Hades,
Greek god of the underworld, enthroned, with his bird-headed staff, on a
red-figure Apulian vase made in the
4th century BC.
Hades (from Greek Άδης, Hadēs, originally
Άιδης, Haidēs or Άΐδης, Aidēs, probably from Indo-European *n̥-wid- 'unseen'[1]) refers to both the ancient Greek
underworld and the god of the dead. The word originally (as in Homer) referred to just the
god; Άδού, Haidou its genitive, was an elision of "the
house of Hades". Eventually, the nominative, too, came to designate the abode of the
dead.
Hades and his brothers Zeus and Poseidon defeated the
Titans and claimed rulership over the universe, ruling the underworld, sky, and sea,
respectively. Hades is depicted as a grim figure.
Hades was also known as Pluto (from Greek Ploutōn), and was known by
this name, as "the unseen one", or "the rich one", as well as Dis Pater and Orcus, in Roman mythology; the corresponding Etruscan god was Aita. The symbols associated with him are
sceptre and cornucopia.
The term hades has sometimes been used in Christianity to mean the abode of the dead, where the dead would await
Judgment Day either at peace or in torment. See Hades in Christianity.
Hades, Abode of the Dead
-
In older Greek myths, Hades is the misty and gloomy [2]
abode of the dead, where all mortals go. There is no reward or special punishment in this Hades, akin to the Hebrew
sheol. In later Greek philosophy appeared the idea that all mortals are judged after death and
rewarded or cursed. Another symbol is the three headed dog.
There were several sections of Hades, including the Elysian Fields (contrast the Christian
Paradise or Heaven), and Tartarus, (compare the Christian Hell). Greek mythographers were not perfectly consistent about the geography of the afterlife. A contrasting myth of the afterlife concerns the Garden of the
Hesperides, often identified with the Isles of the Blessed, where the blest
heroes may dwell.
In Roman mythology, an entrance to the underworld located at Avernus, a crater near Cumae, was the route Aeneas used to descend to the Underworld. By synecdoche, "Avernus" could be
substituted for the underworld as a whole. The Inferi Dii were the Roman gods of the
underworld.
The deceased entered the underworld by crossing the Acheron ferried across by
Charon (kair'-on), who charged an obolus, a
small coin for passage, placed under the tongue of the deceased by pious relatives. Paupers and
the friendless gathered forever on the near shore. Greeks offered propitiatory libations to prevent the deceased from returning
to the upper world to "haunt" those that had not given them a proper burial. The far side of the river was guarded by
Cerberus, the three-headed dog defeated by Heracles (Roman
Hercules). Beyond Cerberus, the shades of the departed entered the land of the dead to be
judged.
Since Hades was the ruler of the Underworld, it makes sense to note one of the key features of this region - its myriad
rivers. These rivers had names and symbolic meanings: The five rivers of Hades are Acheron (the
river of sorrow), Cocytus (lamentation), Phlegethon (fire),
Lethe (forgetfulness) and Styx (hate). See also
Eridanos. The Styx forms the boundary between upper and lower worlds.
The first region of Hades comprises the Fields of Asphodel, described in
Odyssey xi, where the shades of heroes wander despondently among lesser spirits, who
twitter around them like bats. Only libations of blood offered to them in the world of the
living can reawaken in them for a time the sensations of humanity.
Beyond lay Erebus, which could be taken for a euphonym of Hades, whose own name was dread.
There were two pools, that of Lethe, where the common souls flocked to erase all memory, and the pool of Mnemosyne ("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, Rhadamanthys and Aeacus. There at the trivium sacred to Hecate, where three roads meets, souls are
judged, returned to the Fields of Asphodel if they are neither virtuous nor evil, sent by the road to Tartarus if they are
impious or evil, or sent to Elysium (Islands of the Blest) with the heroic or blessed.
