Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Hephaestus.
The gallery
Apollo in the Forge of Vulcan
Diego Velázquez, 1630
An oil painting of the moment Apollo, crowned with laurel, arrives at the forge to tell Vulcan that his wife Venus is betraying him with Mars. Velazquez renders the smith god and his stunned assistants with striking naturalism, pausing mid-labor over the glowing metal. Painted during the artist's first Italian journey, it hangs in the Museo del Prado, Madrid.
The Temple of Hephaestus, Athens
Unknown architect, 449–415 BC
A Doric temple overlooking the ancient Agora of Athens, dedicated to Hephaestus and to Athena as patrons of crafts. Built in the fifth century BC, it is among the best-preserved of all ancient Greek temples, its colonnade and much of its sculptural decoration still standing.
Thetis Receiving the Weapons of Achilles
Anthony van Dyck, c. 1630–1632
An oil on canvas showing the sea nymph Thetis receiving from Hephaestus the divine armor forged for her son Achilles, the episode recounted in Book 18 of the Iliad. Van Dyck stages the exchange amid attendant figures and putti at the god's forge. The painting is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
On screen
Clash of the Titans
Desmond Davis
Harryhausen's forge-god arms the hero: mechanical owl, divine shield and the workshop that equips Perseus for Medusa and the Kraken.
Hercules
Ron Clements & John Musker
Disney's Hephaestus is the burly smith of Olympus, hammering out gadgets and one-liners in the gods' armory — the craftsman as comic relief with a forge.