Vulcanus
The Roman god of fire, whose name seems to be connected with fulgere, fulgur, and fulmen.
His worship was of considerable political importance at Rome, for a temple is said to have been erected to him close by the comitium as early as the time of Romulus and Tatius, in which the two kings used to meet and settle the affairs of the state, and near which the popular assembly was held. (Dionysiaca; Plutarch, Roman Questions)
Tatius is reported to have established the worship of Vulcan along with that of Vesta, and Romulus to have dedicated to him a quadriga after his victory over the Fidenatans, and to have set up a statue of himself near the temple. (Dionysiaca ii. Plutarch.) According to others the temple was built by Romulus himself, who also planted near it the sacred lotus-tree which still existed in the days of Pliny.
These circumstances, and what is related of the lotus-tree, shows that the temple of Vulcan, like that of Vesta, was regarded as a central point of the whole state, and hence it was perhaps not without a meaning that subsequently the temple of Concordia was built within the same district. (Liv. ix. 46, xl. 19, xxxvi. 46.)
The most ancient festival in honour of Vulcan seems to have been the Fornacalia or Furnalia, he being the god of furnaces (Isidor. xix. 6. 2; Fest. p. 88); but his great festival was called Vulcanalia, and was celebrated on the 23d of August. The Roman poets transfer all the stories which are related of the Greek Hephaestus to their own Vulcan, the two divinities having in the course of time been completely identified.
From Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and MythologyFrom The History of Rome by Theodor Mommsen. Book I. Chapter XII
Handicraft and art, on the other hand, are represented in this cycle of the gods only by the god of fire and of smith's work, Vulcanus, to whom besides the day named after him (-Volcanalia-, August 23) the second festival of the consecration of trumpets was dedicated (-tubilustrium-, May 23), and eventually also by the festival of Carmentis (-Carmentalia- January 11, 15), who probably was adored originally as the goddess of spells and of song and only inferentially as protectress of births.
From A New System; or, an Analysis of Ancient Mythology
In the theology of the Greeks are many antient terms, which learned men have tried to analyse, and define. But they seem to have failed here too by proceeding upon those fallacious principles, of which I have above complained. In short, they seldom go deep enough in their inquiries; nor consider the true character of the personage, which they would decypher. It is said of the God Vulcan, that he was the same as Tubalcain, mentioned Genesis. c. 4. v. 22: and it is a notion followed by many writers: and among others by Gale.
First as to the name (says this learned man) Vossius, de Idolat. l. 1. c. 36, shews us, that Vulcanus is the same as Tubalcainus, only by a wonted, and easy mutation of B into V, and casting away a syllable. And he afterwards affects to prove from Diodorus Siculus, that the art and office of Vulcan exactly corresponded to the character of Tubalcain, who was an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron. Upon the same principles Philo Biblius speaking of Chrusor, a person of great antiquity, who first built a ship, and navigated the seas; who also first taught husbandry, and hunting, supposes him to have been Vulcan; because it is farther said of him, that he first manufactured iron.
From this partial resemblance to Vulcan or Hephastus, Bochart is induced to derive his name from כרש אור, Chores Ur, an artificer in fire.
These learned men do not consider, that though the name, to which they refer, be antient, and oriental, yet the character, and attributes, are comparatively modern, having been introduced from another quarter. Vulcan the blacksmith, who was the master of the Cyclops, and forged iron in Mount Ætna, was a character familiar to the Greeks, and Romans. But this Deity among the Egyptians, and Babylonians, had nothing similar to this description. They esteemed Vulcan as the chief of the Gods the same as the Sun: and his name is a sacred title, compounded of Baal-Cahen, Belus sanctus, vel Princeps; equivalent to Orus, or Osiris. If the name were of a different original, yet it would be idle to seek for an etymology founded on later conceptions, and deduced from properties not originally inherent in the personage.
According to Hermapion he was looked upon as the source of all divinity, and in consequence of it the inscription upon the portal of the temple at Heliopolis was Ἡφαιστῳ τῳ Θεων Πατρι. To Vulcan the Father of the Gods. In short, they who first appropriated the name of Vulcan to their Deity, had no notion of his being an artificer in brass or iron: or an artificer in any degree. Hence we must be cautious in forming ideas of the antient theology of nations from the current notions of the Greeks, and Romans; and more especially from the descriptions of their poets. Polytheism, originally vile, and unwarrantable, was rendered ten times more base by coming through their hands. To instance in one particular: among all the dæmon herd what one is there of a form, and character, so odious, and contemptible as Priapus? an obscure ill-formed Deity, who was ridiculed and dishonoured by his very votaries.
His hideous figure was made use of only as a bugbear to frighten children; and to drive the birds from fruit trees; with whose filth he was generally besmeared. Yet this contemptible God, this scarecrow in a garden, was held in high repute at Lampsacus, and esteemed the same as Dionusus. He was likewise by the Egyptians reverenced as the principal God; no other than the Chaldaic Aur, the same as Orus and Apis: whose rites were particularly solemn. It was from hence that he had his name: for Priapus of Greece is only a compound of Peor-Apis among the Egyptians. He was sometimes styled Peor singly; also Baal Peor; the same with whose rites the Israelites are so often upbraided.
His temples likewise are mentioned, which are styled Beth Peor. In short, this wretched divinity of the Romans was looked upon by others as the soul of the world: the first principle, which brought all things into light, and being. Πριηπος ὁ κοσμος, η ὁ προεστως αυτου Λογος. The author of the Orphic hymns styles him Πρωτογονον—γενεσιν μακαρων, θνητων τ' ανθρωπων. The first born of the world, from whom all the immortals, and mortals were descended. This is a character, which will hereafter be found to agree well with Dionusus. Phurnutus supposes Priapus to have been the same as Pan, the shepherd God: who was equally degraded, and misrepresented on one hand, and as highly reverenced on the other. Ισως δ' αν ὁυτος και ὁ Πριηπος ειη, καθ' ὁν προεισιν εις φως τα παντα· των αρχαιων δ' εισι Δαιμονων.
Probably Pan is no other than the God Priapus, by whose means all things were brought into light. They are both Deities of high antiquity. Yet the one was degraded to a filthy monster; and of the other they made a scarecrow.
