Vulcan is the god of fire in Roman mythology. His Greek equivalent is the god Hephaestus. He is the son of Jupiter and Juno, and the husband of Venus. In Roman mythology, he was one of the top 12 gods in the heavens - the 12 gods that made up the Dei Consentes, the council of Gods.
Vulcan (mythology)
Ancient representation
In the visual arts, Vulcanus is depicted as a blacksmith with a hammer making Jupiter's thunderbolts or with a sky-blue, cone-shaped felt hood. The motif of the lame leg is also found in other forge deities (e.g. Hephaistos) or legendary blacksmiths such as Wieland or Daidalus. His forge was located under the volcano Etna in Sicily or under the island of Vulcano, which was named after him. Sacred to him were the cock, the lion, which was said to have a hot breath, the spruce and the iron.
On Roman coins he was depicted like the other deities in head profile with felt cap. Later, he was often depicted in a short working garment together with his attributes hammer, tongs, anvil, forge fire and framed by a building or laurel wreath.
Cult
He was worshipped together with some other deities as protector against conflagrations and therefore had the old epithet Mulciber ("appeaser" of conflagration), whom the pre-Roman Italians already worshipped as fire god. The name Vulcanus was also used metonymically for "fire".
With the Romans he had his own priests (flamen). His main festival, the Vulcanalia, was celebrated on August 23 (drought - danger of fires), when the heads of Roman families threw small fish and other animals into the fire to appease Vulcanus and thus alleviate the danger from fire.
Vulcanus was a deity of a destructive element, the untamed fire. Therefore, his temples were always located outside the cities. In Rome, the temple of Vulcanus was located at the Field of Mars. His counterpart was Vesta, the guardian of the hearth fire, with whom he held the lectisternium.