ades was the third brother of the Olympians who drew for his
share of the universe; the underworld and to rule over the dead was what he ended up with;
God of the underworld (with his queen Persephone). Hades was
also known as the god of wealth and precious metal that lay hidden deep within the earth,
and was a son of Cronus and Rhea. His
helmet, given to him by the Cyclops was
famous, for whoever wore it, became invisible. Hades lent his helmet, on occassions, to
other gods, and sometimes mortals, just as Zeus lent his shield to Athene and Apollo. It was rare that he left
his dark realm to visit Olympus or the earth, nor was he urged
to do so, he was not a welcome visitor. Hades was unpitying and inexorable, but just; a
terrible, not an evil god. Hades was king of the dead, not death itself, whom the Greeks
called Thanatos.
Persephone, the beautiful daughter of Demeter and Zeus, was Hades' wife, whom he carried away from the
earth and made queen of the lower world. Without saying a word to Demeter or asking
Persephone how she felt about it, Zeus told Hades, who was lonely in his dark underground
kingdom and who was looking for a wife, that he could have Persephone for his queen. One
day, soon after, while she was picking daffodils near Etna in Sicily, the earth suddenly
split open and Hades, rolling up in his black chariot, seized the frightened girl and took
her down with him.
Hades’ symbol is the two pronged
staff, which he used to drive the unwilling shades of spirits into his dark regions. The
land of Hades is well mapped in mythology, being split into two parts: Erebus to which the dead come immediately after dying, and Tartarus, the deeper part.
Dividing the underworld from the
world of the living are several rivers:
| Acheron
|
The river of
woe, across which the dead are ferried by Charon, to whom they must pay the passage money
which was placed on their lips when they died |
| Lethe
|
The river of
forgetfulness |
| Styx |
By which the
gods swear unbreakable oaths |
| Phlegathon
|
The river of
fire |
| Cocytus
|
The river of
lamentations |
Before the gates of Hades, sits Cerberus,
his three headed dog. Cerberus greets all newcomers but refuses anyone to leave. Once in
Hades, the dead are judged by Minos, Rhadamanthus and Aeacus, who allot each either to a
place of pain and torment, or to a place of bliss called the Elysian Fields. At first,
Hades in person brought the dead from the upper world to the lower, but this duty was
later made one of the responsibilities of Hermes. the forbidding
side of Hades was natuarally emphasized, but it was not the only one. As Pluto, the giver
of wealth, he was sometimes shown in a more favourable light to signify that things - food
and corn - come from the lowest depths of the earth and the bottom of the earth contains
trasures as well as the souls of the dead.
Although not incapable of feeling love,
Hades was a grim, fierce, and inexorable god, but not unjust, not a hater of foe of man,
although of all of the deities he was the most hated by both men and gods.