Gods, Myths and Heroes - Part 86

 Vulcan

The Roman god Vulcan, corresponding to the Greek god Hephaestus, was the god of fire, volcanoes, and blacksmiths.  He is often depicted with a blacksmith's hammer.

Vulcan was the son of Jupiter, the king of the gods, but unlike the other gods, he was not supernaturally beautiful.  Instead, he was said to be ugly, and and he had a crippled leg.

This 16th century Venetian statue of Vulcan shows his crippled leg.  All the other representations I've seen show a normal-looking leg.

For the Romans, Vulcan had a forge inside the volcano Mt. Etna in Sicily, and when he was angry, Mt. Etna erupted.

Because he was ugly, his romantic story was different from other gods, too.  Above, Athena scorning the advances of Hephaestus (Vulcan), painted by Paris Bordone, 16th century.

So Jupiter arranged for Vulcan to marry the beautiful goddess of love Venus.  But Venus did not love her husband Vulcan.  Above, Vulcan, at left, Venus, and Mars, the god of war, at right, who is attracting Venus' attention.

Vulcan found out that his wife, Venus, was being unfaithful, having an affair with Mars.  He made a net and ensnared them while they were making love (above, Venus and Mars Surprised by Vulcan, a painting by Joachim Anthonisz Wtewael, c. 1606) and dragged them up to Mount Olympus to shame them.

So if you're having romantic problems, you're not alone: even the gods had romantic problems.

Our last view of Vulcan is a statue by Mario Raggi, 1897, that stands atop the tower of the town hall in Sheffield, England.  Sheffield was a center for making iron and steel and became known as the Steel City, hence the statue of the blacksmith god Vulcan as its protector.  

Raggi did not depict Vulcan as ugly or crippled but as a typical handsome Greek/Roman god.