Hephaestus ( , ; ; ) is the Greek god of artisans, blacksmiths, carpenters, craftsmen, fire, metallurgy, metalworking, sculpture and volcanoes.[Walter Burkert, Greek Religion 1985: III.2.ii; see coverage of Lemnos-based traditions and legends at Lemnos] In Greek mythology, Hephaestus was the son of Hera, either on her own or by her husband Zeus. He was cast off Mount Olympus by his mother Hera because of his lameness, the result of a congenital impairment; or in another account, by Zeus for protecting Hera from his advances (in which case his lameness would have been the result of his fall rather than the reason for it).[
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As a smithing god, Hephaestus made all the weapons of the gods in Olympus. He served as the blacksmith of the gods, and was worshipped in the manufacturing and industrial centres of Greece, particularly Athens. The cult of Hephaestus was based in Lemnos.[Tripp, s.v. Hephaestus, pp. 270–271.]
Etymology
Hephaestus is probably associated with the Linear B (Mycenaean Greek) inscription , A-pa-i-ti-jo, found at Knossos. The inscription indirectly attests his worship at that time because it is believed that it reads the theophoric name (H)āpʰaistios, or Hāphaistion.[ At Google Books.][ At Google Books] The Greek theonym Hēphaistos is most likely of Pre-Greek origin, as the form without -i- (Attic Greek Hēphastos) shows a typical Pre-Greek variation and points to an original sy.
Epithets
The by which Hephaestus is known by the poets generally allude to his skill in the plastic arts or to his figure or disability. The Greeks frequently placed miniature statues of Hephaestus near their hearths, and these figures are the oldest of all his representations.[Heroditus, iii, 37; Aristophanes, Av., 436; Callimachus, Hymn. in Dian., 60.] The meaning of some of his epithets are:
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Amphigyḗeis often translated as "the lame one"; literally "lame on both sides" vel sim. (Ἀμφιγυήεις)
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Kyllopodíōn "club-footed" or "of dragging feet" (Κυλλοποδίων)
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Khalkeús "coppersmith" (Χαλκεύς)
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Klytotékhnēs "renowned artificer" (Κλυτοτέχνης)
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Polýmētis "shrewd, crafty" or "of many devices" (Πολύμητις)
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Aetnaeus "Aetnaean" (Αἰτναῖος), owing to his workshop being supposedly located below Mount Etna.
[Aelian, Hist. An. xi. 3, referenced under Aetnaeus in William Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]
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Polýphrōn "ingenious, inventive" (Πολύφρων)
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Agaklytós "very famous, glorious" (Ἀγακλυτός)
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Aithalóeis theós "sooty god" (Αἰθαλόεις θεός)
Mythology
Parentage
In Homer's Iliad, Hephaestus is described as the son of Hera; the Iliad seemingly also refers to Zeus as his father at two points, though it is possible these passages are not referring to Hephaestus as Zeus's literal son. The Odyssey does, however, refer explicitly to Hephaestus as having "two parents", the identity of whom would presumably be Zeus and Hera.[Gantz, p. 74.] In Hesiod's Theogony, Hera gives birth to Hephaestus on her own, out of revenge for Zeus having, without her, fathered Athena (the daughter of Zeus and Metis).[Hesiod, Theogony 927–928.] Apollodorus similarly states that Hera gives birth to Hephaestus alone, though he also relates that, according to Homer, Hephaestus is one of the children of Zeus and Hera.[Apollodorus, 1.3.6.] Several later texts follow Hesiod's account, including Fabulae, in the preface to his Fabulae. According to Attic vase painters, Hephaestus was present at the birth of Athena and wielded the axe with which he split Zeus' head to free her. Hephaestus is represented as older than Athena, so the mythology of Hephaestus is inconsistent in this respect.
