Dear Friends of ancient mythology! In the contributions in this thread I always oscillate between an overall representation of a deity and the description of a particular event. Actually, I tend to the latter. Therefore I would like to bring a supplement to Hephaistos. The Coin: Lydia, Sardeis, Domitian, 81-96 AE 31, 15.76g, 31.32mm, 30° struck under the strategos for the second time T. Phl. Metrodoros Obv.: ΔOMITIANOC KAICAP CEBAC - TOC Γ[E]PMANIKOC Bust, Aegis on left shoulder, laureate, r. Rev.: [EΠI T ΦΛ MHTPO]ΔΩPOV CTPA - TO B CAPΔ / [IANΩN] (TO ligate) Youthful Dionysos in long clothes, std. l. on throne, resting with l. arm on back of throne and propping his head in l. hand; with r. hand pouring wine from kantharos in a cup which Hephaistos holds to him with his l. hand; Hephaistos, nude, stg r., wearing his typical pointed hat and holding r. arm behind the back; in front of him long tings Ref: SNG von Aulock 3149; RPC 1321; BMC 128 Rare, F to almost VF The rev. of the coin obviously represents the scene immediately preceding the return to Olympos. Dionysos has invited Hephaistos to a feast to make him drunk with wine. From the numerous antique representations I have selected the following three: (1) On the first added picture we see a representation of this feast. However, the two gods are not among themselves, as on the coin, but beside Dionysos on the very left of the kline sits Ploutos with cornucopiae on the right side and both are surrounded by Satyrs and Mainads. A satyr supports the already drunken Hephaistos. Below Eros plays with a goose. It is an Attic red-figured crater from the time of 370-360 B.C., which is attributed to the Pourtales painter. Today in the British Museum. (2) A second picture shows the usual picture of Hephaistos sitting on the back of a donkey. In front of him stands Dionysos with a Kantharos full of wine. He is accompanied by mainads. This archaic scene comes from a black-figured Hydria from Caere, 550-530 BC. (3) As last picture I would like to show this detail of a Calyx of the Cleoprad painter, about 500 B.C. It shows again the return of Hephaistos to Olympos. He rides on the back of a donkey with his blacksmith's hammer over his shoulder. He is surrounded by the satyrs of Dionysos, who accompanies him to heaven. Today in the Art Museum of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts/USA If one looks at these pictures without bias, then a striking coincidence with Jesus' entry into Jerusalem becomes apparent. He also wanted to do this on the back of a donkey. For the ancient observer there is already a deliberate allusion. It is well known that this is not the only coincidence between Jesus and Dionysos. Finally, I don't want to withhold from you what I found in the Encyclopedia of Archetypal Symbolism by George R. Elder: Our own shortcomings are similar to those of Hephaistos: a hard to accept physical appearance, a naive tendency to trust the wrong people, a kind of sexual inadequacy. And these can drive us like a sting, as they have done with this god, to hard acts of revenge. Or perhaps we realize that they spur us on to compensate them in a kind of 'Hephastic Creativity' that we would otherwise never achieve. Exceptional athletes, including the light-footed ones, sometimes tell us such stories. But at least our imperfections bring us back to earth. They can even plunge us deeper into the depths of ourselves and let us ponder about the strange relationship between strength and weakness, success and failure, good and evil. Should we find ourselves there, Hephaistos advises us to use one of his more useful tools: the sense of humor! Sources: (1) http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/HephaistosMyths.html (2) An Encyclopedia of Archetypal Symbolism, vol.2, The body, by George R. Elder (3) Wikipedia Best regards
