The origin of Hades's name is uncertain but has generally been seen as meaning "the unseen one" sinceantiquity. An extensive section ofPlato'sdialogueCratylus is devoted to the etymology of the god's name, in whichSocrates is arguing for afolk etymology not from "unseen" but from "his knowledge (eidenai) of all noble things".Modern linguists have proposed theProto-Greek form *Awides ("unseen").[8] The earliest attested form isAḯdēs (Ἀΐδης), which lacks the proposeddigamma.Martin Litchfield West argues instead for an original meaning of "the one who presides over meeting up" from the universality of death.[9]
Hades (right) and Persephone (left). Detail from an Attic red-figure amphora,c. 470 BC. From Italy
Perhaps from fear of pronouncing his name, around the 5th century BC, the Greeks started referring to Hades asPlouton (Πλούτων,Ploútōn,[ˈpluː.tɔːn]), with a root meaning "wealthy", considering that from the abode below (i.e., the soil) come riches (e.g., fertile crops, metals and so on).[13] Plouton became the Roman god who both rules the underworld and distributed riches from below. This deity was a mixture of the Greek god Hades and theEleusinian icon Ploutos, and from this he also received a priestess, which was not previously practiced in Greece.[14] More elaborate names of the same genre werePloutodótēs (Πλουτοδότης,[pluː.toˈdo.tεːs]) orPloutodotḗr (Πλουτοδοτήρ,[pluː.to.doˈtεːr]), meaning "giver of wealth".[15]
He was also referred to asZeus katachthonios (Ζεὺς καταχθόνιος,[zdeu̯ska.taˈkʰtʰo.ni.os]),[20] meaning "the Zeus of the underworld", by those avoiding his actual name, as he had complete control over the underworld.[21]
Mythology
Early years
Pinax with Persephone and Hades Enthroned, 500–450 BC, Greek, Locri Epizephirii, Mannella district, Sanctuary of Persephone, terracotta – Cleveland Museum of Art
InGreek mythology, Hades, the god of the Greek underworld, was the first-born son of theTitansCronus andRhea. He had three older sisters,Hestia,Demeter, andHera, as well as a younger brother,Poseidon, all of whom had been swallowed whole by their father as soon as they were born.Zeus was the youngest child and through the machinations of their mother, Rhea, he was the only one that had escaped this fate. Upon reaching adulthood, Zeus managed to force his father to disgorge his siblings. After their release, the six younger gods, along with allies they managed to gather, challenged the elder gods for power in theTitanomachy, a divine war. Armed with thehelm of invisibility forged for him by theCyclopes, Hades with his siblings and other divine allies defeated the Titans and became rulers in their place. The war lasted for ten years and ended with the victory of the younger gods. Following their victory, according to a single famous passage in theIliad (Book XV, ln.187–93), Hades and his two brothers, Poseidon and Zeus, drew lots[22] for realms to rule. Zeus received the sky, Poseidon received the seas, and Hades received the underworld,[23] the unseen realm to which the souls of the dead go upon leaving the world as well as any and all things beneath the earth.
Hades obtained his wife and queen,Persephone, through abduction at the behest of Zeus.[24] This myth is the most important one Hades takes part in;[25] it also connected theEleusinian Mysteries with the Olympian pantheon, particularly as represented in theHomeric Hymn to Demeter, which is the oldest story of the abduction, most likely dating back to the beginning of the 6th century BC.[14]Helios told the grieving Demeter that Hades was not an unworthy groom or son-in-law[a] given his status among the gods, as her own brother and king on his own right:
But, Goddess, give up your strong grief; let go of your infinite anger. Hades isn't an unsuitable son-in-law among the gods: Lord of the Many Dead, your own brother from the same seed. As for honor, he won the third share back when the division was made and now lives among those whom he was allotted to rule."
Despite modernconnotations of death as evil, Hades was actually morealtruistically[28] inclined in mythology. Hades was portrayed as passive and never portrayed negatively; his role was often maintaining relative balance. That said, he was also depicted as cold and stern, and he held all of his subjects equally accountable to his laws.[29] Any other individual aspects of his personality are not given, as Greeks refrained from giving him much thought to avoid attracting his attention.[21]
Red figure volute krater with scene of the underworld, follower of the Baltimore Painter, Hermitage
Hades ruled the dead, assisted by others over whom he had complete authority. The House of Hades was described as full of "guests", though he rarely left the underworld.[30] He cared little about what happened in the world above, as his primary attention was ensuring none of his subjects ever left his domain.