Some sources state that the origin myth of Hephaestus was that of a "daemon of fire coming up from the Gaia"—that he was also associated with gas "which takes fire and burns and is considered by many people to be divine" and that only later was a volcano considered Hephaestus's smithy.[ Life of Apollonius of Tyana, book v.16.] Nevertheless, Hephaestus' domain over fire goes back to Homer's Iliad, where he uses flames to dry the waters of Scamandrus River in order to force its Scamander, who was attacking Achilles, to retreat. His favourite place in the mortal world was the island of Lemnos, where he liked to dwell among the Sintians,[Od. viii. 283; Homer, Iliad, i, 593; Ovid, Fasti, viii, 82.] but he also frequented other volcanic islands such as Lipari, Hiera, Imbros and Sicily, which were called his abodes or workshops.[Apollonius of Rhodes, iii. 41; Callimachus, Hymn. in Dian. 47; Serv. ad Aen, viii, 416; Strabo, p. 275; Pliny, Naturalis Historia, iii, 9; Valerius Flaccus, ii, 96.]
Fall from Olympus
In one branch of Greek mythology, Hera ejected Hephaestus from the heavens because of his congenital impairment. He fell into the ocean and was raised by Thetis (mother of Achilles and one of the 50 ) and the Oceanid Eurynome.[ Homeric Hymn to Apollo 316–321; Homer, Iliad 18.395–405.]
In another account, Hephaestus, attempting to rescue his mother from Zeus's advances, was flung down from the heavens by Zeus. He fell for an entire day and landed on the island of Lemnos, where he was cared for and taught to be a master craftsman by the Sintians – an ancient tribe native to that island.[Homer, Iliad 1.590–594; Valerius Flaccus, ii, 8.5; Apollodorus, i, 3 § 5. Apollodorus confounds the two occasions on which Hephaestus was thrown from Olympus.] Later writers describe his physical disability as the consequence of his second fall, while Homer makes him disabled from birth.
Return to Olympus
Hephaestus was one of the Olympians who returned to Olympus after being exiled.
In an archaic story,[Features within the narrative suggest to Kerenyi and others that it is archaic; the most complete literary account, however, is a late one, in the Roman rhetorician Libanios, according to Hedreen (2004).][Guy Hedreen (2004) The Return of Hephaistos, Dionysiac Processional Ritual and the Creation of a Visual Narrative. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 124 (2004:38–64) p. 38 and note.] Hephaestus gained revenge against Hera for rejecting him by forging her a magical golden throne, which, when she sat on it, did not allow her to stand up again.[A section "The Binding of Hera" is devoted to this archaic theme in Kerenyi (1951, pp 156–158), who refers to this "ancient story", which is one of the "tales of guileful deeds performed by cunning gods, mostly at a time when they had not joined the family on Olympus".] The other gods begged Hephaestus to return to Olympus to let her go, but he refused, saying "I have no mother". It was Ares who undertook the task of fetching Hephaestus at first, but he was threatened by the fire god with torches.[Libanius, Progymnasmata 7] At last, Dionysus, the god of wine, fetched him, intoxicated him with wine, and took the subdued smith back to Olympus on the back of a mule accompanied by revelers – a scene that sometimes appears on painted pottery of Attica and of Corinth.[Axel Seeberg (1965) Hephaistos Rides Again. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 85, pp. 102–109, describes and illustrates four pieces of Corinthian painted pottery with the theme][A black red-figure calpis in the collection of Marsden J. Perry was painted with the return of Hephaestus (Eldridge, 1917, pp 38–54).][L. G. Eldridge (1917) An Unpublished Calpis. American Journal of Archaeology, 21.1, pp 38–54 (January–March 1917).] According to Fabulae, Zeus promised anything to Hephaestus in order to free Hera. Hephaestus asked for the hand of Athena in marriage (urged by Poseidon, who was hostile toward her), leading to his attempted rape of the goddess, who rejected his advances.[Hyginus, Fabulae 166] In another version, he demanded to be married to Aphrodite in order to release Hera, and his mother fulfilled the request.[Slater, pp 199-200 "And Hera was released only when she swore to the truth of his birth story, or, in another version, promised Aphrodite to her son."]
