites . In Book XVIII of Homer 's Iliad ,

2318-600: The opisthodomos are decorated with continuous Ionic friezes instead of the more typical Doric triglyphs , supplementing the sculptures at the pediments. In the pediments, the Birth of Athena (east) and the Return of Hephaistos to Olympos (west), and, as akroteria, the Nereids Thetis and Eurynome (west) accompanied by Nikai, the two ensembles are dated to ca. 430 and ca. 420–413 BCE respectively. The frieze of

2379-507: The pronaos depicts a scene from the battle of Theseus with the Pallantides in the presence of gods while the frieze of the opisthodomos shows the battle of Centaurs and Lapiths . Only 18 of the 68  metopes of the temple of Hephaestus were sculpted, concentrated especially on the east side of the temple; the rest were perhaps painted. The ten metopes on the east side depict the Labours of Heracles . The four easternmost metopes on

2440-413: The relevant royal edict was made in this temple that was the place of the last public turnout of the Athenians. It was used as a burial place for non-Orthodox Europeans in the 19th century, among whom were many philhellenes who gave their lives in the cause of Greek War of Independence (1821–1830). Among those buried in the site was John Tweddel , a friend of Lord Elgin , while excavations also revealed

2501-540: The request. The theme of the return of Hephaestus , popular among the Attic vase-painters whose wares were favored among the Etruscans , may have introduced this theme to Etruria. In the vase-painters' portrayal of the procession, Hephaestus was mounted on a mule or a horse, with Dionysus holding the bridle and carrying Hephaestus' tools (including a double-headed axe ). The traveller Pausanias spoke of having seen

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2562-464: The result of his fall rather than the reason for it). 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 centres of Greece, particularly Athens . The cult of Hephaestus was based in Lemnos . Hephaestus's symbols are a smith's hammer , anvil , and a pair of tongs . Hephaestus

2623-497: The same goddess under different names, although in the Dionysiaca both Aglaea and Charis appear as separate characters (Aglaea refers to Charis as a separate attendant of Aphrodite when speaking to Eros ). Károly Kerényi notes that "charis" also means "the delightfulness of art" and supposes that Aphrodite is viewed as a work of art, speculating that Aphrodite could also have been called Charis as an alternative name, for in

2684-527: The spot on which Hephaestus had fallen, was believed to cure madness, snakebite and haemorrhage; priests of Hephaestus knew how to cure wounds inflicted by snakes. He was represented in the temple of Athena Chalcioecus (Athena of the Bronze House ) at Sparta, in the act of delivering his mother; on the chest of Cypselus, giving Achilles's armor to Thetis; and at Athens there was the famous statue of Hephaestus by Alcamenes, in which his physical disability

2745-407: The temple are 13.71 m north to south and 31.78 m east to west, with six columns on the short east and west sides and thirteen columns along the longer north and south sides (with each of the four corner columns being counted twice). The building has a pronaos , a cella housing cult images at the centre of the structure, and an opisthodomos . The alignment of the antae of the pronaos with

2806-399: The third flank columns of the peristyle is a design element unique to the middle of the 5th century BCE. There is also an inner Doric colonnade with five columns on the north and south side and three across the end (with the corner columns counted twice). The decorative sculptures highlight the extent of mixture of the two styles in the construction of the temple. Both the pronaos and

2867-432: The two and alerted Hephaestus, as Ares, in rage, turned Alectryon into a rooster , which always crows at dawn when the sun is about to rise. The Thebans told that the union of Ares and Aphrodite produced Harmonia , but that of the union of Hephaestus with Aphrodite, there was no issue. However, Virgil said that Eros was their child, and Nonnus supported this. Later authors explain this statement by saying that Eros

2928-436: Was Ares who undertook the task of fetching Hephaestus at first, but he was threatened by the fire god with torches. At last, Dionysus , the god of wine, fetched him, intoxicated him with wine, and took the subdued smith back to Olympus on the back of a mule accompanied by revelers – a scene that sometimes appears on painted pottery of Attica and of Corinth. In the painted scenes, the padded dancers and phallic figures of

2989-454: Was about to consummate the union, Athena vanished from the bridal bed, causing him to ejaculate on the floor, thus impregnating Gaia with Erichthonius. Nonnus refers to this tale of Erechthonius being born of the Earth after a "makeshift marriage", but says that Athena then nursed Erechthonius on her "manlike breast". Some state that his origin myth was that of a "daemon of fire coming up from

