Re: Vulcan

In article <V4Sdnegi3vgz9g_VnZ2dnUVZ_jmdnZ2d@xxxxxxx>,
mark <whitroth@xxxxxxx> wrote:

I dunno 'bout this. In every mythology book I know of, from Edith
Hamilton on, Vulcan is the Roman cognate for Hephastos, explicitly,
as Minerva was for Athena, and Jupiter was Zeus Pater.

Yep. But originally, they were *not* the same deities: different
habits, different families, different likes and dislikes. Vulcan, for
instance, did not walk with a limp until Rome conquered Greece and was
conquered in turn by Hellenic cultural and religious icons, nor was
Jupiter Pluvius a thunder god. I believe that bits and scraps of
ancient Latin may still exist that bemoan the conflation of the two
pantheons (probably Cicero or one of the other more conservative Romans
whose writings survivied).

One of the reasons I dislike Edith Hamilton is that she neglected to
mention a number of things she found inconvenient - the story of Apollo
and Hyakinthos, for instance, or the real reason Zeus absconded with
that pretty shepherd boy Ganymede. For all his Victorian
circumlocutions, Bullfinch was a great deal more honest....

Blessed be,
Baird

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