Pre - reading tasks

1. Find the answers to the following questions:

a) What was Hephaestus?

b) Was he a lovely, healthy child?

c) Why was he returned to Olympus?

d) Did he help much to the gods of Olympus?

e) Did his children resemble him?

2. Give the titles to the paragraphs of the text.

3. What other Greek or Roman gods do you know? What did they patronize?

Pronouncing Dictionary

Hephaestus /hi’fi:st's/ Zeus /zju:s/ Hera /’hiar / Thetis /’qetis/ Eurinome /ju'‘rain'm/ Artemis /’a:timis/ Apollo /ж‘polou/

Palaemon /’pжl'm'n/ Ardalus /’a:d'l's/

Hephaestus

Hephaestus was born into the family of Zeus and Hera, the supreme rulers of the Greek gods, who lived on Olympus. When Hera saw her ugly deformed child (he was lame), she threw him out. The infant fell into the ocean, where Thetis and Eurinome, the Oceanid found him and brought him up for nine years in their cave, unknown to the gods or Hera. It was here that he learnt his arts of a metalworker. He made a golden throne for his mother and sent it to her. There was a trap in the throne, and when Hera sat on it, she could not leave it, and none of the gods was able to help her. It was his revenge. So the gods sent for Hephaestus. They invited him to come to Olympus.

On Olympus he became a master craftsman, the smith and metal-founder for the gods. Hephaestus was very useful to the Olympians. He built splendid halls and palaces and enabled the gods to live in great luxury. He even made armour for mortal men when a goddess asked him about it.

Hephaestus had a workshop on Olympus where, in the great battle of the gods and giants, he used molten iron to quell the giant Mimas. Hephaestus also forged the chain that bound Prometheus to the top of Mount Caucasus; and he made Zeus’ thunderbolts and the arrows of Artemis and Apollo.

His children (mostly lame like himself) included the Argonaut Palaemon and Ardalus, inventor of the flute.

Task 2