In the Sibylline Oracles, a curious hodgepodge of Greco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian
elements, Hades again appears as the abode of the dead, and by way of folk etymology, it
even derives Hades from the name Adam (the first man), saying it is because he was
the first to enter there.[3]
Hades in Christianity
Like other first-century Jews literate in Greek, early Christians used the Greek word Hades to translate the Hebrew
word Sheol. Thus, in Acts 2:27, the Hebrew phrase in Psalm 16:10 appears in the form: "you will not abandon my soul to Hades." Death and Hades are repeatedly associated
in the Book of Revelation.[4] The word "Hades" appears in Jesus' promise to Peter: "And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it",[5] and in the warning to Capernaum: "And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted unto
heaven? thou shalt go down unto Hades."[6] The word also
appears in Luke's story of Lazarus and the rich man, which shows that Sheol/Hades,
which had originally been seen as dark and gloomy, with little if any relation to afterlife rewards or punishments, had come to
be understood as a place of comfort for the righteous ("in the bosom of Abraham") and
of torment for the wicked ("in anguish in this flame").[7].
The Greek word "Hades" was translated into Latin as "infernus" and passed into English as "hell", as in the King James Version of the above-cited New Testament
passages. The word continued to be used to refer generically to the abode or situation of the dead, whether just or unjust, as in
the Apostles' Creed, where "he descended into hell" is said of Christ.. But, except in
Greek, this generic usage of the word "Hades", "infernus", "hell" has become archaic and unusual. In Greek, the word κόλασις (literally, "punishment"; cf. Mathew 25:14, which speaks of "everlasting kolasis") is used to refer to what nowadays is usually meant by
"hell" in English.
Hades has often been pictured as a place within the earth, rather than just a state of the soul. Tertullian, speaking of those
who did not believe in the resurrection of the body, wrote: "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" [8].
For souls in the situation of Hades, understood as that of the dead in general, early Christians believed that it is possible,
not only for those who died before the coming of Christ,[9]
but also for those who died later "to be translated to a state of happiness" when prayed for, even if they were not
baptized.[10]
The ancient Christian Churches[11] hold that a final
universal judgement will be pronounced on all human beings when soul and body are reunited in the resurrection of the dead. They also believe that, even while awaiting resurrection, the fate of
souls differs: "The souls of the righteous are in light and rest, with a foretaste of eternal happiness; but the souls of the
wicked are in a state the reverse of this."[12]
Meanwhile, the saints among the dead can intercede for the living, and the living can help "such souls as have departed with
faith, but without having had time to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance … towards the attainment of a blessed resurrection
by prayers offered in their behalf, especially such as are offered in union with the oblation of the bloodless sacrifice of the
Body and Blood of Christ, and by works of mercy done in faith for their memory."[13]
In Protestantism, it is believed that a person's fate is definitively sealed at death,
and that the dead can neither assist the living nor be assisted by them.
Some, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, hold that, until the resurrection, the
dead simply cease to exist or, if they exist at all, do so in a state of unconsciousness.
Hades, the lord of the Underworld
In Greek mythology, Hades (the "unseen"), the god of the underworld, was a son
of the Titans, Cronus and Rhea. He had three younger sisters, Hestia, Demeter, and Hera, as well as two older brothers, Poseidon and Zeus: the six of
them were Olympian gods.
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 the Titanomachy, a divine war. Zeus, Poseidon and Hades received weapons from the three Cyclops to help in the war. Zeus the thunderbolt; Hades the Helm of
Darkness; and Poseidon the trident. During the night before the first battle Hades put on his helmet and, being invisible,
slipped over to the Titans' camp and destroyed their weapons. 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 the Iliad
(xv.187-93), Hades and his two brothers, Poseidon and Zeus, drew lots[14] for realms to rule. Zeus got the sky, Poseidon got the seas, and Hades received the
underworld,[15] the unseen realm to which the dead go
upon leaving the world as well as any and all things beneath the earth.
Hades obtained his eventual consort and queen, Persephone, through trickery, a story that
connected the ancient Eleusinian Mysteries with the Olympian pantheon.
Helios told the grieving Demeter that Hades was not unworthy as a consort for Persephone:
"Aidoneus, 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."
Despite modern connotations of death as "evil", Hades was actually more altruistically inclined in mythology. Hades was often
portrayed as passive rather than evil; his role was often maintaining relative balance.
Hades ruled the dead, assisted by others over whom he had complete authority. 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, as Sisyphus and Pirithous found out to their sorrow.
