Hades

File:Hades (Greek Mythology).jpg

Hades, Greek god of the underworld, depicted enthroned and bearing his bird-headed staff (image from a red-figure Apulian vase made in the 4th century B.C.E.).

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Hades (from Greek ᾍδης, Haidēs, originally Ἅιδης, Haidēs or Ἀΐδης, Aidēs, probably from Indo-European *n̥-wid- 'unseen') refers to both the ancient Greek underworld and to the deity that presided over the spirits of the deceased. This dual use was, however, a relatively late development in classical writing, as the term originally referred only to the god – as attested to in the writings of Homer. In these sources, the only term used for the underworld itself was Haidou (the genitive of the word), which literally meant "the house of Hades." With time, the nominative case also came to designate the abode of the dead.

The term Hades, in its cosmological sense, has sometimes been used in Christianity to refer to the abode of the dead, where the deceased would await Judgment Day in either peace or torment (see below).

Hades was also known as Pluto (from Greek Ploutōn), and it was by this name, which can be translated as "the unseen one" or "the rich one", that he came to be known in Roman mythology; the corresponding Etruscan god was Aita. The symbols associated with him are sceptre and cornucopia.

Hades, abode of the dead

In older Greek myths, Hades is the "misty and gloomy" abode of the dead, which is the ultimate destination of all mortals. In this conception, there was no reward or special punishment for the deceased, making it somewhat akin to the early Hebrew conception of sheol. In later Greek tales and writings, this view evolved to include the notion of a segregated afterlife, where mortals will be assigned to either reward or punishment based on posthumous judgment.

In this elaborated understanding, Hades was divided into several sections, including the Elysian Fields and Tartarus (which can be fruitfully compared to the Christian conceptions of Heaven and Hell). However, the Greek mythographers describing these realms were not perfectly consistent about the geography of the afterlife, as evidenced by contrasting mythic accounts that describe fallen heroes taking up residence on the Isles of the Blessed.

The deceased entered the underworld by crossing the Acheron ("Woeful") (the "river of woe") in the ferry of Charon, the undying boatman who charged them each an obolus (a small coin) for passage. On the far side of the river, the gates to Hade are guarded by Cerberus, the demonic three-headed dog who simultaneously prevents the living from entering and the dead from leaving. Once past this dire watchman, the shades of the departed have entered the land of the dead proper, where they await judgment.

The first region of Hades is the Field of Asphodel, where the shades of deceased mortals hover about in a pathetic imitation of their incarnate lives. As Rose summarizes, it is "a tasteless and colorless life, with a sort of shadowy continuance of [the departed's] former occupations in this world." The second region was the House of Hades, the sepulchral palace of the god of the dead. In the forecourt of this grim castle sit the three judges of the Underworld: Minos, Rhadamanthys and Aeacus. There at the trivium sacred to Hecate and, at their thrones, three roads meet: the first, leading back to the Fields of Asphodel, is followed by souls who are neither virtuous nor evil; the second, which leads to the eternal tortures of Tartarus, is the path of those who are impious or evil; the third, which leads to the paradisical Elysian Fields (or the Isles of the Blest), is reserved for the the heroic or others who are particularly dear to the gods.

In the Sibylline Oracles, a curious hodgepodge of Greco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian elements, Hades again appears as the abode of the dead. The peculiar admixture of these two traditions is attested to in a folk etymology preserved with the text, where the name Hades is derived from "Adam" (the first man), saying that it is because he was the first to enter there.

Hades in Christianity

See Also: Hell (in Ancient Greek Religion)

Like other first-century Jews literate in Greek, early Christians used the Greek word hades as the translation for the Hebrew word sheol. This use appears in Luke's story of Lazarus and the rich man. Both underworlds had originally been dark and gloomy places with no concept of posthumous rewards or punishments. Since the writing of the Hebrew Bible, however, the popular concept of sheol had come to include moral judgment. Thus, Hades came to be seen as a place of comfort for the righteous (in the "bosom of Abraham") and torment for the wicked. Here the dead awaited the universal resurrection on Judgment Day. This view was defended by many of the early Church Fathers, including Tertullian (c. 155-230 C.E.) and Hippolytus (d. 235 C.E.).

As per Tertullian,

By ourselves the lower regions (of Hades) are not supposed to be a bare cavity, nor some subterranean sewer of the world, but a vast deep space in the interior of the earth, and a concealed recess in its very bowels; inasmuch as we read that Christ in His death spent three days in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:40), that is, in the secret inner recess which is hidden in the earth, and enclosed by the earth, and superimposed on the abysmal depths which lie still lower down. Now although Christ is God, yet, being also man, "He died according to the Scriptures," (1 Corinthians 15:3) and "according to the same Scriptures was buried." With the same law of His being He fully complied, by remaining in Hades in the form and condition of a dead man; nor did He ascend into the heights of heaven before descending into the lower parts of the earth, that He might there make the patriarchs and prophets partakers of Himself (1 Peter 3:19). (This being the case), you must suppose Hades to be a subterranean region, and keep at arm's length those who are too proud to believe that the souls of the faithful deserve a place in the lower regions. ... You have a treatise by us, (on Paradise), in which we have established the position that every soul is detained in safe keeping in Hades until the day of the Lord.

