Sparks fly, metal flows freely and the forge is on fire. In the corner, there is a man hammering a piece of red-hot metal. In ancient Greece, this was an image that was seen regularly. It's no wonder that with something as important in life as blacksmithing, there was a god who embodied the very spirit of that work. The figure that the ancient Greeks worshiped as god of the arts was Hephaestus. He was said to not be the most attractive of the gods, described by Percy Jackson as "hideous... His head was deformed and bulging." (188) Although these may not be the words of an ancient Greek, the description perfectly shows why he was cast out of Mount Olympus by his mother, Hera, because he was lame. In another tale, Hephaestus was again thrown from the sky, but this was at the time by his father, Zeus. In the tale, Hera attempted to kill Zeus' demigod son Heracles after putting Zeus to sleep. Zeus woke up and seeing that his wife was trying to murder his son, he imprisoned her. Hephaestus saw what happened and attempted to free his mother, where he was then thrown from Mount Olympus and landed on the island of Lemnos. Here he built his forge under a volcano. Hephaestus is the son of Hera, and technically also the son of Zeus, although he played no role in Hephaestus' birth. Hera, who was jealous of Zeus for having an affair with the goddess of Prudence, or Metis, conceived Hephaestus parthenogenetically, or he was conceived without fertilization of the egg. After Zeus' affair with Metis, Gaia told him that the child he had with her would overthrow him. To stop this, he swallowed Metis so that he could give birth to his child himself. Because he could not give birth naturally, he had no way of getting the child out of his womb...... middle of paper ...... Achilles, often considered one of the greatest hero of Greek mythology, wore armor made by Hephaestus. It was said that the armor was invincible and therefore highly contested. When Achilles died at the end of the Trojan War, his armor was meant to be given to the bravest warrior. Both Odysseus and Ajax gave a speech and Odysseus received the prize. Ajax, so distraught at having been stripped of his armor by the clever Odysseus, committed suicide. This shows the kind of power Hephaestus' works possess. Ajax was considered one of the greatest heroes in history, but when he failed to obtain the magical armor of Achilles, he succumbed to jealousy and committed suicide. Works Cited Riordan, Rick. The Battle of the Labyrinth. New York: Scholastic, 2008. 1-361. Print.Bulfinch, Thomas. The mythology of Bulfinch. New York: Barns & Noble, 2013. Print.