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
The Saviors of God The Saviors of God Ascesis: The Saviors of God (Greek and Latin: . ) is a series of "spiritual exercises" written by Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis. It was first written between 1922 and 1923, while staying in Vienna and Berlin, and subsequently published in 1927 in the Athenian magazine "Anayennisi" ("Renaissance"). The text was later revised on various occasions and reached its final state in 1944. The author first presents a prologue. Given the sacred tone of the book, which strives to go beyond philosophy and metaphysics, this introduction is better understood as an admonition. The first words summarize the