As per Hippolytus,

[W]e must speak of Hades, in which the souls both of the righteous and the unrighteous are detained. Hades is a place in the created system, rude, a locality beneath the earth, in which the light of the world does not shine; and as the sun does not shine in this locality, there must necessarily be perpetual darkness there. This locality has been destined to be as it were a guard-house for souls, at which the angels are stationed as guards, distributing according to each one's deeds the temporary punishments for (different) characters. And in this locality there is a certain place set apart by itself, a lake of unquenchable fire, into which we suppose no one has ever yet been cast; for it is prepared against the day determined by God, in which one sentence of righteous judgment shall be justly applied to all.... But the righteous shall obtain the incorruptible and un-fading kingdom, who indeed are at present detained in Hades, but not in the same place with the unrighteous.... And that place brings no toils to them. There, there is neither fierce heat, nor cold, nor thorn; but the face of the fathers and the righteous is seen to be always smiling, as they wait for the rest and eternal revival in heaven which succeed this location. And we call it by the name "Abraham's bosom." But the unrighteous are dragged toward the left by angels who are ministers of punishment, and they go of their own accord no longer, but are dragged by force as prisoners. And the angels appointed over them send them along, reproaching them and threatening them with an eye of terror, forcing them down into the lower parts. And when they are brought there, those appointed to that service drag them on to the confines or hell.

Hades, the lord of the Underworld

Mythological Accounts

In Greek mythology, Hades (the "unseen"), the god of the underworld, was a son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. He had three older sisters, Hestia, Demeter, and Hera, as well as an older brother, Poseidon, and a younger brother, Zeus: together, they accounted for one half of the Olympian gods.

In the early days of mythic time, Zeus and the other Elder Olympians (who had been egregiously mistreated by their father), challenged their parents and uncles for power in the Titanomachy, a war between the two generations of divinities. In this conflict, the Olympians received the aid of many other mythical beings, including the monstrous Hecatonchires ("hundred-handers"), who fought alongside them, and the Cyclopes, who presented them with magical weapons: to Zeus, a thunderbolt; Hades, the helmet of invisibility; and Poseidon, the trident. In the darkest hour before the commencement of hostilities, Hades put on his helmet and crept unseen into the Titan's camp, destroying their weapons and providing a decisive edge to the upstart gods. Even with this advantage, the war raged on for ten years, though it finally concluded with the victory of the younger gods.

Following their assumption of divine authority, Hades and his two younger brothers, Poseidon and Zeus, drew lots for realms to rule. Zeus got the sky, Poseidon got the seas, and Hades received the underworld, the unseen realm to which the dead go upon leaving the world, as well as any and all things beneath the earth.

Hades and Persephone

See also:Persephone,Demeter

One of the few mythic tales (besides the accounts described above) where Hades plays a prominent role is the tale of his Hades obtained his eventual consort and queen, Persephone, through trickery, a story that connected the ancient Eleusinian Mysteries with the Olympian pantheon. In an account that provides a fair description of the God of the Dead, Helios consoles the grieving Demeter by expostulating on the reasons that Hades was not an unworthy consort for Persephone:

"Aidoneus [a lengthened form of Aides (Hades)] the Ruler of Many, is no unfitting husband among the deathless gods for your child, being your own brother and born of the same stock: also, for honor, he has that third share which he received when division was made at the first, and is appointed lord of those among whom he dwells."

Hades and the Heroes

Besides Heracles, the only other living people who ventured to the Underworld were all heroes: Odysseus, Aeneas (accompanied by the Sibyl), Orpheus, Theseus, and Psyche. None of them was especially pleased with what they witnessed in the realm of the dead. In particular, the Greek war hero Achilles, whom Odysseus met in Hades (although some believe that Achilles dwells in the Isles of the Blest), said:

"Do not speak soothingly to me of death, glorious Odysseus. I should choose to serve as the hireling of another, rather than to be lord over the dead that have perished."

—Achilles' soul to Odysseus. Homer, Odyssey 11.488

Hades, labelled as "Plouton", "The Rich One", bears a cornucopia on an Attic red-figure amphora, ca 470 B.C.E.

Cult of Hades

Because of his dark and morbid personality he was not especially liked by either the gods nor the mortals. 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 is Agamemnon's (Iliad ix). He was not, however, an evil god, for although he was stern, cruel, and unpitying, he was still just. Hades ruled the Underworld and therefore most often associated with death and was feared by men, but he was not Death itself — the actual embodiment of Death was Thanatos.

