Hades was regarded as a dark, merciless god. But Hades was also a god of wealth and fertility since good things like crops and precious metals came to mortals from his underground realm. Hades was, first and foremost, the god of death: it was he who ruled the Underworld, and indeed, his name was synonymous with the Underworld. Hades was known by several epithets, including agēsandros and agesilaos (meaning “he who leads people away”), polysēmantōr and polydegmōn (“ruler of many” or “host of many”), klymenos (“the notorious”), and eubuleus (“giver of good advice”). The name Plouton was inherited by the Romans, whose god Pluto possessed the same characteristics as Hades. 490–323 BCE), the god’s name had evolved into Hades.įearful of speaking the name of the god of death, the Greeks took to calling Hades by the alternative euphemistic name Plouton, meaning “wealthy.” This other name presumably reflected the fact that the Greeks’ riches, such as crops and precious metals, came from below the earth. Another common poetic alternative was Aidoneus.
The earliest attested form of the name, used in Homeric and Ionic Greek, was Aïdēs. In antiquity, Hades’ name was generally interpreted as meaning “the unseen” or “the invisible one.” This is a rare case where the original, folk etymology seems to have been correct: modern scholars have traced the name “Hades” to the Proto-Indo-European word * ṇ-uid-, meaning “unseen.” Pronunciation The name had evolved into its more familiar form, Hades (Ἅιδης), by the Classical period (ca. Homer says that Elysium is reserved for the close relatives of the gods (Homer, Odyssey, 4.561-569) while later authors, like Pindar ( Olympians 2.68-78), suggest that a virtuous life would allow a soul to spend eternity in Elysium.The earliest documented version of the name “Hades” was Aïdēs (Ἀΐδης), used in the Homeric epics the Iliad and the Odyssey (eighth century BCE). They kept their former personalities as well as their consciousness, and they continued to pursue the activities that had brought them pleasure while they were alive. (For an extended portrayal of the souls in Hades, see Homer, Odyssey, Book 11.) The Islands of the Blessed, however, sometimes called Elysium or the Elysian Fields, was a place where a select group of souls lived in bliss. Later authors added the river Lethe (Λήθη, meaning “forgetfulness”), which causes the souls who drink from it to forget their past lives see Plato, Republic 10.621 a-d and Vergil, Aeneid 6.714-715.įor most people, life in the Underworld was a hollow existence where their souls slowly lost consciousness and continued on as shells of their former selves.
There are several rivers in Hades, including the Styx (Στύξ, meaning “hateful”), which the gods swear by, and the Acheron (Ἀχέρων, meaning “woeful”). The three-headed dog, Cerberus, acts as a guard dog who prevents dead souls from escaping as well as preventing live people from getting in. Different authors describe Hades (the Underworld) differently, but there are several common features. In practice, however, the name, “House of Hades,” is usually shortened to just “Hades.” For this reason, the term “Hades” refers to both the name of the god and the name of the place over which he rules. The name of the Underworld is sometimes referred to as Erebus (Ἔρεβος), which means “darkness” in Greek, but it is more frequently called the House of Hades. Hades depicted as the Egyptian god Serapis with Cerberus and Persephone depicted as the goddess Isis in the Museum in Heraklion, Crete After the kerfuffle created by this incident had subsided, Hades and Persephone seem to have settled down to a rather ordinary married life as King and Queen of the Dead. There are very few myths about Hades other than the story of how he abducted and married Persephone. A kylix depicting Persephone and Hades in the British Museum Hades was married to his niece, Persephone, whom he abducted.
Hades became the ruler of the Underworld. After being rescued by his brother Zeus and helping Zeus gain control of the cosmos, the three brothers Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades all drew lots to decide who would rule over various parts of the world. Hades was one of the children of Cronus and Rhea whom their father swallowed. Symbols: scepter, grain (fertility), rooster (fertility), Cerberusįunctions: god of the Underworld and the dead A krater depicting Hades and Persephone in the Antikensammlungen Museum in Munich
Roman name: Pluto, Dis (wealth), or OrcusĮpithets: Aïdoneus (the Unseen One), All-Receiver, Pluto (wealth)
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