Hephaestus And Thetis Bound In Their Mortal Suffering
Infuriated that her husband Zeus gave birth to Athena on his own, Hera, the Queen of Heaven, impregnated herself to have a child independent of Zeus, and thus she gave birth to Hephaestus. Hephaestus, divine though he was, was not a handsome boy, and both his feet were weak. Hera was ashamed of him. The mere presence of Hephaestus was a permanent reminder of the goddess' precarious position in the quagmire relating to her husband, for her defeat would be eternally inscribed in her son's deformed legs. So, she flung him from Olympus into the water. Throughout the corpus of Greek myth, Hephaestus’ lameness becomes a key part of his iconography, and it is central to his role in Homer’s Iliad.
Ancient Roman reliefs of Hera casting Hephaestus from Olympus and Thetis reclining. Museo Ostiense Ostia Antica (Public Domain)
After falling for a day and landing in Lemnos, Hephaestus was found by the sea nymph Thetis, daughter of the ancient sea god Nereus, and Eurynome, the daughter of Oceanus, both of whom proceeded to act as his surrogate mothers for the next nine years. Hephaestus built his forge on the island's volcano, where he lived in an imperishable shining bronze mansion and produced his masterworks of metallurgy. Hephaestus founded the city of Hephaistia on the island of Lemnos, which bore his name and housed a temple in his honor. The harbor at Mudros, which means "mass of molten metal," was one such location on the island that was associated with the deity and his craft.