The theme of the return of Hephaestus, popular among the Attic vase-painters whose wares were favored among the Etruscans, may have introduced this theme to Etruria.[The return of Hephaestus was painted on the Etruscan tomb at the "Grotta Campana" near Veii was identified by Petersen (1902); the "well-known subject" was doubted in this instance by Harmon (1912).][Petersen (1902) Über die älteste etruskische Wandmälerei, pp 149 Rome.][A. M. Harmon (1912) The Paintings of the Grotta Campana. American Journal of Archaeology, 16.1, 1–10 (January–March 1912);] In the vase-painters' portrayal of the procession, Hephaestus was mounted on a mule or a horse, with Dionysus holding the bridle and carrying Hephaestus' tools (including a Labrys). In the painted scenes, the padded dancers and phallic figures of the Dionysan throng leading the mule show that the procession was a part of the dithyrambic celebrations that were the forerunners of the Satyr play of fifth-century Athens.[The significance of the subject for the pre-history of Greek drama is argued by Webster (1958, pp 43) and more recently by Hedreen (2004, pp 38–64).][T.B.L. Webster (1958) Some thoughts on the pre-history of Greek drama. Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, 5, pp 43] The traveller Pausanias spoke of having seen a painting of Hephaestus in the temple of Dionysus in Athens. The temple had been built in the 5th century, but may have been decorated at any time before the 2nd century CE. When Pausanias saw it, he said:
Craft of Hephaestus
, Agora of Athens]] by Anthony van Dyck (1630–1632)]] Presenting the Arms of Achilles to Thetis by Peter Paul Rubens.]]Hephaestus had his own palace on Olympus, containing his workshop with anvil and twenty bellows that worked at his bidding.[Il. xviii. 370, &c.] He crafted much of the magnificent equipment of the gods, and almost any finely wrought metalwork imbued with powers that appears in Greek myth is said to have been forged by Hephaestus. He designed all the thrones in the Palace of Olympus,[The provenance of the staff of office is recounted in Iliad II]
Hephaestus also created the gift that the gods gave to mankind: the first woman Pandora and her pithos. In some versions of the myth,
Hephaestus gave to the blinded Orion his apprentice Cedalion as a guide. In later accounts, Hephaestus worked with the Cyclopes Brontes, Steropes and Arges, who were highly skilled blacksmiths in their own right and forged Zeus' Thunderbolt, Poseidon trident and Hades' helmet of darkness.[Virg. Aen. viii. 416, &c.]
Automatons
According to Homer, Hephaestus built of metal to work for him or others. This included tripods with golden wheels, able to move at his wish in and out the assembly hall of the celestials;[Homer, Iliad, 18. 373–379] and "handmaidens wrought of gold in the semblance of living maids", who had "understanding in their hearts, and speech and strength", as a gift of the gods. They moved to support Hephaestus while walking.[Homer, Iliad, 18. 417–421] And he put golden and silver lions and dogs at the entrance of the palace of Alkinoos in such a way that they could bite the invaders; these guard dogs didn't age nor perish.[Homer, Odyssey, 7. 91–4]
A similar golden dog ( Κυων Χρυσεος) was set by Rhea to guard the infant Zeus and his nurse, the goat Amaltheia, on the island of Krete. Later Tantalus was said to have stolen the automaton when it guarded Zeus's temple, or to have persuaded Pandareus to steal it for him. Later texts attempt to replace the automaton with the idea that the golden dog was actually Rhea, transformed by Hephaestus.[Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses, 11 and 36.]
