The mythology of Greece and Rome, with special reference to its use in art

by Otto Seemann

Fig. 21.—Hephæstus. Bronze Figure in the British Museum.

The worship of Hephæstus was not very extensive in Greece. The most important seat of his worship was the isle of Lemnos, where he was supposed to dwell on Mount Mosychlus with his workmen, the Cabiri, who answer to the Cyclopes of Ætna. He was held in great esteem at Athens, where, at different festivals, torch races were held in his honour. Young men ran with burning torches, and whoever first reached the goal with his torch alight received the prize. He was, moreover, highly venerated by the Greeks in Campania and Sicily, a fact which may be easily explained by the fiery mountains of these places.

The Romans called this god Vulcanus, or, according to its more ancient spelling, Volcanus. They honoured in him the blessings and beneficial action of fire. They also sought his protection against conflagrations. Under the influence of the Greek writers, the original and more common conception of the god gave place to the popular image of the smith-god, or Mulciber, who had his forges in Ætna, or on the Lipari Isles, and who vied with his comrades in wielding the hammer. In correspondence with the Greek myths, Venus was given him to wife; by this men doubtless sought to convey the idea that truly artistic works can only be created in harmony with beauty.

The chief shrine of the god in Rome was the Volcanal, in the Comitium, which was not really a temple, but merely a covered fire-place. In the Campus Martius, however, was a real temple close to the Flaminian Circus, where the festival of the Volcanalia was celebrated with every kind of game on the 23rd day of August.

Greek and Roman artists generally represented this god as a powerful, bearded man of full age. He is distinguished by the shortness of his left leg, by the sharp, shrewd glance of his cunning eye, and his firm mouth. His attributes are the smith’s tools, the pointed oval workman’s cap, and the short upper garment of the craftsman or humble citizen.

With the exception of some small bronzes in London and Berlin, and a newly discovered marble bust of the Vatican collection, we possess no antique statues of the god worth mentioning. The engraving (Fig. 21) is from a bronze in the British Museum.

10. Hestia (Vesta).—It must have been at a comparatively late period that Hestia, the daughter of Cronus and Rhea, attained a general veneration, as her name is not mentioned either in the Iliad or Odyssey. Hestia is the guardian angel of mankind, who guards the security of the dwelling, and is, in consequence, regarded as the goddess of the family hearth, the centre of domestic life. The hearth possessed among the ancients a far higher significance than it does in modern life. It not only served for the preparation of meals, but was also esteemed the sacred altar of the house; there the images of the household gods were placed, and thither, after the old patriarchal fashion, the father and priest of the family offered sacrifice on all the important occasions of domestic life. No offering was made in which Hestia, the very centre of all domestic life, had not her share.

And as the state is composed of families, the goddess of the domestic circle naturally becomes the protectress of every political community. On this account, in Greek states the Prytaneum, or seat of the governing body, was dedicated to Hestia; there she had an altar, on which a fire was ever kept burning. From this altar colonists, who were about to leave their native land in search of new homes, always took some fire—a pleasing figurative indication of the moral ties between the colony and the mother country.

As the hearth-fire of the Prytaneum was an outward and visible sign to the members of a state that they were one great family, so the Hestia of the temple at Delphi signified to the Greeks their national connection and the unity of their worship. Her altar in this temple was placed in the hall before the cave of the oracle; on it was placed the celebrated omphalus (navel of the earth, likewise an emblem of the goddess), Delphi being regarded by the Greeks as the centre of the whole earth. Here, too, a fire was kept ever burning in honour of Hestia. The character of the goddess was as pure and untarnished as flame itself. Not only did she herself remain a virgin, though wooed by both Poseidon and Apollo, but her service could be performed only by chaste virgins. She does not appear to have had a separate temple of her own in Greece, since she had a place in every temple.

The service of Vesta occupied a far more important place in the public life of the Romans. Her most ancient temple, which was supposed to have been built by Numa Pompilius, was situated on the slope of the Palatine opposite the Forum. It was built in a circle, and was of moderate dimensions, being, indeed, little more than a covered fire-place. In it the eternal fire, a symbol of the life of the state, was kept burning. Here, too, the service was performed by virgins, whose number was at first four, but was afterwards increased to six. Their chief occupation was to maintain the sacred fire, and to offer up daily prayers at the altar of the goddess for the welfare of the Roman people. The extinction of the sacred flame was esteemed an omen of coming misfortune, and brought severe punishment on the negligent priestess. The choice of vestals lay with the Pontifex Maximus. They were chosen between the ages of six and ten years, always out of the best Roman families. For thirty years they remained bound to their sacred office, during which time they had to preserve the strictest chastity. After the lapse of thirty years they returned to civil life, and were permitted to marry if they liked.