With Athena, though, there was no mother to point to as the enemy. Her jealousy toward Zeus’s many children was a common theme in myths. In carrying and birthing a daughter on his own, albeit in a very unusual way, Zeus had devalued Hera’s role as his wife. The story goes that Hera was jealous of her husband’s new child. When he did, Athena emerged fully formed and dressed in armor. Several months later, blinding headaches began to plague the king of the gods.ĭesperate for relief, he ordered his head to be split open. What Zeus had not known was that Metis was already carrying his first child. Hearing that she would eventually bear a son that would be strong enough to overthrow him, Zeus turned his first wife into a fly and swallowed her. More common, however, was the idea that Hera created him on her own.īefore marrying Hera, Zeus had been wed to the Titaness Metis. The smith was present in these stories when Athena was born from Zeus’s head, and was in fact the one to deliver the blow to the god’s skull. In a few myths, Zeus is the father of Hephaestus. The story of Hephaestus is as amazing as the wondrous items he made in his forge! The Creation of Hephaestus Hephaestus, who was known as Vulcan to the Romans, didn’t exactly fit in with his fellow Olympians in art or in the mythology that surrounded him.ĭespite this, however, Hephaestus managed to marry the most idealized goddess of them all. While most gods were known for their beauty and strength, Hephaestus was known more for lacking those things.ĭescribed as lame and limping, he was usually depicted in art as hunched, deformed, and unattractive. Compared to figures like Zeus or Athena he seems like a very minor character. Hephaestus isn’t the first name that comes to mind when you think of the great gods of Olympus.
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