Who's Who Greek Myth: Hephaistos: God of fire and metal smithing

God of fire and metal smithing, Hephaistos had his workshop on the volcanic island of Limnos in the north Aegean.

He was much revered on that island, and also in Athens, where a fine temple was built to honor him because he had sired the first king of Athens, Erechthus (in his failed attempt to rape Athena).

He was a lame god, with conflicting stories about how his malady. According to one version, Zeus had thrown him from Olympus because he had supported Hera in a quarrel, and he landed on the island of Limnos, where a people called the Sidies took care of him.

The local gods of iron-working, the Kabeiri, were said to be his sons. In the second version, Hera threw him into the sea because he was so ugly, and he fell down and down into the deeps for nine days, and was cared for by the Nereid Thetis and the Okeanida Eurynome, who raised him secretly in a cave under the sea.

From infancy until his ninth year, he practiced the craft of metallurgy down there, fashioning women's jewelry. After reaching the age of nine, wanting to reclaim his position on Olympus, he built a golden throne and sent it to his mother, Hera, who was touched at her son's lack of anger towards her, and sat on it. Invisible chains wrapped around her, binding her helplessly to the chair.

She sent Hephaistos' brother Ares to him to coax him to relent, but the heat of the forge fire prevented Ares' approach. Dionysos was then sent, and succeeded in plying the blacksmith with wine, but despite his drunkenness, Hephaistos demanded the hand of Aphrodite in marriage as condition for release of his mother. His bride's cuckolding of him with his brother Ares is a common tale.