Other myths
(Louvre)]]Hephaestus fought against the Giants and killed Mimas by throwing molten iron at him.[Apollodorus 1.6.2; other sources give Mimas' killer as Zeus or Hephaestus' brother Ares.] He also fought another Giant, Aristaeus, but he fled.[Gantz, p. 451] During the battle Hephaestus fell down exhausted, and was picked up by Helios in his chariot. As a gift of gratitude, Hephaestus forged four ever-flowing fountains and fire-breathing bulls for Helios' son Aeëtes.[Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.220–234]
At the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, Hephaestus gave a knife as a wedding present.[Homer, Iliad, v, 9 ff.]
Consorts, victims and children
Hephaestus and Aphrodite
Though married to Hephaestus, Aphrodite had an affair with Ares, the god of war. Eventually, Hephaestus discovered Aphrodite's affair through Helios, the all-seeing Sun, and planned a trap during one of their trysts. While the lovers lay together in bed, Hephaestus ensnared them in an unbreakable chain-link net so small as to be invisible and dragged them to Mount Olympus to shame them in front of the other gods for retribution.
The gods laughed at the sight of these naked lovers, and Poseidon persuaded Hephaestus to free them in return for a guarantee that Ares would pay the adulterer's fine, or that he, Poseidon, would pay it himself. Hephaestus states in The Odyssey that he would return Aphrodite to her father and demand back his bride price. The Emily Wilson translation depicts Hephaestus demanding/imploring Zeus before Poseidon offers, however, leading the reader to assume Zeus did not give back the "price" Hephaestus paid for his daughter and that this was the reason Poseidon intervened.[Homer, Iliad 18.382] while in the Theogony, he is married to the Grace Aglaea.[Nonnus, Dionysiaca 29.317]
In a much later, interpolated detail, Ares put the young soldier Alectryon, by their door to warn them of Helios's arrival as he suspected that Helios would tell Hephaestus of Aphrodite's infidelity if the two were discovered, but Alectryon fell asleep on guard duty.[Lucian, Gallus 3, see also scholiast on Aristophanes, Birds 835; Eustathius, Ad Odysseam 1.300; Ausonius, 26.2.27; Libanius, Progymnasmata 2.26.]
The Thebans told that the union of Ares and Aphrodite produced Harmonia, but that of the union of Hephaestus with Aphrodite, there was usually no issue. Because Harmonia was conceived during Aphrodite's marriage to Hephaestus, for revenge, on Harmonia's wedding day to Cadmus, Hephaestus gifted her with a finely worked but cursed necklace that brought immense suffering to her descendants, culminating with the story of Oedipus.[Roman Monica and Luke, p. 201]
The author of Octavia (traditionally attributed to Seneca, but now agreed to not be his) writes that "we delude ourselves that Eros was born from Venus and sprung from the loins of Vulcan", implying the notion that Eros/Cupid was the son of Vulcan/Hephaestus was a decently common one in late antiquity.[Seneca, Octavia 564] Nonnus also seemingly presents Eros as the son of Aphrodite and Hephaestus,[Nonnus, Dionysiaca 29.333] but it has been suggested that the use of πολυφράδμων (a word that can mean both 'wise' and 'cunning') to describe Aphrodite and the emphasis given in Hephaestus fearing that Eros would be born crippled like him, only for the child to be abled-bodied, strongly implies that Nonnus means for Ares to be understood as the real father, while Aphrodite passed her son as Hephaestus'.[Nonnus, Dionysiaca 5.135–43]
Hephaestus was somehow connected with the archaic, pre-Greek and Thrace mystery cult of the Kabeiroi, who were also called the Hephaistoi, "the Hephaestus-men", in Lemnos. One of the three Lemnian tribes also called themselves Hephaestion and claimed direct descent from the god.
