HADES HOMEWORK HELP
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HADES HOMEWORK HELP
HADES Hades (also known as Aides) is Zeus' brother and ruler of the Underworld and the dead. He was also called Pluto - God of Wealth - because the precious metals buried deep in the earth were in his kingdom. Another reason that the people called him Pluto is because they did not like to pronounce the dreaded name of Hades or Aides. The name Pluto was used by both the Greeks and the Romans, and it translates into Latin as Dis - "Rich". The Romans also substituted Orcus and Tartarus as synonymous to Pluto. Although he was an Olympian, he spent most of the time in his dark castle in the Underworld. This Lord of Hell, who was formidable in battle, proved his ferociousness in the famous battle of the Olympians versus the Titans, which established the rule of Zeus.
Because of his dark and morbid personality he was not especially liked by neither the gods nor the mortals. His character is described as "fierce and inexorable", and by far of all the gods he was most hated by mortals. He was not however an evil god, for although he was stern, cruel and unpitying, still he was 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 another god, Thanatos. (Thanatos was the Greek personification of death who dwells in the lower world. In Homer's Iliad he appears as the brother of Hypnos ("sleep"). The Greek writer Hesiod makes these two spirits the sons of Nyx, but they had no father. In the theater Thanatos was sometimes introduced as a character. His attributes are an inversed torch, wreath, or butterfly.) (Hypnos is the personification of sleep in Greek mythology. He is the son of Nyx and Erebus, and the twin of Thanatos ("death"). Both he and his brother live in the underworld. He gave Endymion the power of sleeping with open eyes so he could see his beloved, the moon goddess Selene. Hypnos is portrayed as a naked young man with wings attached to his temples, or as a bearded man with wings attached to his shoulders.) Hades is always represented as a stern, dark, bearded man, with tightly closed lips, a crown on his head, a sceptre and a key in hand, to show how carefully he guards those who enter his domains, and how vain are their hopes to escape. No temples were dedicated to him, and his statues are very rare.
Black animals, such as sheep, were sacrificed to him and it is believed that at one time even human sacrifices were offered. 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 ruled the dead, assisted by demons 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 his prey from him. Very few people ever visited the Underworld and were permitted to leave - In Homer's Iliad, we are told that Heracles (Hercules) was forbidden by Hades to enter his kingdom, but the great Greek hero wounded Hades with an arrow and attained victory. Besides Heracles, few other living persons ventured to the Underworld: Er, Achilles, Odysseus, Aeneas, and Theseus are among those heroes who descended to Hades while they were still living. None of them was especially pleased with what they witnessed in the realm of the dead. In particular the Trojan 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."
Hades Abducts Persephone
The wife of Hades, and queen of the Underworld, was Persephone, daughter of Zeus and Demeter (She was also called Kore, Greek for 'daughter'). Persephone did not marry Hades willingly, but was abducted by him one day while picking flowers with her friends. Even Zeus was powerless to get her out of the Underworld when her mother Demeter asked him to act on her behalf.
Eventually a deal was made, with the messenger god Hermes acting as the mediator - Persephone would spend half the year with her mother, the goddess of the harvest. The Greeks believed that while Persephone was with Hades, her mother missed her so much that she withdrew her gifts from the world and winter came. In the spring, when Persephone rejoined her mother, Demeter would make things grow again. According to some, Persephone eventually became as cruel as her husband.
Hades' weapon was a two-pronged fork, which he used to shatter anything that was in his way or not to his liking, much like 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 were the famed helmet, 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. His dark chariot, drawn by four coal-black horses, always made for a fearsome and impressive sight. His other ordinary attributes are the Key of Hades and Cerberus, the three-headed dog. Like his brother Zeus and other ancient gods, Hades wasn't the most faithful of husbands. He pursued and loved the nymph Mintho and to punish her for this, his jealous wife Persephone turned Mintho into the plant called mint. Likewise, the nymph Leuce, who was also ravished by him, was metamorphosed by Hades into a white poplar tree after her death. In works of art, Hades resembles his brothers, Zeus and Poseidon, except that his hair falls over his forehead, and his appearance is portrayed as dark and gloomy. The god of the Underworld was one scary dude!
Here's a cool myth about Hades, involving Sisyphus, the poor mortal who was sentenced to roll a large rock up a hill, only to have it roll back over him just as he reached the top... King Sisyphus is best known for being punished in the Underworld by rolling a stone with his hands and head in an effort to heave it over the top of a hill; but no matter how hard he pushes, just as he gets near the top, the stone rebounds backward again and again. How did this horrid fate come about? Well, Sisyphus had a big mouth. One day the river god Asopus came by looking for his daughter, Aegina, who had gone missing. When Asopus asked Sisyphus if he knew where his daughter was, the tattle-tale King replied that he knew that Zeus had fallen in love with her and had carried her away. Zeus and Aegina were to be found in the wooded valley down below, walking arm in arm, he said. Needless to say this made Asopus very angry. Zeus had carelessly left his feared thunderbolts hanging from a tree while he romanced Aegina, so when Asopus came rushing at him with a club, the unarmed king of the Olympians ran away startled. Escaping, Zeus turned himself into a rock, and Asopus ran by him. After changing back into his real form and retrieving his hanging weapons, Zeus then hurled a thunderbolt at the charging Asopus, who walked with a limp ever since from his wounded leg. Enraged at the way in which Sisyphus betrayed the divine secret to Asopus, Zeus ordered his brother Hades, feared king of the Underworld, to arrest the king and to severely punish him. Hades appeared before Sisyphus and commanded him to come with him. King Sisyphus refused, saying that it was Hermes who guided the souls to the Underworld, not Hades, and besides, it wasn't his time to die yet. So there! Talk about nerve! He then asked the astonished Hades what he carried in his bag. Hades told him that they were handcuffs. Seeing that Sisyphus was puzzled, he explained that handcuffs were steel bracelets, chained together, which had been invented by the skilled god of the forge, Hephaestus. "Show me how they work", asked sly Sisyphus. But as Hades was modeling the handcuffs, Sisyphus snapped them shut. He fastened his dog's collar around the neck of the god and made fun of him in his helplessness. "Hey, these handcuffs really work, Hades!" he tormented his captive. Hades was not amused. He pleaded, threatened and stormed at Sisyphus, but for an entire month he was kept prisoner. Finally Ares, the cruel god of war, seeing that his battles had become farces because nobody died, came to Sisyphus and threatened to strangle him unless he released Hades...and if that didn't work, then he would cut off his head and hide it! Grudgingly Sisyphus unchained Hades and off they went to Tartarus and the Underworld. On arrival, Sisyphus pleaded his case with Persephone, Queen of the Underworld, claiming that he didn't belong there because he wasn't dead, and besides, he hadn't been properly ferried to the Underworld by Charon the boatman. Persephone told him to leave, but to come back the next day properly buried, with a coin under his tongue. Yeah, right. Sisyphus laughed as he left the Underworld, with no intent on returning for a long time. An infuriated Hades the next day sent Hermes to fetch the rascal. Hermes informed King Sisyphus that he had seen the Three Fates cutting his thread of life and that his existence on earth was over. Once they reached the Underworld, the Judges of the Dead devised a unique and torturous ordeal to punish him - they ordered Sisyphus to push a real heavy rock, practically immovable, over the top of the hill in Tartarus. To make sure that he got the point, the rock was shaped exactly like the one into which Zeus had changed when he hid from Asopus. The bad news was, the rock would roll back over the poor man just as he would get to the top, and he would have to start all over again. Sisyphus was doomed to endure this forever. What a drag! I suppose you could say that Sisyphus was the original "Rock & Roller"...
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