Who was Vulcan?

Two thousand years ago, people did not know that rock and gas below the Earth’s surface caused volcanoes to erupt. They were afraid of mountains that rumbled and exploded mysteriously. They believed that angry gods made the mountains erupt to punish them.
The Romans called their god of fire Vulcan. They believed that deep inside Mount Etna, on the island of Sicily, Vulcan heaped coals on his blacksmith’s fire. This caused flames and sparks to leap up the chimney and through the mountain top. They though that Vulcan forged the lightning in a thunderstorm. People imagined him hammering and treating the hot metal when they heard distant thunder. The word volcano comes from the name Vulcan.