Vulcan (mythology)

Vulcan wearing the exomis (tunic) and pilos (conical hat), Roman bronze, 1st century AD?

Vulcan (Latin: Vulcanus), aka Mulciber, is the god of beneficial and hindering fire,^[1] including the fire of volcanoes in ancient Roman religion and Roman Neopaganism. He is known as Sethlans in Etruscan mythology. He was worshipped at an annual festival on August 23 known as the Volcanalia.

The god belongs to the most ancient stage of Roman religion: Varro citing the Annales Maximi, recalls that king Titus Tatius had dedicated altars to a series of deities among which Vulcan is mentioned.^[2]

Vulcan was identified with the Greek god of fire and smithery, Hephaestus.

Etymology

The origin of the name is unclear and debated. Roman tradition maintained that it was related to Latin words connected to lightning (fulgur, fulgere, fulmen), which in turn was thought of as related to fire.^[3] This interpretation is supported by Walter William Skeat in his etymological dictionary as meaning 'lustre'.^[4]

It has been supposed that his name was not Latin but related to that of the Cretean god Velchanos, a god of nature and the nether world.^[5] Wolfgang Meid has refused this identification as phantastic.^[6]

Christian Guyonvarc'h has proposed the identification with the Irish name Olcan (Ogamic Ulccagni, in the genitive). Vassilij Abaev compares it with the Ossetic -waergon, a variant of the name of Kurdalaegon, the smith of the Nartic epopea. Since the name in its normal form Kurdalaegon is stable and has a clear meaning (kurd smith+ on of the family+ Alaeg name of one of the Nartic families, this hypothesis has been considered unacceptable by Dumezil^[7]

Worship

Vulcan's oldest shrine in Rome, called the "Volcanal", was situated at the foot of the Capitoline in the Forum Romanum, and was reputed to date to the archaic period of the kings of Rome,^[8][9] and to have been established on the site by Titus Tatius,^[10] the Sabine co-king, with a traditional date in the eighth century BC. It was the view of the Etruscan haruspices that a temple of Vulcan should be located outside the city,^[11] and the Volcanal may originally have been on or outside the city limits before they expanded to include the Capitoline Hill.^[1] The Volcanalia sacrifice was offered here to Vulcan, on August 23.^[8] Vulcan also had a temple on the Campus Martius, which was in existence by 214 BC.^[1][12]

The Romans identified Vulcan with the Greek smith-god Hephaestus, and he became associated like his Greek counterpart with the constructive use of fire in metalworking. A fragment of a Greek pot showing Hephaestus found at the Volcanal has been dated to the 6th century BC, suggesting that the two gods were already associated at this date.^[9] However, Vulcan had a stronger association than Hephaestus with fire's destructive capacity, and a major concern of his worshippers was to encourage the god to avert harmful fires. His festival, the Vulcanalia, was celebrated on August 23 each year, when the summer heat placed crops and granaries most at risk of burning.^[1][13] During the festival bonfires were created in honour of the god, into which live fish or small animals were thrown as a sacrifice, to be consumed in the place of humans.^[14] Vulcan was among the gods placated after the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64.^[15] In response to the same fire, Domitian (emperor 81–96) established a new altar to Vulcan on the Quirinal Hill. At the same time a red bull-calf and red boar were added to the sacrifices made on the Vulcanalia, at least in that region of the city.^[16]

It is recorded that during the Vulcanalia people used to hang their cloths and fabrics under the sun.^[17] This habit might reflect a theologic connexion between Vulcan and the divinized sun.^[18]

Another custom observed in this day required that one should start working at the light of a candle, probably to propitiate a beneficial use of fire by the god.^[19]

In addition to the Volcanalia on August 23, the date May 23, which was the second of the two annual Tubilustria or ceremonies for the purification of trumpets, was sacred to Vulcan.^[13][20]

A flamen, one of the flamines minores named flamen Volcanalis was preposed to the cult of the god.

