Vulcan: God of Fire

In 1955, poet and scholar Robert Graves wrote, Myth has two main functions, the first is
to answer the sort of awkward questions that children ask, such as Who made the world? How
will it end? Who was the first man? Where do souls go after death?The second function of
myth is to justify an existing social system and account for traditional rites and customs. In
Greek and Roman culture, the ideas of mythology controlled almost all everyday life. They
explained why everything in the world was the way they knew it. (2)
Roman and Greek mythology have many similarities. One is the principles of certain
gods. Because Roman culture was largely influenced by the nearby Greeks, a lot of their gods
share similar traits and stories. A lot of the time, the Romans would simply rename them. An
example of this is in the Greek god Zeus, who is the king of all gods, father of many other gods,
the god of weather, law, fate. In Roman mythology, he is referred to as Jupiter, and although he
has a different name, both share the same basic principles. Another example is in the Greek
goddess Hera, the queen of the gods and goddess of women and marriage. In Roman culture, she
is referred to as Juno, and like Jupiter, shares the same basic principles as her Greek counterpart.
(2)
This could be due to the Roman Empires participation in the act of syncretism, or the
borrowing of gods and goddesses from other cultures. In the time of Caesars rule, it was
common for the Roman army to defeat another army, and claim everything that was theirs,
including the traditions and religion. (6)
Another way Roman and Greek mythology are similar is in that there is no original
source text for the religion. This is unlike Christianity, whose core values and beliefs stem from

the source book known as the Bible, or Hinduism, whose beliefs stem from the source known as
the Vedas. In Greek and Roman mythology, the myths were instead passed on as oral traditions,
and began to be gradually inserted into pieces of Greek and Roman literature. An example of this
is in the poet Homers epics the Iliad and the Odyssey, which tell the mythical story of the Trojan
War, which contained common names including Athena, Aphrodite, and Achilles. A result of
these stories was that many viewed the Trojan War as a divine conflict, as well as being a human
one. (1,2)
Another major similarity between Greek and Roman Mythology is that both have
polytheistic beliefs. In the Roman empire, Christians and Jews were considered atheists,
worshipping a false god, and not giving the proper respect to the gods of Rome. The general
suspicion surrounding the new faith eventually turned into the prosecution of many Christians.
(2)
One of the gods of Roman mythology was Vulcan. Vulcan was the Roman god of fire,
being linked to the more destructive forces of fire such as volcanoes and conflagrations, or very
destructive fires. He is known in Greek mythology by the name of Hephaestus, who shares very
similar traits. Vulcan is also the Roman god of craftsmanship, and was believed to have a forge
beneath Mount Etna. It was here that he would forge weapons for the gods and heroes. (3,4)
Vulcan is the son of Jupiter, the king of the gods and god of weather, law, and fate, and
Juno, the queen of the gods and goddess of women. He is more than often depicted wielding a
blacksmiths hammer. It has been supposed that his name does not come from Latin, the native
language of the Roman empire, but that it was related to the Cretan god Velchanos, a god of
nature and the nether world. (5)

Every year, the Roman empire would hold a festival in his honor. The Vulcanalia would
be held on August 23 of each year. The people would light bonfires in honor of the god of fire,
and live fish or small animals were thrown into the fires as sacrifices, to be consumed in the
place of humans. It was recorded that during the Vulcanalia, people would hang their cloths and
fabrics under the sun. This tradition might show the theological connection between Vulcan and
the divinized Sun. (5)
The story of Vulcans origin is as followed: Being the son of Jupiter and Juno, Vulcan
was born as a small and ugly child. Juno was so horrified that she threw Vulcan off Mount
Olympus, which he rolled down for a full day and full night. He reached the bottom, and rolled
into the sea. One of his legs broke as he hit the water, and he sank to the bottom. The sea-nymph
Thetis found him and took him to her underwater grotto, where she planned to raise him as her
own son. (5)
While late in his childhood, Vulcan found a remaining coal from a fishermans fire, and
became obsessed with the still red-hot coal. He closed it in a clam shell and returned to the
grotto, where he proceeded to make fire with it. Vulcan stared at the fire for hours, and on the
second day, he discovered that he could make certain stones sweat iron, silver, or gold. On the
third day, he began to beat the cooled metals into different shapes, including bracelets, chains,
swords, and shields. When Juno found out that her once abandoned son had become a talented
blacksmith, she became angry and demanded that her son return home. Vulcan refused, but
sent her a beautiful chair instead. When she sat in the chair, she discovered that it was a trap, and
she became fastened to the chair. Jupiter came to an agreement with Vulcan that if he were to
undo the chair, Jupiter would give him Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, as a wife. Vulcan
agreed and was married to Venus. It is said that whenever Venus was unfaithful, Vulcan would

become furious, and beat the red-hot metal with so much force that smoke and sparks would rise
from his forge through the mountain, creating a volcanic eruption. (5)
In conclusion, Greek and Roman mythology are very similar in many ways, including
sharing the concepts of gods, for example, Vulcan, the Roman god of craftsmanship and fire.

Works Cited
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

http://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/The_Myths/Trojan_War/trojan_war.html
http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/greek-mythology
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vulcan
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/v/vulcan.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_(mythology)
6. BBC Network documentary