A bit of history
The blacksmith's profession began with the working of iron, and, more generally, of metals.
The Copper Age marks a very important step in the evolution of man: it is in this period that the art of metallurgy begins, over 5000 years before the birth of Christ.
The ability to tame iron and change its mechanical characteristics by means of forging and tempering, placed the blacksmith, like the doctor or the astrologer, in that category of men whose work, very important for the rest of humanity, needed some divine contribution to be successful, and therefore required a special relationship with the Gods.
This is not surprising when one considers how important it must have been, at the time, for one's sword not to break at the first impact in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy.
Thus was born the image of the Blacksmiths, seen as somewhat particular beings: strong and somewhat wild men, capable of winning the fight with that initially unkind and unmalleable material.
We are talking about the birth of Wrought Iron and the figure of the Blacksmith , immediately seen as a demiurge, a craftsman capable of shaping matter with the help of water and fire.
Greek mythology first, with Hephaestus, and Roman mythology later, with the respect always paid to the Great Blacksmith Vulcan, definitively consecrated the Blacksmith and his Art, giving them that aspect of "magic" which, at least in part, has accompanied them up to the most recent times.
Not very different, in short, from their putative father, from their symbol. Hephaestus (Vulcan), husband of the beautiful Aphrodite (Venus), God of fire and the Underworld and feared by Zeus (Jupiter) himself, father of the Gods. The ancient Romans, much more practical and less “dreamy” than the Greeks, from whose culture they had drawn so much, transformed and created the figure of the blacksmith.
The “homo-faber” was born; still a producer of weapons but also, increasingly, dedicated to the manufacturing of those “civil” objects that an advanced and cosmopolitan society, such as that of ancient Rome, required.