Hephaestus Hephaestus built automatons of metal to work for him. This included tripods that walked to and from Mount Olympus. He gave to the blinded Orion his apprentice Cedalion as a guide. In some versions of the myth, Prometheus stole the fire that he gave to man from Hephaestus's forge. Hephaestus also created the gift that the gods gave to man, the woman Pandora and her pithos. Being a skilled blacksmith, Hephaestus created all the thrones in the Palace of Olympus. The Greek myths and the Homeric poems sanctified in stories that Hephaestus had a special power to produce motion. He
Temple of Hephaestus Labours of Theseus. According to Pausanias, the temple housed the bronze statues of Athena and Hephaestus. An inscription records payments between 421 BC and 415 BC for two bronze statues but it does not mention the sculptor. Tradition attributes the work to Alkamenes. In the 3rd century BC trees and shrubs (pomegranates, myrtle and laurel) were planted around the temple, creating a small garden. The sanctuary would have been closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire. Around AD 700, the temple was turned into a Christian church, dedicated to Saint George. Exactly when the temple was