3050-673: Was also worshipped by the Trojans and saved one of their men from being killed by Diomedes. Hephaestus' favourite place in the mortal world was the island of Lemnos , where he liked to dwell among the Sintians, but he also frequented other volcanic islands such as Lipari, Hiera, Imbros and Sicily, which were called his abodes or workshops. Hephaestus fought against the Giants and killed Mimas by throwing molten iron at him. He also fought another Giant, Aristaeus , but he fled. During

3111-457: Was attributed to the monument in modern times under the mistaken assumption that it housed the remains of the Athenian hero Theseus , brought back to the city from the island of Skyros by Kimon in 475 BCE, but refuted after inscriptions from within the temple associated it firmly with Hephaestus. After the battle of Plataea , the Greeks swore never to rebuild their sanctuaries destroyed by

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3172-459: Was discovered in 1903 a Hellenistic copy of the head of the Hermes "Propylaeus" of Alcamenes. As, however, the deity is represented in a Neo-Attic , archaistic and conventional character, this copy cannot be relied on as giving us much information as to the usual style of Alcamenes, who was almost certainly a progressive and original artist. It is safer to judge him by the sculptural decoration of

3233-689: Was erected on the Athenian agora , which some have related to the Ares Borghese . However, the temple of Ares to which he refers had only been moved from Acharnes and re-sited in the Agora in Augustus 's time, and statues known to derive from Alcamenes' statue show the god in a breastplate , so the identification of Alcamenes' Ares with the Ares Borghese is not secure. At Pergamum there

3294-511: Was named after the god. In addition, the whole island of Lemnos was sacred to Hephaestus. Pausanias wrote that the Lycians in Patara had a bronze bowl in their temple of Apollo , saying that Telephus dedicated it and Hephaestus made it. Alcamenes Alcamenes ( Ancient Greek : Ἀλκαμένης ) was an ancient Greek sculptor of Lemnos and Athens , who flourished in the 2nd half of

3355-488: Was only during the Peace of Nicias (421–415 BCE) that the roof was completed and the cult images were installed. Many architects have been suggested but, without firm evidence, one refers simply to The Hephaisteion Master . The temple is built of marble from the nearby Mt.  Penteli , excepting the bottom step of the krepis or platform. The architectural sculpture is in both Pentelic and Parian marble . The dimensions of

3416-425: Was only subtly portrayed. He had almost "no cults except in Athens". The Greeks frequently placed miniature statues of Hephaestus near their hearths, and these figures are the oldest of all his representations. Athena is sometimes thought to be the "soulmate" of Hephaestus. Nonetheless, he "seeks impetuously and passionately to make love to Athena: at the moment of climax she pushes him aside, and his semen falls to

3477-408: Was present at the birth of Athena and wielded the axe with which he split Zeus' head to free her. Hephaestus is represented as older than Athena, so the mythology of Hephaestus is inconsistent in this respect. In one branch of Greek mythology, Hera ejected Hephaestus from the heavens because of his congenital impairment. He fell into the ocean and was raised by Thetis (mother of Achilles and one of

3538-416: Was set by Rhea to guard the infant Zeus and his nurse, the goat Amaltheia , on the island of Krete. Later Tantalus was said to have stolen the automaton when it guarded Zeus's 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. According to Attic vase painters, Hephaestus

3599-452: Was sired by Ares but passed off to Hephaestus as his own son. 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 with the story of Oedipus . Hephaestus was somehow connected with the archaic, pre-Greek Phrygian and Thracian mystery cult of

3660-787: Was the reason Poseidon intervened. Some versions of the myth state that Zeus did not return the dowry, and in fact Aphrodite "simply charmed her way back again into her husband’s good graces." In the Iliad , Hephaestus is described as married to the Grace Charis during the events depicted in the Trojan War , while in the Theogony , he is married to the Grace Aglaea . The later Dionysiaca by Nonnus explicitly states that, though Hephaestus and Aphrodite were once married (she

3721-454: Was the robber Periphetes . The following is a list of Hephaestus's offspring, by various mothers. Beside each offspring, the earliest source to record the parentage is given, along with the century to which the source (in some cases approximately) dates. In addition, the Romans claim their equivalent god, Vulcan, to have produced the following children: Hephaestus was sometimes portrayed as

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