The flamen Volcanalis officed a sacrifice to goddess Maia, held every year at the Kalendae of May.^[21]

Andrea Mantegna: Parnas, Vulcan, god of fire

Theology

The nature of the god is connected to religious ideas concerning fire.

The Roman concept of the god seems to be connected to the destructive and fertilizing powers of fire. In the first aspect he is worshipped to avert its potential danger to harvested wheat in the Volcanalia and his cult is located outside the boundaries of the original city to avoid it causing fires in the city itself.^[22]

This power is however considered useful if directed against enemies and such choice for its location could be interpreted in this way too. The same idea underlies the dedication of the arms of the defeated enemies as well as those of the survived general in a devotion ritual to the god.

Through comparative interpretation this aspect has been connected to the third (or defensive) fire in the Vedic theory of the three sacrificial fires.^[23]

Another meaning of Vulcan is related to male fertilizing power. In various Latin and Roman legends he is the father of famous characters, such as the founder of Praeneste Caeculus, Cacus, a primordial monstrous being that inhabited the site of the Aventine in Rome and Roman king Servius Tullius. In a variant of the story of the birth of Romulus the details are identical even though Vulcan is not explicitly mentioned.^[24]

Some scholars think that he might be the unknown god who impregnated goddesses Fortuna Primigenia at Praeneste and Feronia at Anxur. In this case he would be the father of Jupiter.^[25] However this view is in conflict with that links the goddess to Jupiter, as his daughter (puer Jovis) and her mother too as primigenia, meaning "primordial".

In all the above mentioned stories the fertilizing power of the god is related to that of the fire of the hearth.

In the case of Caeculus his mother was impregnated by a spark that dropped on her from the hearth while she was sitting nearby^[26]. Servius Tullius's mother Ocresia was impregnated by a male sex organ miraculously appeared in the ashes of the sacrificial ara at the order of Tanaquil, Tarquinius Priscus's wife.^[27] Pliny the elder recounts the same story, but states that the father was the Lar familiaris.^[28] The divinity of the child was recognized when his head was surrounded by flames and he remained unharmed.^[29]

Through the comparative analysis of these myths archaeologist Andrea Carandini opines that Cacus and Caca were the sons of Vulcan and of a local divine being or a virgin as in the case of Caeculus. Cacus and Caca should represent the metallurgic and the domestic fire, projections of Vulcan and of Vesta.

These legends date back to the time of preurban Latium. Their meaning is quite clear: at the divine level Vulcan impregnates a virgin goddess and generates Jupiter, the king of gods; at the human level he impregnates a local virgin (perhaps of royal descent) and generates a king^[30]

The first mention of a ritual connexion between Vulcan and Vesta is the lectisternium of 217 BC. Other facts hinting to this connexion seem to be the relative proximity of the two sanctuaries and Dionysius of Halicarnassus 's testimony that both cults had been introduced to Rome by Titus Tatius in accord with a vow he had made in battle.^[31] Varro confirms the fact.^[32]

Vulcan is related to two equally ancient female goddesses Stata mater^[33], perhaps the goddess who stops fires and Maia.^[34]

Herbert Jennings Rose interprets Maia as a goddess related to growth by connecting her name with IE root MAG.^[35] Macrobius relates Cincius's opinion that Vulcan's female companion is Maia. Cincius justifies his view on the grounds that the Flamen Volcanalis sacrificed to her at the Kalendae of May. In Piso's view the companion of the god is Maiestas.^[36]

According to Gellius too Maia was associated to Vulcan and he backs his view by quoting the ritual prayers in use.^[37]

However Maiestas and Maia are possibly the same divine person: see Ovid's explanations of the meaning of the name of the month.^[38]

The god is the patron of trades related to ovens (cooks, bakers, confectioners) as it is attested in the works of Plautus,^[39] Apuleius (the god is the cook at the wedding of Amor and Psyche)^[40] and in Vespa's the short poem in the Anthologia Latina about the litigation between a cook and a baker.^[41]

Sons of Vulcan

According to Hyginus' Fabulae, sons of Vulcan are Philammon, Cecrops, Erichthonius, Corynetes, Cercyon, Philottus and Spinther^[42]

Mythology

Through his identification with the Hephaestus of Greek mythology, he came to be considered as the manufacturer of art, arms, iron, jewellery and armor for various gods and heroes, including the thunderbolts of Jupiter. He was the son of Jupiter and Juno, and husband of Maia and Venus. His smithy was believed to be situated underneath Mount Etna in Sicily.