Besides Heracles, the only other living people who ventured to the Underworld were all
heroes: Odysseus, Aeneas
(accompanied by the Sibyl), Orpheus, Theseus, Pirithoüs(see note 18), 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 BC.
Hades, god of the dead, was a fearsome figure to those still living; in no hurry to meet him, they were reticent to swear
oaths in his name. To many, simply to say the word "Hades" was frightening. So, a euphemism was 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 was referred to as Πλούτων (Plouton, related to the word for "wealth"), hence the Roman name Pluto. Sophocles explained referring to Hades as "the rich one"
with these words: "the gloomy Hades enriches himself with our sighs and our tears." In addition, he was called Clymenus ("notorious"), Eubuleus ("well-guessing"), and Polydegmon ("who
receives many"), all of them euphemisms for a name it was unsafe to pronounce, which evolved
into epithets.
Although he was an Olympian, he spent most of the time in his dark realm. Formidable in battle, he proved his ferocity in the
famous Titanomachy, the battle of the Olympians versus the Titans, which established the rule of Zeus.
Because of his dark and morbid personality[citation needed] 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[citation needed]. Black animals, such as sheep, were
sacrificed to him, and it is believed that at one time even human sacrifices were offered[citation needed]. The blood from sacrifices to Hades
dripped into a pit so it could reach him[citation needed]. The person who offered the sacrifice had to turn away his face[citation needed]. 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 and Hades Ploutos (with
cornucopia): tondo of an Attic red-figured
kylix, ca. 440-430 BCE
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 (though some stories say they
fell in love and to ensure her return to him, he gave her the 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."[16]
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 but Pirithous remained trapped as punishment for daring to seek the wife of a god for
his own.
Heracles
Heracles' final labour was to capture Cerberus. First, Heracles 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. Heracles asked Hades
for permission to take Cerberus. Hades agreed as long as Heracles didn't harm him, though in some versions, Heracles shot Hades
with an arrow. When Heracles 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.[17] The most feared of the Olympians
had euphemistic names as well as attributive epithets.
- Aides
- Aïdoneus
- Chthonian Zeus
- Haides
- Pluton
- Plouto(n) ("the giver of wealth")
- The Rich One
- The Unseen One
Roman mythology
Notes
- D' Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths
- ^ Vyacheslav V. Ivanov, "Old Novgorodian Nevide, Russian nevidal’: Greek
ἀίδηλος", citing Robert S.P. Beekes, "Hades and Elysion" in J. Jasanoff, et al., eds., Mír
Curad: Studies in Honor of Calvert Watkins, 1998. Beekes shows that Thieme’s derivation from *som wid- is semantically
untenable. Analogously, the Hebrew word for the abode of the dead, Sheol, also literally means "unseen". Plato's Cratylus discusses the etymology extensively, with the character of Socrates asserting that
the god's name is not from aiedes (unseen) as commonly thought, but rather from "his knowledge (eidenai) of all
noble things".
- ^ Homeric Hymn to Demeter
- ^ Sibylline Oracles Bk. I, 101-3
- ^ Revelation 1:18, 6:8, Rev 20:13-14
- ^ Matthew 16:18
- ^ Matthew 11:23; Luke 10:15
- ^ Luke 16:19-31
- ^ A Treatise on the Soul, chapter 55
- ^ Clement of Alexandria
stated: "It is not right that these should be condemned without trial, and that those alone who lived after the coming (of
Christ) should have the advantage of the divine righteousness" (Stromata, book VI,
chapter VI.
- ^ Acts of Paul and Thecla, 8:5-7; The Passion of the Holy Martyrs Perpetua and Felicity, 2:3-4.
- ^ The Assyrian Church of the
East, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic
Church
- ^ The Longer
Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church, 372
- ^ The Longer
Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church, 376
- ^ Walter Burkert, in The
Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age, 1992, (pp 90ff) compares this
single reference with the Mesopotamian Atra-Hasis: ""the basic structure of both texts
is astonishingly similar." The drawing of lots is not the usual; 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 an Akkadian 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
- ^ Homeric Hymn to Demeter.
- ^ Homeric Hymn to Demeter
External links
- Maps of the Underworld (Greek mythology)
- The God Hades
bar:Hades
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