He strictly forbade his subjects to leave his domain and would become quite enraged when anyone tried to leave, or if someone tried to steal the souls from his realm. His wrath was equally terrible for anyone who tried to cheat death or otherwise crossed him, asSisyphus andPirithous found out to their sorrow. While usually indifferent to his subjects, Hades was very focused on the punishment of these two people; particularlyPirithous, as he entered the underworld in an attempt to steal Persephone for himself, and consequently was forced onto the "Chair of Forgetfulness".[21] Another myth is about the Greek godAsclepius who was originally a demigod, son ofApollo andCoronis, a Thessalian princess. During his lifetime, he became a famous and talented physician, who eventually was able to bring the dead back to life. Feeling cheated, Hades persuaded Zeus to kill him with a thunderbolt. After his death, Asclepius was brought to Olympus where he became a god.[31] Hades was only depicted outside of the underworld once in myth, and even that is believed to have been an instance where he had just left thegates of the underworld, which was whenHeracles shot him with an arrow as Hades was attempting to defend the city of Pylos.[7] After he was shot, however, he traveled to Olympus to heal. BesidesHeracles, the only other living people who ventured to the underworld were alsoheroes:Odysseus,Aeneas (accompanied by theSibyl),Orpheus, to whom Hades showed uncharacteristic mercy at Persephone's urging, who was moved by Orpheus's music,[32]Theseus withPirithous, and, in a late romance,Psyche. None of them were pleased with what they witnessed in the realm of the dead. In particular, the Greek war heroAchilles, whom Odysseus conjured with a bloodlibation, said:
O shining Odysseus, never try to console me for dying. I would rather follow the plow as thrall to another man, one with no land allotted to him and not much to live on, than be a king over all the perished dead.
— Achilles's soul to Odysseus.Homer,Odyssey 11.488–491 (Lattimore translation)
Cinerary altar with tabula representing the rape of Proserpina. White marble, Antonine Era, 2nd century CE.Persephone and Hades: tondo of an Attic red-figuredkylix, ca. 440–430 BCA fresco showing Hades and Persephone riding in achariot, from the tomb of QueenEurydice I of Macedon atVergina, Greece, 4th century BCOil painting of Hades abducting Persephone. 18th Century. Oil on wood with gilt background. Property of Missing Link Antiques.
The consort of Hades wasPersephone, daughter ofZeus andDemeter.[33] Persephone did not submit to Hades willingly, but was abducted by him while picking flowers in the fields ofNysa (her father, Zeus, had previously given Persephone to Hades, to be his wife, as is stated in the first lines of theHomeric Hymn to Demeter). In protest of his act, Demeter cast a curse on the land and there was a great famine; though, one by one, the gods came to request she lift it, lest mankind perish and cause the gods to be deprived of their receiving gifts and sacrifices, Demeter asserted that the earth would remain barren until she saw her daughter again. Zeus then sends for his son,Hermes, and instructs him to go down to the underworld in hopes that he may be able to convince Hades to allow Persephone to return to Earth, so that Demeter might see Persephone and cause the famine to stop. Hermes obeys and goes down to Hades's realm, wherein he finds Hades seated upon a couch, Persephone seated next to him. Hermes relays Zeus's message, and Hades complies, saying,
Go now, Persephone, to your dark-robed mother, go, and feel kindly in your heart towards me: be not so exceedingly cast down; for I shall be no unfitting husband for you among the deathless gods, that am own brother to father Zeus. And while you are here, you shall rule all that lives and moves and shall have the greatest rights among the deathless gods: those who defraud you and do not appease your power with offerings, reverently performing rites and paying fit gifts, shall be punished for evermore.
Afterwards, Hades readies his chariot, but not before he secretly gives Persephone a pomegranate seed to eat; Hermes takes the reins, and he and Persephone make their way to the Earth above, coming to a halt in front of Demeter's temple at Eleusis, where the goddess has been waiting. Demeter and Persephone run towards each other and embrace one another, happy that they are reunited. Demeter, however, suspects that Persephone may haveeaten food while down in the underworld, and so she questions Persephone, saying:
My child, tell me, surely you have not tasted any food while you were below? Speak out and hide nothing, but let us both know. For if you have not, you shall come back from loathly Hades and live with me and yourfather, the dark-clouded son of Cronos and be honored by all the deathless gods; but if you have tasted food, you must go back again beneath the secret places of the earth, there to dwell a third part of the seasons every year: yet for the two parts you shall be with me and the other deathless gods. But when the earth shall bloom with the fragrant flowers of spring in every kind, then from the realm of darkness and gloom thou shalt come up once more to be a wonder for gods and mortal men. And now tell me how he rapt you away to the realm of darkness and gloom, and by what trick did the strong Host of Many beguile you?