As the son of Jupiter, the king of the gods, and Juno, the queen of the gods, Vulcan should have been quite handsome, but, baby Vulcan was small and ugly with a red, bawling face. Juno was so horrified that she hurled the tiny baby off the top of Mount Olympus.

Vulcan fell down for a day and a night, landing in the sea. Unfortunately, one of his legs broke as he hit the water, and never developed properly. From the surface, Vulcan sunk like a pebble to the cool blue depths where the sea-nymph, Thetis, found him and took him to her underwater grotto, and raised him as her own son.

Vulcan had a happy childhood with dolphins as his playmates and pearls as his toys. Late in his childhood, he found the remains of a fisherman's fire on the beach and became fascinated with an unextinguished coal, still red-hot and glowing.

Vulcan carefully shut this precious coal in a clamshell and took it back to his underwater grotto and made a fire with it. On the first day after, Vulcan stared at this fire for hours on end. On the second day, he discovered that when he made the fire hotter with bellows, certain stones sweated iron, silver or gold. On the third day he beat the cooled metal into shapes: bracelets, chains, swords and shields. Vulcan made pearl-handled knives and spoons for his foster mother, he made a silver chariot for himself, and bridles so that seahorses could transport him quickly. He even made slave-girls of gold to wait on him and do his bidding.

Later, Thetis left her underwater grotto to attend a dinner party on Mount Olympus wearing a beautiful necklace of silver and sapphires, which Vulcan had made for her. Juno admired the necklace and asked as to where she could get one. Thetis became flustered causing Juno to become suspicious and, at last, the queen god discovered the truth: the baby she had once rejected had grown into a talented blacksmith.

The Forge of Vulcan by Diego Velázquez, (1630). This painting was produced during the renaissance, at a time when the god was no longer being worshipped.

Juno was furious and demanded that Vulcan return home, a demand that he refused. However he did send Juno a beautifully constructed chair made of silver and gold, inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Juno was delighted with this gift but, as soon as she sat in it her weight triggered hidden springs and metal bands sprung forth to hold her fast. The more she shrieked and struggled the more firmly the mechanical throne gripped her; the chair was a cleverly designed trap.

For three days Juno sat fuming, still trapped in Vulcan's chair, she couldn't sleep, she couldn't stretch, she couldn't eat. It was Jupiter who finally saved the day, he promised that if Vulcan released Juno he would give him a wife, Venus the goddess of love and beauty. Vulcan agreed and married Venus. He later built a smithy under Mount Etna on the island of Sicily. It was said that whenever Venus is unfaithful, Vulcan grows angry and beats the red-hot metal with such a force that sparks and smoke rise up from the top of the mountain, to create a volcanic eruption.

According to Virgil, Vulcan was the father of Caeculus.^[43]

To punish mankind for stealing the secrets of fire, Jupiter ordered the other gods to make a poisoned gift for man. Vulcan's contribution to the beautiful and foolish Pandora was to mould her from clay and to give her form. He also made the thrones for the other gods on Mount Olympus.

Sanctuaries

Vulcan's main and oldest sanctuary in Rome was the Volcanal, located in the area Volcani, an open air site at the foot of the Capitolium, at the North West corner of the Roman Forum, where there was an ara dedicated to the god with a perennial fire.

