Life — July 22, 1909 — page 11: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Who's Who on Olympus" - Life Magazine Satire This page satirizes contemporary American business and industrial figures by casting them as Greek gods and mythological characters. The article by John Kendrick Bangs reimagines modern industrialists as Olympian deities. **Vulcan** (left illustration) represents Andrew Hephaestus, president of the Olympus and Hades Steel Trust—a tycoon compared to the god of metalworking and forges. The text mocks his background: born crooked, thrown from Olympus, yet became successful in steel manufacturing and armor production. **Mercury** (right illustration) represents John D., a Waldorf-Olympia Hotels Company president, depicted as the messenger god carrying messages across "imperial domains." The satire equates Gilded Age industrialists with classical gods, suggesting their outsized power and mythic status in American society.