Hephaestos is god of smiths, craftsmen and inventors, particularly metal-workers.*

Myth

Hephaestos' first myth is that of his birth to Hera; he may or may not be the son of Zeus as well (if he is not, he is then Hera's alone). In any case, he was born lame, and Hera rejected him, throwing him out of Olympos to the earth, where he was raised by Thetis.

Another story tells of Hephaestos' revenge against Hera. He makes for her a beautiful throne and presents it to her. Pleased with the gift, she sits in it--and is immediately stuck. Eventually, of course, Hephaestos frees his mother from this trap, having been convinced to do so by Dionysos following a bout of drinking.

He also takes part in the story of Athena's birth, acting as the "midwife" who frees her from Zeus' head by a blow with an axe.

In one of Hephaestos' tales, he is married to Aphrodite; in this story, when Hephaestos went off to work, her lover Ares came to her. When Hephaestos learned of this, he invented a cunning net to trap the lovers, making them immobile. Once they were trapped, he called all the gods to see them and make fun of them. Hermes, however, said that he would gladly be restrained as Ares was if only he could lie beside the beautiful Aphrodite! This story appears in the Odyssey; in the Iliad, Hephaestos has an entirely different spouse, Charis.

Worship

Although in many parts of Greece Hephaestos was less important than some other gods, in Athens Hephaestos was well honored (due at least in part to his fatherhood of Athens' first king, Erichthonios) and is celebrated at several festivals**, including the following:

• Hephaesteia, of which little is known, not even the date; it is known to have included a torch race
• Khalkeia, a festival of craftsmen (especially bronze-workers) for Athena and Hephaestos

References

• Burkert, Walter. Greek Religion. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1985.
• Gantz, Timothy. Early Greek Myth, Volumes 1 and 2. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1993.
• Kerenyi, Karl. The Gods of the Greeks. Thames and Hudson, London, 1951.
• Parke, H.W. Festivals of the Athenians. Thames and Hudson, London, 1977.
• Simon, Erika. Festivals of Attica: An Archaeological Commentary. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, Wisconsin, 1983.