Persephone does admit that she ate the food of the dead, as she tells Demeter that Hades gave her a pomegranate seed and forced her to eat it. Persephone's eating the pomegranate seed binds her to Hades and the underworld, much to the dismay of Demeter. Zeus, however, had previously proposed a compromise, to which all parties had agreed: of the year, Persephone would spend one third with her husband.[36]
It is during this time, when Persephone is down in the underworld with her husband, thatwinter falls upon the earth, "an aspect of sadness and mourning."[37]
Visitors in the underworld
The heroOrpheus once descended into the underworld in search of his late wifeEurydice, who died when a snake bit her. So lovely was the music he played that it charmed even Hades (as well as his wife Persephone), who allowed him to take Eurydice to the land of the living, as long as he did not look back at her on his way out.[38]
In another story,Theseus andPirithous pledged to kidnap and marry daughters ofZeus. Theseus choseHelen and together they kidnapped her and decided to hold onto her until she was old enough to marry. Pirithous chosePersephone.[39] They left Helen with Theseus's mother,Aethra, and traveled to the underworld. Hades knew of their plan to capture his wife, so he pretended to offer them hospitality and set a feast; as soon as the pair sat down, snakes coiled around their feet and held them there. Theseus was eventually rescued byHeracles but Pirithous was either trapped as punishment for daring to seek the wife of a god for his own or killed by Cerberus, depending on the version of the story.[40][41]
Hades abducts Persephone, pot made and found inTaranto, 350-325 BC
Sisyphus was a mortal king fromCorinth who was punished inTartarus for revealing to theriver godAsopus the whereabouts of his daughterAegina afterZeus abducted her,[42] and for trying to cheatdeath as well. Zeus, angry at Sisyphus for revealing the secret, sentThanatos to Sisyphus, but he cleverly cast Death into his own bonds, and as a result no one could die untilAres freed Thanatos and delivered Sisyphus to him. But still, Sisyphus ordered his wifeMerope not to perform any funeral rites for him and what else was accustomed as tribute to theunderworld gods before he was brought to Hades. After some time that Merope had not offered proper honours, Hades learnt of this, and allowed Sisyphus to return to the world of the living so that he could punish his wife, with the understanding that he would return afterwards. Sisyphus, however, never returned as promised until years later, when he died of old age. Hades punished Sisyphus by making him roll a boulder up a hill in the underworld; but every time he reached the top, the boulder would roll down again and again.[43][44] In another version, it is Persephone who lets him out.[45]
Heracles's final labour was to capture Cerberus. First, Heracles went toEleusis to be initiated into theEleusinian Mysteries. He did this to absolve himself of guilt for killing thecentaurs and to learn how to enter and exit the underworld alive. He found the entrance to the underworld atTaenarum.Athena andHermes helped him through and back from Hades. Heracles asked Hades for permission to take Cerberus. Hades agreed as long as Heracles did not harm Cerberus. When Heracles dragged the dog out of Hades, he passed through the cavernAcherusia.In the myth ofAdmetus andAlcestis, after Alcestis chose to die in place of her husbandAdmetus in order to save him,Heracles brought her back from the dead by fighting and defeating Hades.[46] In other versions, likeEuripides's playAlcestis, Heracles foughtThanatos instead.[47] At another time,Heracles sieged the town ofPylos and during the fight he wounded Hades, who had sided with the Pylians.[48] In great pain, Hades went toOlympus to be healed by the physician of the gods,Paean.[49]
Lovers of Hades
Leuce was the most beautiful of the nymphs and a daughter ofOceanus. Hades fell in love with her and abducted her to the underworld. She lived out the span of her life in his realm, and when she died, the god sought consolation by creating a suitable memorial of their love: in theElysian Fields where the pious spend their afterlife, he brought a white tree into existence. It was this tree with which Heracles crowned himself to celebrate hisreturn from the underworld.[50]
Minthe was anymph of theriverCocytus who became Hades's mistress.[51] A jealousPersephone trampled the nymph under her foot, transforming her intogarden mint in the process.[52][53] According to a scholiast onNicander, Hades turned his dead lover into themint herb after Persephone tore her into pieces for sleeping with him.[54][55] In another version, Hades had kept Minthe as his mistress before he married Persephone, and set her aside afterwards. Minthe boasted of being more beautiful than Persephone, and that Hades would soon take her back. In anger over thehubris directed toward her daughter,Demeter trampled Minthe and turned her into mint.[56]
Theophile was a girl who claimed that Hades loved her and that she was better than Persephone.[57][58]
Once, when a plague hitAonia, a region inBoeotia, the people consulted an oracle, and thegod replied to them that they needed to make an appeal to the gods of the Underworld and sacrifice two willing young maidens to appease the anger of Hades and Persephone. The girls that were chosen wereMenippe and Metioche, the daughters ofOrion, who solemnly offered their lives in order to save their countrymen. After invoking the chthonic deities three times, they took their own lives with the shuttles of their looms. Hades and Persephone then took pity in both of them, and transformed their corpses intocomets.[59]
In some versions Hades is considered the master of the goddesses ofFate, not his brother Zeus and the god who designates the end and origin of all things and orders the alternation of birth and destruction, the arbiter of life and death. This relationship is very clear in Roman epics likeStatius'sThebaid,[60] where they are mentioned taking souls to be judged by Hades and inflicting severe punishments or inClaudian'sDe raptu Proserpinae[61] where they appear begging their master not to release theTitans and saying everything they do is for him, after Hades threatens Zeus to release the Titans against him if he does not give him a wife.
