Hephaestus, the God of Fire and Metallurgy

Parents: Hephaestus was a son of Zeus, the King of the Gods, and Hera, the goddess of marriage, although it was considered by some that he was conceived prenuptially.
Siblings: Eilithyia, the goddess of childbirth, Hebe, the goddess of youth and Ares, the Olympian god of War.
Wife: Aphrodite, the goddess of love.

Hephaestus was a very kind and loveable god, but was the only deity who was physically ugly and lame. When his mother Hera saw him for the first time, she was so frustrated that she took her son and threw him from Mount Olympus to the depths of the seas, causing a deformation to his leg. Hephaestus was finally rescued by two Nereids, Thetis and Eurynome, who raised him for nine years inside a cave, far away and hidden from his cruel mother.

Hephaestus had his working lay beneath the crater of the volcano of Aetna in Italy. There, he was working together closely with the one-eyed Cyclopes to create strong thunderbolts for his master Zeus. Hephaestus was also famous for having created the first woman of the ancient world, Pandora.

Usually, Hephaestus is depicted wearing a short tunic which was typical for craftsmen, and holding a double ax or blacksmith's pincers. Because of his disability Hephaestus leaned on a walking stick.

The symbols of Hephaestus were the fire, the axe, the pincers and the hammer.