The Ancient Romans had a litany of holidays for all sorts of occasions. Every August 23 were the Vulcanalia, festivities honoring the Roman deity Vulcan, featured here in this palm-sized bronze relief from the 2nd or 3rd century CE.
Worship of Vulcan shows the way that Romans often bifurcated their attitudes towards their deities. Vulcan was God of fire, and so on one hand he represented the helpful attributes of this so-called element: blacksmiths and bakers had him as their patron. The Vulcanalia began with Romans taking lit candles about as they started their days, perhaps reflecting this positive association.
On the other hand, fire could be dangerous: the August 23 date of Vulcanalia was important because by this time in the agricultural cycle Romans justly feared their crops getting too dry and burnt from the sun. Thus, the holiday was also about propitiating the God of fire. To this aim, fish and other small animals were thrown into the flames as sacrifices.
In the second picture you see the sulfur deposits and smoke from the Solfata crater, near the city of Napoles, which Ancient Romans associated with the birthplace of Vulcan. Of course, Vulcan’s mythology was conflated with the Greek deity Hephaestus.
Source(s): @penelope.uchicago.edu William Smith 1875 “A dictionary of Greek and Roman Activities.” Wikipedia
