Antique jewelry glossary

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Hephaestus

Hephaestus (Hephaistos) was a Greek god whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan; he was the god of technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metals, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes. The center of his cult was Lemnos but he was worshipped in all the manufacturing and industrial centers of Greece, especially Athens. Hephaestus was identified by Greek colonists in southern Italy with the volcano gods Adranus of Mount Etna and Vulcanus of the Lipara islands, and his forge was moved here by the poets.

The first-century sage Apollonius of Tyana is said to have observed, "there are many other mountains all over the earth that are on fire, and yet we should never be done with it if we assigned to them giants and gods like Hephaestus".

See also: Olympian gods

From: Wikipedia