Hephaestus make love to Athena: at the moment of climax she pushes him aside, and his semen falls to the earth where it impregnates Gaia." Hephaestus was associated by Greek colonists in southern Italy with the volcano gods Adranus (of Mount Etna) and Vulcanus of the Lipari islands. The first-century sage Apollonius of Tyana is said to have observed, "there are many other mountains all over the earth that are on fire, and yet we should never be done with it if we assigned to them giants and gods like Hephaestus". In the Trojan war, Hephaestus sided with the Greeks, but
Hephaestus aid of a stick. The Argonaut Palaimonius, "son of Hephaestus" (i.e. a bronze-smith) was also lame. 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. The Cabeiri were also lame. In some myths, Hephaestus built himself a "wheeled chair" or chariot with which to move around, thus helping him overcome his lameness while demonstrating his skill to the other gods. In the "Iliad" 18.371, it is stated that Hephaestus built twenty bronze wheeled tripods to