Hades is considered the father of theFuries in some versions, but the mother's identity varies. inVirgil'sAeneid their mother is the night goddessNyx[62] and in theOrphic Hymns their mother is Persephone[63] by Hades.[64] One of the rare occasions when he appears interacting with them is inStatius'sThebaid,[65] when Hades orders Tisiphone to punish humans for having invaded theunderworld. He is said to hateAlecto, even though she is one of his children.[66]
In contrast to many of his other classical representations the satirical authorLucian ofSamosata presents Hades in a more positive and even comic way. In hisDialogues of the Dead, he is represented trying to solve problems of some famous mythological figures and one of the most outstanding dialogues is withProtesilaus, one of the Greek heroes killed in theTrojan War. In this conversation Protesilaus asks him to be reunited with his (still living) lover, and brings up as example that Hades did the same forAdmetus andAlcestis,Orpheus andEurydice, and that he himself also knows what being in love is like. Hades is skeptical, but Persephone manages to persuade him.[67]
According toHesiod, when the monstrousTyphon attacked the Olympian gods, Hades is said to have trembled in fear in the underworld whileZeus fought Typhon above.[68]
In one ofPlato's dialogues, Socrates talks about Hades as a figure capable of making everyone fall by his enchantments[69] and that is why no one ever leaves the underworld, including the sirens.[70]
Hades, as the god of the dead, was a fearsome figure to those still living; in no hurry to meet him, they were reluctant to swear oaths in his name, and averted their faces when sacrificing to him. Since to many, simply to say the word "Hades" was frightening,euphemisms were pressed into use. Since precious minerals come from under the earth (i.e., the "underworld" ruled by Hades), he was considered to have control of these as well, and as such the Greeks referred to him as Πλούτων (GreekPlouton; Latin PLVTO,Pluto, "the rich one"). This title is derived from the wordPloutos (Ancient Greek:Πλοῦτος,romanized: Ploútos,lit. 'wealth, riches',[ˈpluː.tos]).Sophocles explained the notion of referring to Hades asPlouton with these words: "the gloomy Hades enriches himself with our sighs and our tears." In addition, he was called Clymenus (Κλύμενος,Klýmenos, 'infamous',[ˈkly.me.nos]), Polydegmon (Πολυδέγμων,Polydégmon, 'host of many',[po.lyˈdeg.mɔːn]), and perhapsEubuleus (Εὐβουλεύς,Eubouleús, 'good counsel',[eu̯.buːˈleu̯s]),[71] all of them euphemisms for a name that was unsafe to pronounce, which evolved intoepithets.
He spent most of the time in his dark realm. Formidable in battle, he proved his ferocity in the famousTitanomachy, the battle of the Olympians versus theTitans, which established the rule of Zeus.
Feared and loathed, Hades embodied the inexorable finality of death: "Why do we loathe Hades more than any god, if not because he is so adamantine and unyielding?" The rhetorical question isAgamemnon's.[72] Hades was not, however, an evil god, for although he was stern, cruel, and unpitying, he was still just. Hades ruled the underworld and was therefore most often associated with death and feared by men, but he was not Death itself — it isThanatos, son ofNyx andErebus, who is the actual personification of death, although Euripides's play "Alkestis" states fairly clearly that Thanatos and Hades were one and the same deity, and gives an interesting description of Hades as being dark-cloaked and winged.[73]
When the Greeks propitiated Hades, they banged their hands on the ground to be sure he would hear them.[74] Black animals, such as sheep, were sacrificed to him. While some suggest the very vehemence of the rejection ofhuman sacrifice expressed in myth might imply an unspoken memory of some distant past, there is no direct evidence of such a turn.[75] The blood from allchthonic sacrifices including those to propitiate Hades dripped into a pit or cleft in the ground. The person who offered the sacrifice had to avert his face.[76]
One ancient source says that he possessed theCap of invisibility. His chariot, drawn by four black horses, made for a fearsome and impressive sight. These beasts were variously named as, according toClaudian:Orphnaeus,Aethon,Nycteus andAlastor while other authors listed also: Nonius, Ametheus, Abastor, Abetor and Metheus. His other ordinary attributes were the narcissus and cypress plants, theKey of Hades and Cerberus, the three-headed dog.[77] In certain portraits, snakes also appeared to be attributed to Hades[78] as he was occasionally portrayed to be either holding them or accompanied by them. This is believed to hold significance as in certain classical sources Hades ravished Kore in the guise of a snake, who went on to give birth to Zagreus-Dionysus.[79] While bearing the name 'Zeus', Zeus Olympios, the great king of the gods, noticeably differs from the Zeus Meilichios, a decidedly chthonian character, often portrayed as a snake,[80] and as seen beforehand, they cannot be different manifestations of the same god,[81] in fact whenever 'another Zeus' is mentioned, this always refers to Hades.[82] ZeusMeilichios and ZeusEubouleus are often referred to as being alternate names for Hades.[83]
The philosopherHeraclitus, unifying opposites, declared that Hades andDionysus, the very essence of indestructible life(zoë), are the same god.[84] Among other evidence,Karl Kerényi notes in his book[85] that the Homeric Hymn To Demeter,[86] votive marble images[87] and epithets[88] all link Hades to being Dionysus. He also notes that the grieving goddess Demeter refused to drink wine, as she states that it would be againstthemis for her to drink wine, which is the gift of Dionysus, after Persephone's abduction, because of this association; indicating that Hades may in fact have been a "cover name" for the underworld Dionysus.[89] He suggests that this dual identity may have been familiar to those who came into contact with theMysteries.[90] Dionysus also shared several epithets with Hades such asChthonios ("the subterranean"),[91][92]Eubouleus ("Good Counselor"), andEuclius ("glorious" or "renowned") .
