.... The aim is to retrieve missing artifacts, investigate reports of new ones and understand the importance of what they are doing.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Hephaestus

Hephaestus was the Greek god of blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metals, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes. As a smithing god, Hephaestus made all the weapons of the gods in Olympus, and even robots. Hephaestus's symbols are a smith's hammer, anvil, and a pair of tongs.
Hephaestus is given many epithets.
Amphigúeis “the lame one” (Ἀμφιγύεις)
Kullopodíōn “the halting” (Κυλλοποδίων)
Khalkeús “coppersmith” (Χαλκεύς)
Klutotékhnēs “renowned artificer” (Κλυτοτέχνης)
Polúmētis “shrewd, crafty” or “of many devices” (Πολύμητις)
Aitnaîos “Aetnaean” (Αἰτναῖος), owing to his workshop being supposedly located below Mount Aetna.

Some of Hephaestus' ArteFacta:
Hermes' winged helmet and sandals
Aegis breastplate
Achilles' armor
Helios' chariot
Eros' bow and arrows.
Hephaestus' automatons of metal to work for him.
Tripods that walked to and from Mount Olympus.
Prometheus stole the fire that he gave to man from Hephaestus's forge.
The thrones in the Palace of Olympus.

"Hephaestus’s ugly appearance and lameness is taken by some to represent arsenicosis, an effect of low levels of arsenic exposure that would result in lameness and skin cancers. In place of less easily available tin, arsenic was added to copper in the Bronze Age to harden it; like the hatters, crazed by their exposure to mercury, who inspired Lewis Carroll's famous character of the Mad Hatter, most smiths of the Bronze Age would have suffered from chronic poisoning as a result of their livelihood. Consequently, the mythic image of the lame smith is widespread." Source Wikipedia