Name: Vulcan
Location: Thorvaldsen-Museum, Kopenhagen, Demark
Artist: Herman Wilhelm Bissen
Date: 1838
Location: Thorvaldsen-Museum, Kopenhagen, Demark
Artist: Herman Wilhelm Bissen
Date: 1838
Hephaestus was the god of fire and the patron of all craftsman, especially metal working. Hera created Hephaestus in order to get back at Zeus, who had fathered many children without her. Upon seeing her child, ugly and lame, she cast him from Mount Olympus. Hephaestus was raised by a relative of Poseidon, and he grew ever vengeful of his family, who lived far above him.
He grew to hate Hera for casting him away, and secretly plotted his revenge. Eventually, he put his great craftsmanship to use, and built a throne and sent it to Hera. Hera accepted it as a gift, but when she sat down in it, it trapped her, and rose up into the sky for all the gods to laugh at. Zeus attempted to bargain with Hephaestus, who said that he demanded either Athena, the goddess of wisdom (who he fixated on and later sexually assaulted anyway), or Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Zeus gave him Aphrodite, and Hera was set free.
Hephaestus was content with her, but Aphrodite was appalled at the sight of Hephaestus, who was born ugly and lame. She began having an affair with Ares, the god of war. One day, Hephaestus walked in on them in bed, and he chained them together in the bed, naked, and dragged them to Olympus for all to see.
Hephaestus is known for his cleverness as well as his vindictiveness, his solitary life style, his self-pity, and his bottled-up anger at most of the rest of the Olympians. He is a heavy drinker/alcoholic.