A Roman deity, possessing a priest and a festival called the Vulcanalia, which took place on 23 August. He was said to have been introduced to Rome by Titus Tatius, but there was a tradition which attributes the construction of his first shrine to Romulus, from the spoils of war taken from an enemy. During the festival of Vulcan, little fish and often other animals were sometimes thrown into the fire. These offerings were supposed to represent human lives and they were offered to Vulcan in order to preserve lives. He does not have any specific legend attached to him and has been identified with Hephaestus. However, Vulcan was sometimes said to be the father of Cacus, or of Caeculus, or even of the mythical king Servius Tullius (more usually considered to be the son of the household god of Lar).
Below the Parthenon in Athens, there is a large open area, which once housed shrines and temples to every conceivable diety in the ancient world. This is the area to which the Apostle Paul referred while speaking on the Areopagus in Acts 17, when he said "Men of Athens, my own eyes tell me that you are in all respects an extremely religious people. For as I made my way here and looked at your shrines I noticed one altar on which were inscribed the words, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD." Today, most of these shrines and temples are destroyed, but the Athenian temple to Vulcan still stands.
{E2 DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY}
Table of Sources:
- Varro, De Ling. Lat. 5, 74; 83ff.; 6, 20
- Macrob. Sat. 1, 12, 18
- Pliny, NH 16, 236; 36, 204
- Plutarch, Romulous 24, 5
- Virgil, Aen. 7, 679; 8, 190ff.
- Paul. ex. Fest. p. 38M.
- Ovid, Fasti 6, 637
- H. J. Rose, Journal of Roman Studies 1933, p. 46ff.