Cult of Gods

Vulcan

Roman tradition. See the whole pantheon.

Domains
fire, smiths, volcanoes
Symbols and attributes
Hammer
Parents (per the sources used)
Juno
Giacomo Caneva, photograph of a statue of Jupiter in the Campana collection, 1850s.
Giacomo Caneva, photograph of a statue of Jupiter in the Campana collection, 1850s.

Key myth

God of destructive and craft fire, honoured with a festival (Volcanalia) on 23 August to ward off blazes.

Where sources differ or caution applies. Ancient sources disagree: Juno alone, or Jupiter and Juno.

Greek counterpart: Hephaestus on thegreekgods.org. Roman and Greek versions share names and stories in many places but began as different cults.

Primary sources

  • Varro, De lingua Latina V.70

All sources for the Roman pantheon

Lineage in the sources used: Juno, Saturn, Ops.

Place in the family graph

Choose a deity to see where it comes from. Dashed lines are links the sources describe that are not parent and child.

SaturnOpsJanusJupiterJunoNeptunePluto / Dis PaterCeresVestaQuirinusMinervaApolloDianaMercuryBacchus / LiberMarsVulcanVenus

More traditions

Odin rides to Hel, W. G. Collingwood, after the Poetic Edda.NorsePapyrus of Ani, British Museum (New Kingdom), a Book of the Dead.EgyptianA chaos monster and a sun god, drawn by L. Gruner for A. H. Layard's Monuments of Nineveh.MesopotamianVishvarupa Vishnu, Kashmir or Himachal, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art collection.Hindu

Elsewhere in the world

Deities in other traditions who share a theme with Vulcan: craft, smiths and making. This is overlap in one area only.

Egyptian

Ptah

craftsmen, creation by speech

Mesopotamian

Enki / Ea

fresh water, wisdom, craft

Celtic (Irish)

Brigid

poetry, healing, smithcraft

Celtic (Irish)

Lugh

skill in all arts, kingship, the sun (in later readings)

Aztec (Mexica)

Xipe Totec

spring renewal, goldsmiths

Yoruba (Orisha)

Ògún

iron, war, hunting

Compare across cultures