Hephaestus and Athena
Hephaestus is to the male gods as Athena is to the female goddesses, for he was believed to have taught the mortals crafts and arts alongside Athena.[Od. vi. 233, xxiii. 160. Hymn. in Vaulc. 2. &c.] At Athens, they had temples and festivals in common.[See Dict of Ant. s. v. Hêphaisteia, Chalkeia.] Both were believed to have great healing powers, and Lemnian earth (terra Lemnia), from the spot on which Hephaestus had fallen, was believed to cure madness, snakebite and haemorrhage; priests of Hephaestus knew how to cure wounds inflicted by snakes.[Philostr. Heroic. v. 2; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 330; Dict. Cret. ii. 14.] He was represented in the temple of Athena Chalcioecus (Athena of the Bronze House[The Museum of Goddess Athena, Sanctuary of Athena Chalkiokos at Sparta]) at Sparta, in the act of delivering his mother;[Paus. iii. 17. § 3] on the chest of Cypselus, giving Achilles's armor to Thetis;[v. 19. § 2] and at Athens there was the famous statue of Hephaestus by Alcamenes, in which his physical disability was only subtly portrayed.[Cic. de Nat. Deor. i. 30; Val. Max. viii. 11. § 3] He had almost "no cults except in Athens".[Herod. iii. 37; Aristoph. Av. 436; Callim. Hymnn. in Dian. 60] In Athens, there is a Temple of Hephaestus, the Hephaesteum (miscalled the "Theseum") near the agora. Athena is sometimes thought to be the "soulmate" of Hephaestus.[Stein, p. 11, which goes on to say: "Yet a kind of cloudy mysteriousness shrouds their relationship; no single tradition was ever clearly established on this subject, and so what confronts us is a blurred image based on rumors and conflicting reports."] Nonetheless, Hephaestus "seeks impetuously and passionately to make love to Athena: at the moment of climax she pushes him aside, and his semen falls to the earth where it impregnates Gaia."
An Athenian founding myth tells that the city's patron goddess, Athena, refused a union with Hephaestus. Pseudo-Apollodorus records an archaic legend, which claims that Hephaestus once attempted to rape Athena, but she pushed him away, causing him to ejaculate on her thigh.
The Roman mythographer Hyginus records a similar story in which Hephaestus demanded Zeus to let him marry Athena since he was the one who had smashed open Zeus's skull, allowing Athena to be born. Zeus agreed to this and Hephaestus and Athena were married, but, when Hephaestus was about to consummate the union, Athena vanished from the bridal bed, causing him to ejaculate on the floor, thus impregnating Gaia with Erichthonius.[Hyginus made an imaginative etymology for Erichthonius, of strife ( Eris) between Athena and Hephaestus and the Earth-child ( chthonios).] Nonnus refers to this tale of Erechthonius being born of the Earth after a "makeshift marriage", but says that Athena then nursed Erechthonius on her "manlike breast".
Others
According to most versions, Hephaestus's consort is Aphrodite. However, some sources say that Hephaestus is married to one of the Charites. In Book XVIII of Homer's Iliad, the consort of Hephaestus is Charis, with whom he lives in a bronze-wrought home on Olympus.[Lucian, Dialogues of the Gods, Hermes and Apollo (II)] and Nonnus's Dionysiaca.[Hesiod, Theogony, 945] and according to the fifth-century AD Greek philosophy Neoplatonism Philosophy Proclus, by Hephaestus, Aglaea became the mother of Eucleia, Euthenia, Eupheme, and Philophrosyne.[Orphic fr. 182 Kern, p. 213.] Some scholars conclude that these references refer to the same goddess under different names,[Bell, s.v. Aglaia (1), p. 15.] although in the Dionysiaca both Aglaea and Charis appear as separate characters (Aglaea refers to Charis as a separate attendant of Aphrodite when speaking to Eros).[Nonnus, Dionysiaca 33.51 ff.] Károly Kerényi notes that "charis" also means "the delightfulness of art" and supposes that Aphrodite is viewed as a work of art, speculating that Aphrodite could also have been called Charis as an alternative name, for in the Odyssey Homer suddenly makes her his wife.
