Earth, Water, Air, and Fire were once considered the four elemental
substances of the universe. Only the ancient blacksmiths worked with all four. The
forge held fire, the bellows controlled the air for the smith's purpose. He
worked iron, the black metal from the earth, and he quenched his work in water to
give it temper. And, because the metal he worked was black he was known as
a Blacksmith.
Until iron ore was discovered and men learned how to smelt it into
the raw metal the only source of iron was from rarely discovered meteorites
seen falling from the sky. Blacksmiths were considered agents of the gods
because they worked this "gift of the gods". There
were even blacksmiths among the gods on Olympus. Hephaestus, later known
by the Romans as Vulcan, was the son of Zeus and Hera and forged the thunderbolts
that Zeus hurled from the skies.
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