Hephaestus: God of Fire
The Ancients
History Hit
4.7 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 8 January 2023
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This episode contains references to sexual assault and terms for groups which were classified that way at the time.
Hephaestus, son of Zeus and Hera, is the God of fire and foundry in Greek mythology.
He is the only god with a disability, a part of his identity that becomes a double-edged sword. Often treated disparagingly by the rest of the Greek pantheon as a result, chiefly by his own mother, Hera, who in some versions of mythology throws him off Mount Olympus she’s so ashamed of him, it also becomes a key component of his wisdom and creativity, using his blacksmith powers for both good and bad. In this episode, Tristan Hughes is joined by University of Oxford’s Dr Steve Kershaw where together they discuss Hephaestus’s origin story, his controversial marriage to Aphrodite, and why in Dr Kershaw’s words, he is “the god that should never be underestimated”.
The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie
Script written by Andrew Hulse
Voice over performed by Nichola Woolley
The Assistant Producer was Annie Coloe
If you enjoyed this episode, you might also enjoy other episodes in the series: Zeus: King of the Gods and Hera: Queen of the Gods.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Sing, Muses, sing to me a story of Olympus and the deathless gods who govern Earth, Sea, |
| 0:17.6 | and Sky. That is the advice King Cadmous seeks. You see, it is his wedding day. He is |
| 0:26.2 | to marry the divine hermonia, the bastard daughter of Aries and Aphrodite. But Cadmous is |
| 0:32.9 | no fool. Weddings, he knows, can be contentious affairs, non-moreso than the weddings between |
| 0:39.8 | gods and mortals. Golden apples, divine contests, even the theft of brides. No. |
| 0:50.1 | Cadmous has no intention of becoming the Muses' next cautionary tale. |
| 0:56.7 | And so, he asks the company of sisters to sing a story of each new guest as they arrive. |
| 1:06.9 | For warned is for art. So, what will they sing of this most recent guest? This great bearded |
| 1:17.5 | god who shuffles and stumbles and hobbles into the bronze-floored hall of Olympus. His eyes |
| 1:25.4 | are like holes in a forge's grate. Behind them, rages a ferocious flame. This is such blackened |
| 1:34.9 | herfistus. Smith's, writes, makers, every artifice of the world over pays him homage. He is the |
| 1:43.3 | god of the foundry, and he was Aphrodite's husband. The Muses have quite a story to tell of him. |
| 1:55.9 | It's the entrance on History Hit. Our interest in Hughes, your host, and in today's podcast, |
| 2:01.4 | where we are continuing our cracking form at the start of 2023. We've done the first writing, |
| 2:07.5 | and today we are continuing our special series about the Greek gods and goddesses. We've done |
| 2:15.8 | Zeus, we've done Hera, and now it's the time of her feisters, that god of fire of blacksmiths, |
| 2:22.7 | also a very cunning god to the son of Zeus and Hera. Now, if you haven't listened to the other |
| 2:29.2 | ones, we've released so far. Definitely do check those out. Zeus and Hera with Professor Michael |
| 2:35.9 | and Dr. Ellie Mackin Roberts respectively, do have a listen to those because they're great |
| 2:42.4 | on the one hand, but you'll also notice that these episodes, well, they're a bit different in their |
| 2:48.3 | format. And that's because we're doing something different for this special mini series, which has |
| 2:54.2 | been crafted by our lead producer, the legend that is Elena Guthrie. Now, these Greek myths, they |
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