On the island of Lemnos, however, Hephaestus' consort was the sea nymph Cabeiro, by whom he was the father of two metalworking gods named the Cabeiri. In Sicily, he had another consort, the nymph Aetna, and their sons were two gods of Sicilian geysers called Palici, who are elsewhere called the sons of Zeus by Aetna, or of Zeus by Thalia (another daughter of Hephaestus), or of Adranos.[Witczak and Zawiasa, pp. 55–57.]
Like many male Greek gods, Hephaestus fathered several children with mortals and immortals alike. The following is a list of Hephaestus's offspring, by various mothers. Beside each offspring, the earliest source to record the parentage is given, along with the century to which the source (in some cases approximately) dates.
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| Eucleia, Euthenia, Eupheme, and Philophrosyne | Aglaea | Proclus | | [West, p. 221; Orphic fr. 272 II Bernabé (pp. 230–231) =].] |
| Erichthonius | Gaia | Hyg. Fabulae | 1st cent. AD | [Kerenyi, p. 123; Hyginus, Fabulae 166; Pausanias, 1.2.6; Pauly-Wissowa, Erichthonius (2).] |
| Atthis | Apollod. | 1st/2nd cent. AD | [ Brill's New Pauly, s.v. Erichthonius (1); Apollodorus, 3.14.6.] |
| The Palici | Aetna | Silenos | 2nd cent. BC | [Witczak and Zawiasa, pp. 57; Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Παλίκη =.] |
| The Cabeiri, the Cabeirides (nymphs) | Cabeiro | Pherecydes | 5th cent. BC | [Hard, p. 220; BNJ 3 F48; =].] |
| Camillus | Acusilaus | 6th/5th cent. BC | [Hard, p. 220; BNJ 2 F20; =].] |
| Periphetes | Anticlea | Apollodorus | 1st/2nd cent. AD | [Apollodorus, 3.16.1.] |
| Ardalus | No mother mentioned | | | [Grimal, s.v. Hephaestus, p. 192.] |
| Cercyon | Hyg. Fabulae | 1st cent. AD | [Gantz, p. 253; Hyginus, Fabulae 38.] |
| Olenus | Hyg. De astronomia | 1st cent. BC/AD | [Smith, s.v. Olenus; Hyginus, De astronomia 2.13.5.] |
| Palaemon | Apollod. | 1st/2nd cent. AD | [Grimal, s.v. Hephaestus, p. 192; Apollodorus, 1.9.16.] |
| Pylius | Photios | 9th cent. AD | [Photius, Bibliotheca 190.48.] |
| Thalia | Aeschylus | 5th cent. BC | [Witczak and Zawiasa, pp. 56.] |
Iconography and descriptions
Hephaestus was sometimes portrayed as a vigorous man with a beard and was characterized by his hammer or some other crafting tool, his oval cap, and the chiton.
Hephaestus is described in mythological sources as "lame" () and "halting" ().[ Odyssey 8.308; Iliad 18.397, etc.] He was depicted with curved feet, an impairment he had either from birth or as a result of his fall from Olympus. In vase paintings, Hephaestus is sometimes shown bent over his anvil, hard at work on a metal creation, and sometimes his feet are curved back-to-front: Hephaistos amphigyēeis. He walked with the aid of a stick. The Argonauts Palaimonius, "son of Hephaestus" (i.e. a bronze-smith), also had a mobility impairment.[Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica i.204.] Other "sons of Hephaestus" were the Cabeiri on the island of Samothrace, who were identified with the crab ( karkinos) by the lexicographer Hesychius. The adjective karkinopous ("crab-footed") signified "lame", according to Detienne and Vernant.[ Cited by ] The Cabeiri were also physically disabled.
In some myths, Hephaestus built himself a "Wheelchair" or chariot with which to move around, thus helping support his mobility while demonstrating his skill to the other gods.
Hephaestus's appearance and physical disability are taken by some to represent peripheral neuropathy and skin cancer resulting from arsenicosis, caused by arsenic exposure from metalworking.
