by Tim Harry

Created on: February 09, 2009   Last Updated: February 11, 2009

Hephaestus was the Greek god of Fire and Metal work, and as a result had important places of worship spread across ancient Greece. His name may not be one that you immediately think of when asked to name a Greek god, but he was to play an important role in many important Greek myths.

As with many tales of Greek gods and goddesses it is often difficult to get one storyline that allows for all of the tales told about Hephaestus. There is though an essence of similarity in many stories. Hephaestus is generally considered to be the son of Zeus and Hera, although there is a possibility that he was conceived without the intervention of Zeus. Hera may well have been seeking revenge for the Zeus bringing forth Athena without her.

It was immediately obvious that Hephaestus was unlike the other gods of Mount Olympus though, as where as they were all renowned for their beauty, Hephaestus was most definitely ugly. Hephaestus though did not stay long in Olympus as he was thrown either by Hera or by Zeus. Some sources claim that the ugliness of her child so offended Hera that she was the one to cast him aside. Other sources claim that Zeus threw him out in retribution for Hephaestus rescuing his mother from the golden chain that bound her between heaven and earth. It was a trap that Zeus had laid after one of a series of arguments the couple had had.

On being thrown from Olympus, Hephaestus fell to earth, a fall that was to take nine whole days. Hephaestus landed in the ocean near to Lemnos, where he was rescued by the nymphs, Eurynome and Thetis. This fall is often named as the cause of the lameness that afflicted Hephaestus. Hephaestus was raised on the island, and soon turned his hand to becoming a master craftsman. Early work included beautiful settings for jewels, gifts that he gave to the nymphs that had saved him. These works though caught the eye of Hera in Mount Olympus who wanted the master craftsman to create jewellery for her. Hephaestus though was planning revenge on the parents that had abandoned him, and had devised a trap for Hera. It was throne crafted in Hephaestus' workshop, and once Hera sat in it she was completely trapped with no possibility of escape. At other times this action may well have found favour with the other gods of Olympus, but at the time they needed Hera to be free. They begged Hephaestus to return to Mount Olympus, something that he refused to do.

To get Hephaestus to return required the work of Dionysus in getting Hephaestus drunk in order

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