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The Forge of Vulcan by Diego Velasquez, (1630).

In Roman religion, Vulcan is the god of beneficial and hindering fire,^[1] including the fire of volcanoes. He is also called Mulciber ("softener") in Roman mythology and Sethlans in Etruscan mythology. He was worshipped at an annual festival on August 23 known as the Vulcanalia.

Vulcan's oldest shrine in Rome, called the "Volcanal", was situated in the Forum Romanum, and dated back to the archaic Roman Kingdom.^[2][3] It was the view of the Etruscan haruspices that a temple of Vulcan should be located outside the city,^[4] and the Volcanal may originally have been on or outside the city limits before they expanded to include the Capitoline Hill.^[1] Vulcan also had a temple on the Campus Martius, which was in existence by 214 BC.^[1][5]

The Romans identified Vulcan with the Greek smith-god Hephaestus, and he became associated like his Greek counterpart with the constructive use of fire in metalworking. A fragment of a Greek pot showing Hephaestus found at the Volcanal has been dated to the 6th century BC, suggesting that the two gods were already associated at this date.^[3] However, Vulcan had a stronger association than Hephaestus with fire's destructive capacity, and a major concern of his worshippers was to encourage the god to avert harmful fires. His festival, the Vulcanalia, was celebrated on August 23 each year, when the summer heat placed crops and granaries most at risk of burning.^[1][6] During the festival bonfires were created in honour of the god, into which live fish or small animals were thrown as a sacrifice, to be consumed in the place of humans.^[7] Vulcan was among the gods placated after the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64.^[8] In response to the same fire, Domitian (emperor 81–96) established a new altar to Vulcan on the Quirinal Hill. At the same time a red bull-calf and red boar were added to the sacrifices made on the Vulcanalia, at least in that region of the city.^[9]

In addition to the Vulcanalia, May 23, which was the second of the two annual Tubilustria or ceremonies for the purification of trumpets, was sacred to Vulcan.^[6][10]

Vulcan was the father of Caeculus.^[11]

Through his identification with the Hephaestus of Greek mythology, he came to be considered as the manufacturer of art, arms, iron, and armor for gods and heroes, including the thunderbolts of Jupiter. He was the son of Jupiter and Juno, and husband of Maia and Venus. His smithy was believed to be situated underneath Mount Etna in Sicily.

To punish mankind for stealing the secrets of fire, Zeus, ordered the other gods to make a poisoned gift for man. Vulcan's contribution to the beautiful and foolish Pandora, was to mold her from clay and to give her form. He also made the thrones for the other gods on Mount Olympus.

A statue of Vulcan located in Birmingham, Alabama is the largest cast iron statue in the world.

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Vulcanus

• Vulcanalia article in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities