Hephaestus Symbolism

I am Hephaestus, the god of fire, smiths, stonemasonry, and metalworking. I have a few symbols associated with my name. These symbols are an anvil, a hammer, and tongs. I also have sacred animals which is a donkey, crane, and guard dogs. I've rode that donkey around many times and drawings have even shown me on it, the crane represents my time on the Okeanos River, and the dogs are depicted at my temple in Aetna. My history is somewhat confusing because my mother is Hera for sure but Zeus may or may not be my father. I was originally told that my father was Zeus and Hera was my mother, however I was later told that my mother birthed me by herself because of her jealousy over Zeus birthing Athena by himself. And yet another one states that …show more content…
They say my mother saw my imperfections and threw me off Mount Olympus, however some say I got in-between a fight with Zeus and Hera and he threw me off, but it was so long ago I can't quite remember. Even though my origins might not be clear, one thing is and that is that I'm a great craftsman. I even built the palaces for the gods on Mount Olympus. I've made the weapons for the gods, including the knife used to kill Medusa and Artemis and Apollo's arrows when it comes to some of the weapons I've made. I made the armour and shield used by Achille's, Hercules's armour and shield, and Zeus's and Athena's aegis shield or breastplate, I can't remember which piece it was, but I did use goat skin. I even made the first woman, Pandora. I even had made the shackles used to hold Prometheus. I even have marvelous inventions such as my automatons and when I made the gods' thrones, I made Hera's so that when she sat down she was trapped in the …show more content…
In the war of The Gods & Giants I threw molten iron at Mimas a giant, and I was once carried off of the battlefield in a chariot by Helios after being exhausted. When me and the other gods fled to Egypt Typhoeus followed our trail and I became an ox and Zeus hit him with a lightning bolt and I set up my anvils and red hot blooms on his neck. I once after being deserted by Aphrodite, tried to rape Athena. I chased here and caught up to her, even though my leg is lame, but with her being the model of virgin self-control, wouldn't let me, but when I finished my semen landed on her leg, and her being disgusted led her to wipe it of with wool and planting it in Akte and from there Erikhthonios as born and became the king of Athens. I have a few cult followings, the biggest being in Lemnos, where the whole city was alive with dance and banquet and the scent of burnt-offerings filled the air. The one in Elis even says my statue has a Zeus-like feel to it. I have a few places around. I, of course, have a forge on Mount Olympus that’s a forge and palace. There was a forge on Lemnos, one on an island in Sicily that was a volcanic forge, and my first one at Okeanos