Hades and Persephone

Hades and Persephone

Hades, God of the Underworld

• Also called Aides

• The Romans knew him as Pluto

• Brother of Zeus and Poseidon

• God of the Dead, but NOT of death (he doesn't decide when people die)

• Hades was God of the Underworld, but Thanatos was the God of Death

The Underworld:

• Fields of Punishment (for bad people)

• Asphodel Meadows (for regular people)

• Elysium (for good people)

Hades

His name means "the unseen." Hades seldom left the Underworld, and almost never traveled to Mount Olympus.

Speaking his name was associated with bad luck, so he came to be known as Pluto or Plutous, which means "wealthy," since food and precious metals were understood to come from the earth.

Multiple Select

Hades was the god of (three things):

• death

• the dead

• wealth

• the underworld

Hades was the oldest son of the Titans Cronus (Saturn) and Rhea. Hestia, Demeter, and Hera (who married Zeus, her brother) were his older sisters.

• Ancient Greeks said little about Hades because they feared to talk about him

• He was considered fair by the standards of the Greek gods

• He allowed no one to leave the Underworld without permission, and he rarely left himself.

Keep in mind...

Since there were no religious texts for Greek myth akin to the Bible, nor any kind of authoritative organization like a church, a lot of what we know about Hades and other Greek gods is up for debate. Some stories contradict other stories. There were even ancient Greeks who thought that Hades and Zeus were the same god!

The Underworld...

Passage into the Underworld, or Tartarus, was made via the River Styx. Souls needed to pay a price to Charon, the ferryman, to get across. Those who could not pay were condemned to wander the edge of the river for a hundred years. To help make the passage, bodies were buried with coins under their tongues.

Myths involving Hades

• Fought with Hercules at Pylos

• Trapped Theseus and Pirithous in the Underworld

• Punished Sisyphus for cheating Death (Thanatos) by making him spend eternity pushing a boulder up a hill that would always magically roll back down.

Cerberus

• Hades's loyal guard dog

• Once captured by Hercules but returned (either by Hercules or on his own, depending on the version of the story)

• Said to eat raw flesh and the souls of any who dared attempt to leave the Underworld

• His three heads may represent birth, youth, and old age

• His heads may also parallel Zeus's three pronged lightning bolt and Poseidon's three pronged trident.

• Hades loved that dog...

Hades was not a popular god among the ancient Greeks, but he did have some worshippers. Rituals included banging on the ground and pouring blood from sacrificed animals (commonly black sheep or bulls) into holes or cracks in the earth.

Hades and Persephone

The most famous myth involving Hades is arguably the one in which he kidnaps his future wife . . .

Multiple Choice

What was the name of the Underworld?

• Styx

• Tartarus

• Elysium

• Olympus

Multiple Choice

What was the name of the ferryman who guided souls into Tartarus?

• Charon

• Styx

• Demeter

• Hades

Multiple Choice

What is the name of the three headed beast that guards the underworld?

• Hydra

• Heracles

• Cerberus

• Demeter

Multiple Select

Which of the following are places within the Underworld?

• The Elysian Fields

• The Valley of Olympus

• The Asphodel Meadows

• The Fields of Punishment