Hephaestus
(Vulcan)

Hephaestus, the God of Fire "was a kindly, peace-loving god, popular on earth as in heaven. With Athena, he was important in the life of the city. The two were the patrons of handicrafts, the arts which along with agriculture are the support of civilization; he the protector of the smiths as she of the weavers"
-- Edith Hamilton.

According to Hesiod, Hephaestus, like his sister Athena, was conceived by an act of divine will rather than of love. After Zeus had produced Athena,

Hera, angry, quarrelled with her mate
And bore, without the act of love, a son
Hephaistos, famous for his workmanship,
More skilled in crafts than all the sons of heaven.
-- Theogony (trans. Dorothea Wender)

More often than not, however, he is referred to as the son of both Hera and Zeus. In any event, Hephaestus favored his mother and took her side when she argued with Zeus. Such conduct was bound to enrage Zeus, who ultimately threw Hephaestus down from Olympus to the island of Lemnos. In the Iliad Homer refers to this episode in order to account for Hephaestus's limp; however, in the same work, Homer says that Hera, ashamed at having given birth to a lame son, threw him down from Olympus. This latter tradition is also supported by the Homeric Hymns, in which Hera complains,

But the runt of all the gods is that son whom I bore myself,
Hephaistos with shrivelled feet. I flung him from my grasp
Into the sea's expanse, but he was welcomed there
By Thetis whose feet are silver, the daughter whom Nereus begot.

Hephaestus, as the God of Fire, is also the god of all metals and metallurgy. By the furnaces of the great volcanoes he sets up his forge, and there the Cyclopes provide their assistance. Virgil places his anvil by the furnace of Mt. Etna. It is to Hephaestus that the gods go when in need of a more glorious shield, a stronger sword, or some more delicate work of fine craftsmanship. All armor remarkable for its invincibility in battle is said to be the workmanship of Hephaestus. Even so, Hephaestus's preferred weapon is fire itself.

According to Hesiod, "The famous limping god, Hephaistos, made / Anglaia, youngest Grace, his blooming wife." Homer, however, has Hephaestus married to Aphrodite, and it is worth discussing which partner in this unhappy marriage best succeeded in setting the plains of Ilium aflame. Poseidon could quench the flames of Hephaestus's torch, but not even Zeus himself was willing to blow out a match made in heaven.