Hephaistos

Hephaistos (Hephaestus) is mentioned in several of my earlier works, including Five Years on Pelion, Ten Years at Troy, and Theseus. However, Hephaistos always seems to be in the background when reading ancient works such as those by Homer or Hesiod. He is probably one of the least known of the ancient Greek gods, but whenever the gods required a sword, armour, or a shield, they would go to Hephaistos, the god of fire, smiths, craftsmen, sculpture, and steelmaking. Hence my interest in this much-maligned fabricator of the superb armour and shield that Achilles wore when he avenged his beloved Patroclus’ death at Troy. Hephaistos created many other weapons and tools for not only the gods and demi-gods but also mortals, and it was not only weapons that Hephaistos could create. The mighty Talos, a giant bronze man that protected Crete; the automata, his assistants, were made of gold and could talk to and who could understand Hephaistos’ instructions. Hephaistos was not the archetypal Greek god that we read about; neither handsome nor athletic. Instead, he is described as ugly and deformed – he had a club foot. So disgusted was his mother when she saw what she had given birth to, she threw him from Mount Olympus. Given that Hephaistos was not blessed with good looks and was lame, it is a surprise to find that his wife was the beautiful Aphrodite, goddess of love and passion.