Talk:Vulcan (mythology)

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Contents 1 Comments 2 Pandora 3 Sources 4 Requested move

[edit] Comments

This article contained this bit:

His name was originally spelt with an initial B, as appears from an ancient altar on which were inscribed the words BOLCANO SAC. ARA. This spelling indicates the true derivation of the name, which is simply a corruption of Tubalcain, who was "an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron"

(Gen. iv. 22).

This strikes me as profoundly implausible. Partridge's Origins, not the best source, connects Vulcan with Welkhanos, a Cretan god of destructive fire of whom I have never heard. The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible relates Tubalcain to the Tibarenoi, "workers of iron and steel" who are equally unfamiliar. The accentuation is wrong for the tu- element to simply disappear in a Latin word. Does anyone know of the source of this claim? --- Smerdis of Tlön 03:11, 23 Oct 2003 (UTC)

[edit] Pandora

As it was the section (if it can be called that) containing Pandora was ill worded. This still doesn't sound as good as it could, but it is better than the 'beautiful, but dumb' Pandora. -ImmortalGoddezz 01:47, 11 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Sources

Some potential sources: general mythology; (wp gwp g | eb 1911 co en gct sw)

[edit] Requested move

I propose moving this page from Vulcan (mythology) to Vulcan (god). While mythology forms part of the article and should certainly be covered, it also treats religious worship of Vulcan, and we should making any assumptions in the title about how far the cult-figure overlaps with the mythical figure. "God" applies adequately to both. EALacey 10:53, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

• Oppose Mythology includes gods. This is the usual and rational dab; compare Venus (mythology). Septentrionalis PMAnderson 20:18, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
  • Mythology includes gods as characters in myths, but doesn't include gods as objects of cult. A statement like "the Vulcanalia was celebrated on August 23 each year" is not part of "mythology". I would maintain on the same grounds that Venus (mythology) should be at Venus (goddess). EALacey 20:52, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
  • I'll add that I think you're right to point out that consistency is an issue. It might be better to discuss this more generally at somewhere like Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Classical Greece and Rome. Or has there already been a discussion on this point somewhere? (We don't seem to have a naming convention for deities.) EALacey 20:56, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
    • If you make a guideline proposal, let me know. The fundamental problem with the idea is that it makes unavoidable "who is a god?" (The examples I can come up with mostly aren't ambiguous, but I mean figures like Heracles, Proteus, Candaon, Castor, Aeolus.) Septentrionalis PMAnderson 02:06, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
      • That's a good point. However, using "mythology" consistently also creates problems in individual cases, especially for deities with no associated mythology. An example would be Terminus, whom I moved from Terminus (mythology) to Terminus (god) a while ago thinking that would be uncontroverisal.
        • I'm not going to move it back; but I see it does have the story about Terminus refusing to be moved. I'd call that a myth; such as Roman myths are. Remember, disambiguation is not intended to be even as precise as categories; if we had a technical fix where all these articles were called Vulcan and it was still trivial to link to the right one, we'd use it. Septentrionalis PMAnderson 15:24, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
• Oppose - Per reasons given by PMAnderson. Reginmund 22:52, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

I've withdrawn the request for a move for now, since it's clear a consensus is needed on the naming issue in general and not with regard to Vulcan alone. Pmanderson rightly points out that "god" is a problematic description for Heracles etc. But I think there are strong reasons not to use "mythology" as the regular disambiguator, since the result of this is at best to marginalise systematically the non-mythological aspects of Greco-Roman religion, or at worst to imply the POV that all ancient concern with the gods was directed towards mythological conceptions of them. EALacey 06:37, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

It's simply the convention. --Wetman 16:36, 3 August 2007 (UTC)