Which Greek god was the divine blacksmith and was married to Aphrodite?

Hephaestus was the Greek god who served as the divine blacksmith and was married to Aphrodite. He represented fire, metalworking, craftsmanship, and volcanoes, and his usual tools were the hammer, anvil, and tongs.

Myths credit him with forging extraordinary objects for the gods, including Zeus’s thunderbolts, Achilles’ armor, Hermes’ winged equipment, and the gods’ weapons. He was also associated particularly strongly with Lemnos and with the craft centers of Athens.

His marriage to Aphrodite is famous because Homer’s Odyssey tells of her affair with Ares, the god of war. Hephaestus exposed the lovers by trapping them in an invisible metal net. Some ancient sources instead name a Grace—Charis or Aglaea—as his spouse, but Aphrodite is the standard answer in general mythology quizzes. Hephaestus’s Roman counterpart was Vulcan.