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Myths about the Roman God Vulcan
It is probable that
Juno had some hand in his disgrace, since Vulcan,
afterwards, in resentment of the injury, presented his
mother with a golden chair, which was so contrived by
springs unseen, that being seated in it she was unable to
rise, till the inventor was prevailed upon to grant her
deliverance.
The first abode of Vulcan on earth was in the isle of Lemnos.
There he set up his forges, and taught men the malleability
and polishing of metals. Thence he removed to the Liparean
islands, near Sicily, where, with the assistance of the
Cyclops, he made Jupiter fresh thunder-bolts as the old ones
decayed. He also wrought an helmet for Pluto, which rendered
him invisible; a trident for Neptune, which shook both land
and sea; and a dog of brass for Jupiter, which he animated
so as to perform the functions of nature. At the request of
Thetis he fabricated the divine armor of Achilles, whose
shield is so beautifully described by Homer; as also the
invincible armor of Aeneas, at the entreaty of Venus. However
disagreeable the person of Vulcan might be, he was
susceptible notwithstanding of love. His first passion was
for Minerva, having Jupiter's consent to address her; but
his courtship, in this instance, failed of success, not only
on account of his person, but also because the goddess had
vowed perpetual virginity. He afterwards became the husband
of Venus.
He was believed among the gods presiding over marriage, from
the torches lighted by him to grace that solemnity. It was
the custom in several nations, after gaining a victory, to
pile the arms of the enemy in a heap on the field of battle,
and make a sacrifice of them to Vulcan. As to his worship,
Vulcan had an altar in common with Prometheus, who first
invented fire, as did Vulcan the use of it, in making arms
and utensils. His principal temple was in a consecrated
grove at the foot of mount Aetna, in which was a fire
continually burning. This temple was guarded by dogs, which
had the discernment to distinguish his votaries by tearing
the vicious, and fawning upon the virtuous.
He was highly honored at Rome. Romulus built him a temple
without the walls of the city, the augurs being of opinion
that the god of fire ought not to be admitted within. But
the highest mark of respect paid him by the Romans was, that
those assemblies were kept in his temple where the most
important concerns of the republic were debated, the Romans
thinking they could invoke nothing more sacred to confirm
their treaties and decisions, than the avenging fire of
which that god was the symbol.
This deity, as the god of fire, was represented differently
in different nations: the Egyptians depicted him proceeding
from an egg, placed in the mouth of Jupiter, to denote the
radical or natural heat diffused through all created beings.
In ancient gems and medals he is figured as a lame, deformed
and squalid man, with a beard, and hair neglected; half
naked; his habit reaching down to his knee only, and having
a round peaked cap on his head, a hammer in his right hand,
and a smith's tongs in his left, working at the anvil, and
usually attended by the Cyclops, or by some of the gods or
goddesses for whom he is employed.
The poets described him as blackened and hardened from
the forge, with a face red and fiery whilst at his work, and
tired and heated after it. He is almost always the subject
either of pity or ridicule. In short, the great celestial
deities seem to have admitted Vulcan among them as great men
used to keep buffoons at their tables, to make them laugh,
and to be the butt of the whole company.
If we wish to come at the probable meaning of this fable, we
must have recourse to Egyptian antiquities. The Horus of the
Egyptians was the most mutable figure on earth, for he
assumed shapes suitable to all seasons, and to all ranks. To
direct the husbandman he wore a rural dress; by a change of
attributes he became the instructer of smiths and other
artificers, whose instruments he appeared adorned with. This
Horus of the smiths had a short or lame leg, to signify that
agriculture or husbandry will halt without the assistance of
the handicraft or mechanic arts. In this apparatus he was
called Mulciber, (from Mulci, to direct and manage, and ber
or beer, a cave or mine, comes Mulciber, the king of the
mines or forges;) he was called also Hephaistos, (from Aph,
father, and Esto, fire, comes Ephaisto, or Hephaiston, the
father of fire; and from Wall, to work, and Canan, to
hasten, comes Wolcon, Vulcan, or work furnished;) all which
names the Greeks and Romans adopted with the figure, and, as
usual, converted from a symbol to a god.
Myths about the Roman God Vulcan
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