According to Roman tradititon the sanctuary had been dedicated by Romulus. He had placed on the site a bronze quadriga dedicated to the god, a war pray of the Fidenates. According to Plutarch though the war in question was that against Cameria, that occurred sixteen years after the foundation of Rome.^[44] There Romulus would have also dedicated to Vulcan a statue of himself and an inscription in Greek listing his successes. Plutarch states that Romulus was represented crowned by Victory. Moreover he would have planted a sacred lotus tree in the sanctuary that was still living at the time of Pliny the elder and was said to be as old as the city.^[45]

It has been hypotheisized that the sanctuary belonged to the poch when the Forum was still outside of town. The Volcanal is mentioned twice by Livy in connexion to the prodigium of the rain of blood happened in 183 and 181 BC.^[46]

The area Volcani was probably a locus substructus. It was five meters higher than the Comitium^[47] and from it the kings and the magistrates of the beginnings of the republic, before the rostra were built, addressed the people.^[48]

On the Volcanal there was also a statue of Horatius Cocles^[49] that had been moved here from the Comitium, locus inferior, after it had been struck by lightning. Aulus Gellius tells that some haruspices were summoned to expiate the prodigium, and they had it moved to a lower site where sunlight never reached out of their hatred for the Romans. The fraud though was uncovered and the haruspices executed. Later it was found that the statue should be placed on a higher site thence it was placed in the area Volcani.^[50]

In 304 BC a temple to Concordia was built in the area Volcani: it was dedicated by aedilis curulis Cn. Flavius.^[51]

According to Samuel Ball Platner in the course of time the Volcanal should have been more and more encroached upon by the surrounding buildings until it was totally covered over. Nonetheless cult was still alive in the first half of the imperial times, as is testified by the finding of a dedica of Augustus's dating 9 BC.

At the beginning of XX century behind the Arch of Septimius Severus were found some ancient tufaceous foundations that probably belonged to the Volcanal and traces of a rocky platform, 3.95 meters long and 2.80 meters wide, that had been covered with concrete and painted in red. Its upper surface isdug by various narrow channels and in front of there the remains of a draining channel made of tufaceous slabs. The hypothesis was made that this was Vucan's ara itself. The rock shows signs of damages and repairs. On the surface there are some hollows, either round or square, that bear resemblance to graves and were interpreted as such in the past^[52], particularly by Von Duhn. This scholar after the discovery of cremation tombs in the Forum, maintained that the Volcanal was originally the site were corpses were cremated.^[53]

Another temple was erected to he god before 215 BC in the Campus Martius, near the Circus Flaminius, where games in his honour were held during the festival of the Volcanalia.

Vulcan outside Rome

At Ostia the cult of the god, as well as his sacerdos, was the most important of the town. The sacerdos was named pontifex Vulcani et aedium sacrarum: he had under his jurisdiction all the sacred buildings in town and could give or withhold the authorisation to erect new statues to Eastern divinities. He was chosen for life, perhaps by the council of the decuriones, and his position was the equivalent of the pontifex maximus in Rome. It was the highest administrative position in the town of Ostia.

He was selected among people who had already held public offices in Ostia or in the imperial administration. The pontifex was the sole authority who had a number of subordinate official to help discharge his duties, namely three praetores and two or three aediles. These offices were only religious and different from the omonymous civil ones.^[54]

On the grounds of a fragmentary inscrption found at Annaba (ancient Hippo Regius) it is considered possible that writer Suetonius had held this office.^[55]

From Strabon^[56] we know that at Pozzuoli there was an area called in Greek agora' of Hephaistos (Lat. Forum Vulcani). The place is a plain where many solphurous vapour outlets are located (cur Solfatara).

Pliny the Elder records that near Modena fire came out from soil statis Vulcano diebus.^[57]

Legacy

A Vulcan Statue located in Birmingham, Alabama is the largest cast iron statue in the world.^[58]

Note

This article uses in part material from the corresponding article of the Italian Wikipedia.

See also

• Vulcan of the alchemists

References

External links

• Vulcanalia article in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

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