Evidence for a cult connection is quite extensive, particularly in southern Italy, especially when considering the death symbolism included in Dionysian worship;[93][94] statues of Dionysus[95][96] found in the Ploutonion at Eleusis gives further evidence as the statue bears a striking resemblance to the statue of Eubouleus also known as the youthful depiction of the Lord of the underworld. The statue of Eubouleus is described as being radiant but disclosing a strange inner darkness.[85]
Both Hades and Dionysus were associated with a divine tripartite deity with Zeus.[97] The Orphics in particular believed that Zeus and Hades were the same deity and portrayed them as such.[98][99] This nature and aspect of Hades and Zeus displayed in the Orphic stories is the explanation for why both Hades and Zeus are considered to be the father of Orphic Dionysus-Zagreus.[100] Orphics also described Zagreus as the son of Hades, while also regarding Zagreus as an aspect of Dionysus.[101] The role of unifying Hades, Zeus and Dionysus as a single tripartite god was used to represent the birth, death and resurrection of a deity and to unify the 'shining' realm of Zeus and the dark realm of Hades that lay beneath the Earth.[97][102]
Among the other appellations under which Hades or Pluto is generally known, are the following:[103]
In Greek:
Adesius, his name inLatium. It is expressive ofthe grace.
Agelastus, from hismelancholy countenance.
Agesilaus, expressive of hisattracting allpeople to his empire.
Agetes or Hegetes, a name assigned to him byPindar, as to one whoconducts.
Aidoneus, as used byPlutarch in a euhemerised version of the story of Pirithous's failed abduction of Persephone in which the god is recast as a king of theMolossians.[41]
Axiocersus, or theshorn god, a name of Pluto in the mysteries of theCabiri: he was there represented aswithout hair.
Ophieus, his name as theblind god among theMessenians: it was derived from their dedicating certainAugurs to him, whom they deprived of sight at the moment of their birth.
In Latin or Etruscan:
Altor, fromalo, to nourish.
Februus, fromFebrua, signifying the sacrifices and purifications adopted in funeral rites.
Larthy Tytiral,sovereign of Tartarus, his name inEtruria.
Mantus orManus, the diminutive ofSummanus, an Etruscan epithet.
Niger Deus,black god, his epithet as god of the Infernal Regions.
Opertus, theconcealed.
Postulio, a name assigned to him byVarro, under which he was worshipped on the shores of the lake Curtius, from the circumstance of the earth's having opened at that spot, and of theAruspices having presumed that the King of Death thus asked for (postula, I ask,) sacrifices.
Profundus Jupiter,deep orlowerJove, from his being sovereign of thedeep, orinfernal regions.
Quietalis, fromquies, rest.
Rusor, because all thingsreturn eventually to the earth.
Salutaris Divus, a name assigned to him when he restored the dead to life. Whenever the gods wished to re-animate a body, Pluto let fail some drops of nectar from his urn upon the favoured person: this may account for his being sometimes represented with an inverted vase.
Tellumo, a name derived from those treasures which Pluto possesses in the recesses of the earth. Tellumo denotes (according to Varro) thecreative power of the earth, in opposition to Tellus theproductive.
Uragus, expressive of his power overfire.
Urgus, fromurgeo, to impel.
In Egypt:
Amenthes, a name of Pluto among theEgyptians.Plutarch informs us, that the wordAmenthes has a reference to the doctrines of themetempsychosis, and signifies the "place which gives and receives";' on the belief that some vast gulf was assigned as a receptacle to the souls, which were about to animate new bodies.
Hades was depicted infrequently in artwork, as well as mythology, because the Greeks were so afraid of him.[21] His artistic representations, which are generally found in Archaic pottery, are not even concretely thought of as the deity; however at this point in time it is heavily believed that the figures illustrated are indeed Hades.[14] He was later presented in the classical arts in the depictions of theRape of Persephone.[104] Within these illustrations, Hades was often young, yet he was also shown as varying ages in other works.[14] Due to this lack of depictions, there were not very strict guidelines when representing the deity.[14] On pottery, he has a dark beard and is presented as a stately figure on an "ebony throne."[105] His attributes in art include a bident (less commonly, a scepter), a helm, cornucopias, roosters,[106] and a key. They key plays a doubly symbolic role in that it represents his control over the underworld and acts as a reminder that the gates of the underworld were always locked so that souls could not leave.[107] Even if the doors were open, Cerberus, the three-headed guard dog of the underworld, ensured that, while all souls were allowed to enter into the underworld freely, none could ever escape.[108] Cerberus is a very integral symbol of Hades so much so that when Cerberus is depicted, the depiction very rarely portrays him without Hades. Sometimes, artists painted Hades as looking away from the other gods, as he was disliked by them as well as humans.[14]
AsPluto, he was regarded in a more positive light. He holds acornucopia, representing the gifts he bestows upon people as well as fertility, which he becomes connected to.[14]
Realm of Hades
Aeneas's journey to Hades through the entrance at Cumae mapped byAndrea de Jorio, 1825
In older Greek myths, the realm of Hades is the misty and gloomy[109] abode of the dead (also calledErebus[109]) where all mortals go when they die. Very few mortals could leave Hades once they entered. The exceptions,Heracles andTheseus, are heroic.[110] Even Odysseus in hisNekyia (Odyssey, xi) calls up the spirits of the departed, rather than descend to them. LaterGreek philosophy introduced the idea that all mortals are judged after death and are either rewarded or cursed.[citation needed]
There were several sections of the realm of Hades, includingElysium, theAsphodel Meadows, andTartarus. The mythographerApollodorus, describes Tartarus as "a gloomy place in Hades as far distant from Earth, as Earth is distant from the sky."[111] Greekmythographers were not perfectly consistent about the geography of theafterlife. A contrasting myth of the afterlife concerns theGarden of the Hesperides, often identified with theIsles of the Blessed, where the blessed heroes may dwell.
