\b0 God of fire and divine blacksmith, he was for this reason considered to be the protector
of industry and especially of all those who worked metal. It was in his forge that Zeus' thunderbolts were made, with the help of the Cyclopes. He also forged the famous weapons of Achilles and Aeneas. He was represented as lame and deformed, with a bea
rd, and sometimes with the typical tools of the blacksmith: the hammer and tongs. He was the husband of Venus.\par