THE GOLDSMITHS

Again, legend is the source as to the price placed on the goldsmith's art. Hephaestus was the goldsmith to the gods of Olympus in Greek mythology. He was the son of Hera and Zeus, queen and king of the gods. According to Homer, he was born ugly and crippled in the legs, unlike the other gods, who were paragons of perfection.

Hera, ashamed of him, threw him from Mount Olympus into the sea, where he was rescued by two nymphs. He lived with them for nine years, beguiling them with the beautiful jewelry he made and plotting revenge on Hera. The revenge was a golden throne, which he sent to Hera.

The entranced Hera sat on the throne and was immediately bound by invisible bonds. When none of the other gods could free her Dionysus, god of wine, finally managed to get Hephaestus drunk and bring him from his grotto in the sea to Mount Olympus, where is convinced to free Hera. He then made golden jewelry for the - and goddesses and such other objects as the golden arrows of arrowed of love and Apollo's golden chariot.

He later angered Zeus, who threw him from Olympus. Again, .. as convinced to return because he was unsurpassed as a gold- According to another story, it was this second fall from Olympus broke his legs, Zeus's purpose being to make sure he would - again leave Mount Olympus.

The story of the goldsmith, crippled for whatever reason and a to leave, is interesting. For one thing, kings in antiquity were not crippling their goldsmiths to insure their working for them, and mythology may have risen as justification for their cruelty.

The Middle Ages and Renaissance were kinder to goldsmiths, although kings were not above imprisoning or using prison as a threat to keep goldsmiths at their courts when money failed to do so. Goldsmiths, nevertheless, were highly esteemed, so much so that - Peter the Great (1672-1725) preferred to live with the court with when he visited Augustus the Strong, King of Saxony and -a.