InRoman mythology, the entrance to the underworld located atAvernus, a crater nearCumae, was the routeAeneas used to descend to the realm of the dead.[112] Bysynecdoche, "Avernus" could be substituted for the underworld as a whole. Thedi inferi were a collective of underworld divinities.
For Hellenes, the deceased entered the underworld by crossing theStyx, ferried across byCharon (kair'-on), who charged anobolus, asmall coin for passage placed in the mouth of the deceased by pious relatives.Paupers and the friendless gathered for a hundred years on the near shore according to Book VI of Vergil'sAeneid. Greeks offered propitiatorylibations to prevent the deceased from returning to theupper world to "haunt" those who had not given them a proper burial. The far side of the river was guarded by Cerberus, the three-headed dog defeated byHeracles (RomanHercules). Passing beyond Cerberus, the shades of the departed entered the land of the dead to be judged.
The five rivers of the realm of Hades, and their symbolic meanings, areAcheron (the river of sorrow, or woe),Cocytus (lamentation),Phlegethon (fire),Lethe (oblivion), andStyx (hate), the river upon which even the gods swore and in which Achilles was dipped to render him invincible. The Styx forms the boundary between the upper and lower worlds. See alsoEridanos.
The first region of Hades comprises theFields of Asphodel, described inOdyssey xi, where the shades of heroes wander despondently among lesser spirits, who twitter around them like bats. Onlylibations of blood offered to them in the world of the living can reawaken in them for a time the sensations of humanity.
Beyond layErebus, which could be taken for a euphonym of Hades, whose own name was dread. There were two pools, that ofLethe, where the common souls flocked to erase all memory, and the pool ofMnemosyne ("memory"), where the initiates of the Mysteries drank instead. In the forecourt of the palace of Hades and Persephone sit the three judges of the underworld:Minos,Rhadamanthus, andAeacus. There at thetrivium sacred toHecate, where three roads meet, souls are judged, returned to theFields of Asphodel if they are neither virtuous nor evil, sent by the road to Tartarus if they are impious or evil, or sent toElysium (Islands of the Blessed) with the "blameless" heroes.
In theSibylline oracles, a curious hodgepodge of Greco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian elements, Hades again appears as the abode of the dead, and by way offolk etymology, it even derivesHades from the nameAdam (the first man), saying it is because he was the first to enter there.[113] Owing to its appearance in theNew Testament of theBible, Hades also has a distinct meaning inChristianity.
^Bane, Theresa (29 May 2020).Encyclopedia of Mythological Objects. McFarland Myth and Legend Encyclopedias. McFarland. p. 30.ISBN9781476639208. Retrieved24 August 2023.Hades's pitchfork[:] The bident (a two-pronged spear) was the traditional weapon of Hades (Roman god Dis/Pluto), the god of the Underworld, in classical Greek mythology; his black bident had the ability to create earthquakes [...].
^According to Dixon-Kennedy,p. 143 (followingKerényi 1951, p. 230) says "...his name means 'the unseen', a direct contrast to his brother Zeus, who was originally seen to represent the brightness of day". Ivanov, p. 284, citing Beekes 1998, pp. 17–19, notes that derivation of Hades from a proposed *som wid- is semantically untenable; see also Beekes 2009, p. 34.
^Walter Burkert, inThe Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age, 1992, (pp 90ff) compares this single reference with the MesopotamianAtra-Hasis: "the basic structure of both texts is astonishingly similar." The drawing of lots is not the usual account;Hesiod (Theogony, 883) declares that Zeus overthrew his father and was acclaimed king by the other gods. "There is hardly another passage in Homer which comes so close to being a translation of anAkkadian epic," Burkert concludes (p. 91).
^Poseidon speaks: "For when we threw the lots I received the grey sea as my abode, Hades drew the murky darkness, Zeus, however, drew the wide sky of brightness and clouds; the earth is common to all, and spacious Olympus."Iliad 15.187
^Servius, note toEclogue7.61:Leuce, Oceani filia, inter nymphas pulcherrima fuit. hanc Pluton adamavit et ad inferos rapuit. quae postquam apud eum completo vitae suae tempore mortua est, Pluton tam in amoris, quam in memoriae solacium in Elysiis piorum campis leucen nasci arborem iussit, ex qua, sicut dictum est, Hercules se, revertens ab inferis, coronavit.
^Parker, L. P. E. (2007).Euripides Alcestis: With Introduction and Commentary. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 109.ISBN9780191569012.
