Hephaestus, God of Forge, Fire, and Volcanoes
Roman name: Vulcan
Hephaestus and Ares were the sons of Zeus and Hera, the king and queen of all the Greek gods. Ares was the god of war. He liked to destroy things. Hephaestus was his opposite. He liked to build things. Hephaestus built all the gods' homes on Mount Olympus, including his own. If any of the gods needed anything built or created, he was always glad to do it. Some of their requests were rather unusual, but Hephaestus always found a way that made them happy.
He was not as successful with his marriage. Hera, his mother, arranged a marriage between Hephaestus and Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Aphrodite was not pleased about it, but what could she do? Hera was even more powerful than she was. Mostly, Aphrodite ignored her husband.
When Zeus directed Hephaestus to built a woman out of clay, he created the lovely Pandora. Some say Hephaestus created Pandora with characteristics he wished his own wife had - gentleness, kindness, and thoughtfulness - all the things his own wife was not. Zeus was so happy with the way Pandora turned out that he rewarded Hephaestus by making him the god of volcanoes as well as fire and forge.
