Vulcan (mythology) the Capitoline Hill. The Volcanalia sacrifice was offered here to Vulcan, on August 23. Vulcan also had a temple on the Campus Martius, which was in existence by 214 BC. The Romans identified Vulcan with the Greek smith-god Hephaestus. Vulcan 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. However, Vulcan had a stronger association than Hephaestus with fire's destructive capacity, and a major
Love of God the gods (τὸ θεοφιλές) was identified as the virtuous or pious. Socrates famously asked whether this identification is a tautology (see "Euthyphro dilemma"). In Greek, "philotheos" means "loving God, pious", as "philosophos" means a lover of wisdom ("sophia"). , using the word "philotheos" in the plural form, speaks of certain people as φιλήδονοι μᾶλλον ἢ φιλόθεοι (lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God). The word "Theophilos" was and is used as a proper name, but does not appear as an adjective or common noun in Greek, which uses instead the form "theophilês," which means "dear to God" but also