Comparative mythology
Parallels in other mythological systems for Hephaestus's symbolism include:
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The Ugarit craftsman-god Kothar-wa-Khasis, who is identified from afar by his distinctive walk – possibly suggesting that he limps.
[Baruch Margalit, Aqhat Epic 1989:289.]
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As Herodotus was given to understand, the Ancient Egypt craftsman-god Ptah was a dwarf god and is often depicted naked.
[Herodotus, iii.36.]
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In Norse mythology, Wayland Smith was a physically disabled bronzeworker.
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In Hinduism the artificer god Tvastr fills a similar role, albeit more positively portrayed.
[West, Martin Litchfield (2007), Indo-European Poetry and Myth, Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, ]
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The Ossetian god Kurdalagon may share a similar origin.
Worship
Solinus wrote that the Lycians dedicated a city to Hephaestus and called it Hephaestia.
The Hephaestia in Lemnos was named after the god. In addition, the whole island of Lemnos was sacred to Hephaestus.
Pausanias wrote that the Lycians in Patara had a bronze bowl in their temple of Apollo, saying that Telephus dedicated it and Hephaestus made it.
Pausanias also wrote that the village of Olympia in Elis contained an altar to the river Alfeios, next to which was an altar to Hephaestus sometimes referred to as the altar of "Warlike Zeus."
The island Vulcano, between Lipari and Sicily, was also called Hiera of Hephaestus (ἱερὰ Ἡφαίστου), meaning "sacred place of Hephaestus" in Greek.
Namesakes
Pliny the Elder wrote that at Corycus, there was a stone which was called Hephaestitis or "Hephaestus stone". According to Pliny, the stone was red and reflected images like a mirror, and when boiling water was poured over it, it cooled immediately. Alternatively, when placed in the sun, it immediately set fire to a parched substance.
The minor planet 2212 Hephaistos, discovered in 1978 by Soviet Union astronomer Lyudmila Chernykh, was named in Hephaestus' honour.
Genealogy
See also
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Family tree of the Greek gods
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Hephaestus in popular culture
Notes
Bibliography
Ancient
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Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica; with an English translation by R. C. Seaton. William Heinemann, 1912.
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Bernabé, Alberto (2004), Poetae epici Graeci: Testimonia et fragmenta, Pars II: Orphicorum et Orphicis similium testimonia, Fasc 1, Bibliotheca Teubneriana, Munich and Leipzig, K. G. Saur Verlag, 2004. . Online version at De Gruyter.
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Evelyn-White, Hugh, The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard
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Hesiod, Theogony, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PhD in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Homer; The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Hyginus, De astronomia, in The Myths of Hyginus, edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. Online version at ToposText.
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Hyginus, Fabulae, in The Myths of Hyginus, edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. Online version at ToposText.
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Nonnus, Dionysiaca; translated by Rouse, W H D, I Books I-XV. Loeb Classical Library No. 344, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. Internet Archive
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Nonnus, Dionysiaca; translated by Rouse, W H D, II Books XVI-XXXV. Loeb Classical Library No. 345, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. Internet Archive
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Otto Kern, Orphicorum Fragmenta, Berlin, 1922. Internet Archive.
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Ovid, Ovid's Fasti: With an English translation by Sir James George Frazer, London: W. Heinemann LTD; Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1959. Internet Archive.
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Pausanias, Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Seneca, Octavia, with an English translation by W. Bradshaw, London. 1902. Online version at Attalus.org.
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Strabo, The Geography of Strabo. Edition by H.L. Jones. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Modern
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Timothy Gantz, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: (Vol. 1), (Vol. 2).
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Witczak K. T., Zawiasa D. (2004). " Palici – the Sicilian Twin Brothers and the Indo- European Myth about Divine Twins". In: Živa Antika Antiquité 54(1–2), 2004.
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