Hephaestus
by CTCWeb Editors
Tools of Hephaestus
Hephaestus’ trademark was his double-headed hammer, or pelekys, that he has shouldered in many vase paintings. Students should investigate the pelekys and other tools that Hephaestus used in his craft. Below are list of vases and texts that depict and describe Hephaestus’ tools.
Harvard 1960.236 - A satyr carries a pair of hammers for Hephaestus on his return to Olympus.
Berlin F 1704 - Hephaestus carries his double headed hammer.
Louvre G 135 - Hephaestus returns to Olympus carrying his hammer.
Berlin F 2294 - Hephaestus holds his hammer as he gives Achilles’ armor to Thetis.
London E 410 - Hephaestus carries the ax he used to split Zeus’ head so that Athena was born.
Munich 2361 - Hephaestus “is holding his upraised hammer in his left hand, against his left shoulder. In his right he carries his tongs with a glowing ember gripped in them, its white color mostly worn away.”
Toledo 1982.88 - Hephaestus holds his hammer in one hand a his tongs in another.
London F 68 - A drunk Hephaestus staggers in supported by a satyr as his pelekys rests on his shoulder.
Louvre CA 616 - wears a mantle, chiton and winged sandals and holds his hammer.
Delphi, Siphnian Treasury Frieze—North - Hephaestus works the bellows in this sculpture.
The Kleophrades Painter: Harvard 1960.236 The Return of Hephaistos by Michael Padgett mentions that the double headed hammer that Hephaistos carries is a trademark of the god.
Apollodorus 1.4.3.
Aeschylus Prometheus Bound 368.
Apollodorus Note 3.13.3.b.
Euripides, Electra line 442 - The chorus mentions Hephaestus anvil used to create the shield of Achilles.
Homer Iliad Book 15.309-310.
Homer Iliad Book 18.370-376 - Homer describes Hephaestus’ bellows, tongs and hammer.
Homer Iliad Book 18.470-469.
Homer Odyssey Book 8.274 - Homer mentions the anvil of Hephaestus.
Pausanias 5.19.8 - Hephaestus is depicted in a piece of art on which he appears to have weak legs. A slave must walk behind him holding a pair of fire-tongs.
Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 3.88.3.
