How Did Ancient People Explain Volcanoes?

Today we have a lot of scientific information about volcanoes and we know why they erupt. Sometimes we can even predict when this will happen. In the past, people did not understand volcanoes and found them very frightening. They made up stories to try and make sense of eruptions.

The name volcano comes from the Roman god Vulcan. The Romans believed that Vulcan lived under the island of Vulcano, just off Sicily. The volcano that is active there was thought to be Vulcan's chimney from his blacksmith's forge. Romans thought that this god made weapons in his forge for other gods such as Jupiter, King of the gods and Mars, the good of war. Vulcan was a Roman god but he was adopted by the Romans from a Greek god called Hephaistos. Hephaistos was the Greek god of fire and craftsmanship, the son of the great god Zeus. He also used a volcano to forge his great weapons.

In 1660, Mount Vesuvius in Italy erupted and threw out lots of rock crystals shaped like black crosses. People from Naples, the nearest large city found them and believed they were messages from God.

Pele is the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes and fire. Pele had long thin strands of hair – which are supposed to represent the very runny lava produced by the volcano Kilauea, where she lives. Some Hawaiians believe that Pele can cause earthquakes by stamping her feet and volcanic eruptions by striking the ground with a stick. The chain of volcanoes in Hawaii were formed when Pele and her older sister Namakaokahai had a fight.