Hephaestus: Revenge of the Blacksmith

Hello all!

It has recently been brought to my attention that I have never done a post about Hephaestus. This is an enormous oversight on my part, because Hephaestus is one of my favorite deities. After Hades, Hestia, and Hermes, he's my favorite in the Greek pantheon. (...It appears that all of my favorites begin with the letter H. Interesting.) At any rate, Hephaestus is awesome. So, without further ado: Here's a post about him!

The origins of Hephaestus are somewhat unique among the gods. One of the more popular stories out of Greek mythology is the birth of Athena. She sprang out of Zeus' head, fully formed. As such, Athena was born of only one parent.

Hephaestus' birth is somewhat similar, and in fact stemmed from the creation of Athena.

You may recall that Hera, the wife of Zeus, has never been particularly content with her husband's philandering ways. In fact, she frequently goes out of her way to make the lives of her spouse's various mistresses exceptionally miserable. You can probably guess that she was rather wrathful that Zeus had a child without her.

So Hera did the natural thing – she conceived a child all by herself, and gave birth to him. That'll show Zeus!! – right?

(Yeah, I don't really understand her reasoning either.)

Unfortunately, the child – Hephaestus – was born with a deformity. It is frequently listed as shriveled or curled feet. When Hera saw her son, she was horrified by his deformity. She picked him up and flung him off of Mount Olympus, winning the Mother of the Year award in the process.

Hera rejects her son.

(Can you see why I have serious issues with Hera?)

Hephaestus somehow survived the fall. He was taken in by nymphs and raised. Hephaestus grew to be a very talented craftsman – specifically, blacksmithing.

When Hephaestus grew up, he got his vengeance upon his mother. He forged a special golden throne and had it shipped to Olympus for Hera. When the goddess sat in it, she found herself unable to move!

Though the gods tried everything they could think of, they were unable to free Hera. (I'm sure some of the pantheon were rather amused by her difficult circumstances. Hera was not always the most popular goddess.) Eventually they reached out to Hephaestus, hoping that the god who had built the chair would be able to free her from it. However, the crippled deity refused. In his mind, his mother had received her just comeuppance.

Always.

Hera was only freed when Dionysus, god of wine and partying, got Hephaestus drunk and convinced him to release his mother from her chair-y prison.

Interestingly enough, Hera is not the only deity to be imprisoned in a creation of Hephaestus:

Aphrodite, goddess of love, became the consort/spouse of the blacksmithing god.  It was an interesting mix; she, who was named the most beautiful of all the goddesses by Paris of Troy, married to a god so misshapen that his own mother tried to kill him out of disgust.  The marriage was brought about by Zeus and Hera, and it was not a happy one.  Aphrodite frequently cheated on her husband.  One of her adulterous lovers was none other than Hephaestus' own brother, Ares.

When Hephaestus found out about the affair, he crafted more than just a plan.  He created a chain of magical links, and bound them above Aphrodite's bed.  The next time she and Ares started going at it, the trap was sprung.  The lovers found themselves wrapped in chains, naked and unable to move.  Hephaestus found them shortly thereafter.

(The most PG picture I could find of the affair.  However!)

(Look at his face!  That is one fed-up god.)

Hephaestus dragged them before the rest of the gods.  They were humiliated, and made to pay a fine for their crime.

His disability may have caused him hardship, but Hephaestus rose above it to join the other Olympians in the home of the gods.  Though many viewed him as hideous, his craftsmanship was gorgeous and second to none.

And that, my friends, is Hephaestus.

I hope you enjoyed the post!  It is my last one for the next several weeks.  As a reminder, I am going on temporary hiatus because I'll be out of the country.  I shall return mid-July, ish.  Take care all, and I'll see you upon my return!