When the Greeks propitiated Hades, they banged their hands on the ground to be sure he would hear them. Black animals, such as sheep, were sacrificed to him, and it is believed that at one time even human sacrifices were offered. The blood from sacrifices to Hades dripped into a pit so it could reach him. The person who offered the sacrifice had to turn away his face. Every hundred years festivals were held in his honor, called the Secular Games.

Hades' weapon was a two-pronged fork, which he used to shatter anything that was in his way or not to his liking, much as Poseidon did with his trident. This ensign of his power was a staff with which he drove the shades of the dead into the lower world.

His identifying possessions included a famed helmet of darkness, given to him by the Cyclopes, which made anyone who wore it invisible. Hades was known to sometimes loan his helmet of invisibility to both gods and men (such as Perseus). His dark chariot, drawn by four coal-black horses, always made for a fearsome and impressive sight. His other ordinary attributes were the Narcissus and Cypress plants, the Key of Hades and Cerberus, the three-headed dog. He sat on an ebony throne.

In the Greek version of an obscure Judaeo-Christian work known as 3 Baruch (never considered canonical by any known group), Hades is said to be a dark, serpent-like monster or dragon who drinks a cubit of water from the sea every day, and is 200 plethra (20,200 English feet, or nearly four miles) in length.

Artistic representations

Hades is rarely represented in classical arts, save in depictions of the Rape of Persephone. Hades is also mentioned in The Odyssey, when Odysseus visits the underworld as part of his journey. However, in this instance it is Hades the place, not the god.

Persephone

The consort of Hades, and the archaic queen of the Underworld in her own right, before the Hellene Olympians were established, was Persephone, represented by the Greeks as daughter of Zeus and Demeter. Persephone did not submit to Hades willingly, but was abducted by him while picking flowers with her friends. Persephone's mother missed her and without her daughter by her side she cast a curse on the land and there was a great famine. Hades tricked Persephone into eating pomegranate seeds:

"But he on his part secretly gave her sweet pomegranate seed to eat, taking care for himself that she might not remain continually with grave, dark- robed Demeter."

Demeter questioned Persephone on her return to light and air:

"...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."

Thus every year Hades fights his way back to the land of the living with Persephone in his chariot. Famine (autumn and winter) occurs during the months that Persephone is gone and Demeter grieves in her absence. It is believed that the last half of the word Persephone comes from a word meaning 'to show' and evokes an idea of light. Whether the first half derives from a word meaning 'to destroy' - in which case Persephone would be 'she who destroys the light'.

Theseus and Pirithous

Hades imprisoned Theseus and Pirithous, who had pledged to marry daughters of Zeus. Theseus chose Helen and together they kidnapped her and decided to hold onto her until she was old enough to marry. Pirithous chose Persephone. They left Helen with Theseus' mother, Aethra and traveled to the underworld. Hades 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 by Heracles.

Hercules

Hercules' final labour was to capture Cerberus. First, Hercules went to Eleusis to be initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries. He did this to absolve himself of guilt for killing the centaurs and to learn how to enter and exit the underworld alive. He found the entrance to the underworld at Tanaerum. Athena and Hermes helped him through and back from Hades. Hercules asked Hades for permission to take Cerberus. Hades agreed as long as Hercules didn't harm him, though in some versions, Hercules shot Hades with an arrow. When Hercules dragged the dog out of Hades, he passed through the cavern Acherusia.

Orpheus and Eurydice

Hades showed mercy only once: Because the music of Orpheus was so hauntingly good, he allowed Orpheus to bring his wife, Eurydice, back to the land of the living as long as she walked behind him and he never tried to look at her face until they got to the surface. Orpheus agreed but, yielding to the temptation to glance backwards, failed and lost Eurydice again, to be reunited with her only after his death.

Minthe and Leuce

According to Ovid, Hades pursued and would have won the nymph Minthe, associated with the river Cocytus, had not Persephone turned Minthe into the plant called mint. Similarly the nymph Leuce, who was also ravished by him, was metamorphosed by Hades into a white poplar tree after her death. Another version is that she was metamorphosed by Persephone into a white poplar tree while standing by the pool of Memory.

Epithets and other names

Hades, "the son of Cronos, He who has many names" was the "Host of Many" in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. The most feared of the Olympians had euphemistic names as well as attributive epithets.

• Aides
• Aiidoneus
• Chthonian Zeus
• Haides
• Pluton
• Plouton
• The Rich One
• The Unseen One

Roman mythology

• Dis
• Dis Pater
• Pluto

External links

Maps of the Underworld (Greek mythology)

• Color map
• Ancient map
• Map of the Underworld

The God Hades

• Theoi Project, Hades references in classical literature & ancient art
• Greek Mythology Link, Hades summary of god

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