^"Hades never knows what is happening in the world above, or in Olympus, except for fragmentary information which comes to him when mortals strike their hands upon the earth and invoke him with oaths and curses" (Robert Graves,The Greek Myths 1960: §31.e).
^Dennis D. Hughes,Human Sacrifice in Ancient Greece (London: Routledge, 2013), 49-70.ISBN9781134966394books.google.com/books?id=1iktBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA49
^Schlesier, Renate (2012).A Different God?: Dionysos and Ancient Polytheism. Berlin, Germany.: Freie University. pp. 27, 28.ISBN9783110222357.
^Hornblower, Spawforth, Eidinow, Simon, Antony, Esther (2014).The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization. Oxford: OUP Oxford. p. 354.ISBN9780191016752.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Heraclitus, encountering the festival of thePhallophoria, in whichphalli were paraded about, remarked in a surviving fragment: "If they did not order the procession in honor of the god and address the phallus song to him, this would be the most shameless behavior. But Hades is the same as Dionysos, for whom they rave and act likebacchantes", Kerényi 1976,pp. 239–240.
^abKerényi, Karl (1991).Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter. Princeton University Press.ISBN9780691019154.
^Summary of Karl Kerenyi: "The Hymn tells us that Persephone was abducted in Nysion pedion, or the Nysian Plain, a plain that was named after the Dionysian mountain of Nysa. Nysa was regarded as the birthplace and first home of Dionysus. The divine marriage of Plouton and Persephone was celebrated on ‘the meadow’. The dangerous region that Kore let herself be lured to in search of flowers was likely not originally connected to Plouton but to Dionysus, as Dionysus himself had the strange surname of ‘the gaping one’, though despite this the notion that the wine god in his quality as the Lord of the underworld does not appear on the surface of the hymn. People would not be able to detect the hidden meaning it if it was not for archaic vase portrayals."Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter [P. 34, 35,]."The Hymn to Demeter later mentions that Queen Metaneira of Eleusis later offers the disguised Demeter a beaker of sweet wine, something that Demeter refuses on the grounds that it would be against themis, the very nature of order and justice, for her to drink red wine and she instead invents a new beverage called kykeon to drink instead. The fact that Demeter refuses to drink wine on the grounds that it would be against themis indicates that she is well aware of who Persephone's abductor is, that it is the Subterranean cover name of Dionysus. The critic of the mysteries, the severe philosopher Herakleitos once declared “Hades is the same as Dionysos.” The subterranean wine god was the ravisher, so how could Demeter accept something that was his gift to mankind" [P. 40]
^Summary of Karl Kerenyi:"The book later refers to Herakles initiation into the Eleusinian Mysteries so that he may enter the underworld. In the iconography after his initiation Herakles in shown wearing a fringed white garment with a Dionysian deerskin thrown over it. Kore is shown with her mother Demeter and a snake twined around the Mystery basket, foreshadowing the secret, as making friends with snakes was Dionysian [P. 58].The god of the Anthesteria was Dionysus, who celebrated his marriage in Athens amid flowers, the opening of wine jars, and the rising up of the souls of the dead [P. 149]. There are two reliefs in a marble votive relief of the fourth century BCE. One depicts Kore crowning her mother Demeter, the deities at the second altar are Persephone and her husband Dionysus as the recumbent god has the features of the bearded Dionysus rather than of Plouton. In his right hand, he raises not a cornucopia, the symbol of wealth, but a wine vessel and in his left, he bears the goblet for the wine. Over their heads an inscription reads “To the God and Goddess” [P. 151, 152]. The fragments of a gilded jar cover of the Kerch type show Dionysus, Demeter, little Ploutos, Kore, and a curly-haired boy clad in a long garment, one of the first son's of the Eleusinian king who was the first to be initiated. On another vase, Dionysus sits on his omphalos with his thyrsos in his left hand, sitting opposite Demeter, looking at each other severely. Kore is shown moving from Demeter towards Dionysus, as if trying to reconcile them [P. 162].Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter
^Summary of Karl Kerenyi:Kore and Thea are two different duplications of Persephone; Plouton and Theos are duplications of the subterranean Dionysus. The duplication of the mystery god as subterranean father and subterranean son, as father Zagreus and the child Zagreus, husband and son of Persephone, has more to do with the mysteries of Dionysus than with the Eleusinian Mysteries. But a duplication of the chthonian, mystical Dionysus is provided even by his youthful aspect, which became distinguished and classical as the son of Semele from the son of Persephone. Semele, though not of Eleusinian origin, is also a double of Persephone [P. 155].Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter
^Loyd, Alan B (2009).What is a God?: Studies in the Nature of Greek Divinity. The Classical Press of Wales.ISBN978-1905125357.
^Alan B Loyd: "“The identification of Hades and Dionysus does not seem to be a particular doctrine of Herakleitos, nor does it commit him to monotheism. The evidence for a cult connection between the two is quite extensive, particularly in Southern Italy, and the Dionysiac mysteries are associated with death rituals.”
^abTaylor-Perry, Rosemarie (2003).The God who Comes: Dionysian Mysteries Revisited. Barnes & Noble. pp. 4, 22, 91, 92, 94, 168.ISBN9780875862309.
^Wypustek, Andrzej (2012).Images of Eternal Beauty in Funerary Verse Inscriptions of the Hellenistic Period. BRILL.ISBN978-9004233188.
^pl:Andrzej Wypustek Andrzej Wypustek (Ph.D)] "Votive inscriptions frequently mentioned Pluto but very rarely Hades. Particularly at Eleusis, the Pluto cult was for a deity who, like Persephone and Demeter, was favourably disposed to humans. He was frequently portrayed as a majestic elder with a sceptre, ranch, cornucopia, pomegranate, or drinking vessel in his hand; sometimes he was accompanied by an eagle. His iconography resembled that of Zeus, and especially that of some chthonic personification of the ruler of the gods, above all Zeus Meilichios. We can now go a step further. The nearest equivalent to the contrast between Hades and Pluto as presented in the Theophile epigram can be found in the Orphic Hymns, which are assumed to have originated from the Τελεται of the Dionysiac mystic circles in Asia Minor of the 1st – 3rd centuries. Hymn 41 worships Antaia, i.e. Demeter, the goddess who had searched for her daughter in Hades and discovered her in ‘the sacred bed of the sacred chthonic Zeus’. This formulation in itself is not surprising because the name Zeus (as a synonym for a deity and ruler) was used in reference to Hades-Pluto as the ruler of the underworld. In an interesting, though, sadly, only partly preserved inscription from Appia-Murathanlar in theTembris Valley (in 3rd century AD Phrygia) the deceased appeals to “Zeus, god of the dead [φθιηένων*], Pluto” to protect his grave. The term “Chthonic Zeus” could, however, mean something more than a mere euphemism for the name Hades. The idea of defining Zeus as χθόνιος, κατα (χθόνιος) ἄλλος or simply Hades had been present in ancient Greek literature from Homer to Nonnos. This was a sort of extension, aspect or ‘shadow’ of the universal power of Zeus in the kingdom of the dead, where he was the judge of the dead and the also the consort of Persephone-Kore.Moreover, he was the provider of riches, Πλουτοδότης; a personification which was abbreviated to Πλούτων. Among other things, he controlled the crops and it was to him (as well as to Demeter) that the farmers turned for the promise of a good harvest. These are hardly well known traditions today. Some scholars maintain that their obscurity is on account of the secret role they played in the mysteries. ... Therefore, the Orphics worshipped Pluto as the saviour and judge of the deceased, as Zeus χθόνιος. They most likely assumed that Zeus had another embodiment of sorts in the underworld, in Hades. The effect of this assumption was the myth, known to us in several versions, of how Zeus had lain with Persephone (even though she was his daughter). The so-called great Orphic tablet of Thurii refers to the abduction of Persephone by Zeus, who then fathers her son, Dionysus. Their child was revered by the Orphics as Dionysus Zagreus, Dionysus Iacchus, which shows how much importance they attached to the love affair of that particular couple." (Images of Eternal Beauty in Funerary Verse Inscriptions of the Hellenistic Period)[circular reference]
^Rigoglioso, Marguerite (2010).Virgin Mother Goddesses of Antiquity. Palgrave Macmillan.ISBN978-0-230-11312-1.Given that Zeus was also sometimes portrayed as having an incarnation in the underworld that was closely identified with Hades, we can read here that Zeus and Hades were essentially two representations of the same god. [...] The idea of Hades equals Dionysus, and that this dual god impregnated Persephone in the Eleusinian tradition, therefore, is in perfect accord with the story that Zeus impregnated her with Dionysus in Orphic myth, given that Hades equals Zeus, as well. Moreover, what we see from this esoteric complex is that, in seeding Persephone, Zeus/Hades/Dionysus created what Kerenyi perceptively calls 'a second, a little Dionysus,' a 'subterranean Zeus.'
^Rosemarie Taylor-Perry: "“Interestingly it is often mentioned that Zeus, Hades and Dionysus were all attributed to being the exact same god... Being a tripartite deity Hades is also Zeus, doubling as being the Sky God or Zeus, Hades abducts his 'daughter' and paramour Persephone. The taking of Kore by Hades is the act which allows the conception and birth of a second integrating force: Iacchos (Zagreus-Dionysus), also known as Liknites, the helpless infant form of that Deity who is the unifier of the dark underworld (chthonic) realm of Hades and the Olympian ("Shining") one of Zeus.”
^ This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain:Murray, John (1833).A Classical Manual, being a Mythological, Historical and Geographical Commentary on Pope's Homer, and Dryden's Aeneid of Virgil with a Copious Index. Albemarle Street, London. pp. 5–6.
^According toHesiod,Theogony927–929, Hephaestus was produced by Hera alone, with no father, see Gantz, p. 74.
^According toHesiod'sTheogony886–890, of Zeus's children by his seven wives, Athena was the first to be conceived, but the last to be born; Zeus impregnated Metis then swallowed her, later Zeus himself gave birth to Athena "from his head", see Gantz, pp. 51–52, 83–84.
^According toHesiod,Theogony183–200, Aphrodite was born from Uranus's severed genitals, see Gantz, pp. 99–100.
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