Hades of the underworld

Gods/Goddesses Greek mythological Gods: Hades Advanced Angelogy Project #1 – Gods and Goddesses Adam James , Eric Barranco

Celia Santiago Monday – Saturday

Birth of the Gods

The great Titans, Rhea and Cronos shared a love that led to the birth of the first Gods of Mount Olympus.

Gods by the names of Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia were the first six and each were swallowed one by one by Cronos because he feared the power his kin yielded.

All but the wise Zeus were swallowed and in his escape he grew up in a secure location away from danger where he managed to harness his abilities and save his siblings from the belly of their father.

After their escape the siblings aided Zeus in taking revenge and with success they sat on top of this world as Gods and goddesses replacing the former Titans in this position.

These Gods then had offspring of their own giving rise to other Gods and goddesses as seen in the chart below.

Family

Ruler of the Underworld

For this project we chose Hades because it is interesting how after his coalition with his brothers and sisters he is sort of outcast from Mount Olympus. To him it was unfair that Zeus got to be king of the Gods while he was not.

After challenging his brother and losing Hades was forced to leave Mount Olympus, he felt as though he got the raw end of the deal even though Zues, Hades, and Poseidon all received their respective domains fair and square. He then formed his own kingdom and presided elsewhere.

Hades is often referred to as the unseen one in mythology because he is the lord of the underworld and ruler of the dead.

He is in control of the afterlife only if the proper rituals have been practiced in order to guide the souls to the other side by Charon.

AbilitiesKnown Superhuman Powers: Hades possesses the conventional physical attributes of an Olympian god. Like

all Olympians, he is immortal; he has not aged since reaching adulthood and cannot die by any conventional means. He is immune to all Earthly diseases and is resistant to conventional injury.

If wounded, his godly life force would enable him to recover with superhuman speed; it would take an injury of such magnitude that it dispersed a major portion of his bodily molecules to cause him physical death. Even

then, it may be possible for Zeus or a god of equal power to revive him. Hades possesses superhuman strength and his Olympian metabolism gives him far greater than human

endurance at all physical activities. (Olympian flesh and bone is about three times as dense as similar human tissue, contributing to the Olympians' superhuman strength and weight.)

Hades also has extraordinary energy-wielding abilities equaled among the Olympians only by those of Poseidon, and surpassed only by those of Zeus. Only a few of Hades’ many energy-wielding powers have as yet

been depicted. Hades can fire powerful force belts from his hands, erect powerful, nearly impenetrable force fields, and create interdimensional apertures to enable him to transport himself from one dimension to another.

He can weaken an opponent's strength with his touch. Hades can create mystical flame and sheathe himself with such flame while himself remaining unharmed. Hades can create weapons of mystical flame, such as a

spear or sword of fire, which can paralyze an opponent.Hades also also has extraordinary senses for paranormal and supernatural energies. Sensitive to psychic

activity, he can see ghosts and perceive information from earthbound entities even without their permission. It has been alleged that Hades is less powerful on Earth, or in other dimensions, such as Asgard or Valhalla, than

he is in his own realm of Tartarus.

Abilities Part 2Strength Level: Hades possesses superhuman strength enabling him to lift (press) 70

tens. Among the Olympian gods, his level of strength is matched only by those of Poseidon and Ares, and exceeded only by those of Zeus and Hercules.

Weapons/Paraphernalia: Hades has a helmet of invisibility made for him by the Cyclopes, one-eyed giants who were trapped in Tartarus along with Hades by Cronus.

Using it, Hades can make himself magically invisible even to other Olympians.Hades wields a large battleaxe through which he can project and focus his force bolts

(although he is fully capable of projecting the bolts without it). The battleaxe is made of enchanted adamantine, an ore native to Olympus, and is virtually indestructible. One of the axes was smashed by a spell of the Norns in recent years but Hades has others. All

of them were constructed for Hades by the Cyclopes.

Other known facts of Hades

: Hades is educated in supernatural and occult knowledge as well as mystical occult rituals predating the Sumerian Empire. In his mortal identity as Hayden Reason, he is the foremost expert in parapsychology and demonology

Hades possessed the Cap of invisibility which of course allowed him to remain unseen and is why he is referred to as the unseen one in many depictions.

His chariot is massive and pulled by four equally massive black horses which made for a fearsome and impressive sight.

Black animals, such as sheep, were sacrificed to him

Underworld

After the conflicts between the two brothers Zeus and Hades it was clear that Hades did not belong on Mount Olympus with the rest of his siblings.

He was the only God who left Olympus never to return Hades and his two brothers, Poseidon and Zeus, drew lots for realms to rule.

Zeus got the sky, Poseidon got the seas, and Hades received the underworld, the unseen realm to which the souls of the dead go upon leaving the world as well as any and all things beneath the earth.

His new home was the underworld where he accepted the role of guiding souls and with matters of life and death

Death is a subject that has always been feared throughout human history, mainly because it has always been unknown what happens after death.

Hades, god of the dead, was a fearsome figure to those still living; in no hurry to meet him, they were reluctant to swear oaths in his name, and averted their faces when sacrificing to him. Since to many, simply to say the word "Hades" was frightening, this fear led the living to hate him as he personified death.

Despite modern connotations of death as evil, Hades was actually more of a selfless God inclined in mythology. Hades was often portrayed as passive rather than evil; his role was often maintaining relative balance, such as the balance between life and death.

Since precious minerals come from under the earth in other words the underworld he was considered to have control of these as well, and was referred to as Pluto, (related to the word for "wealth"), which gave birth to Roman name Pluto. Sophocles often referred to Hades as "the rich one" with these words: "the gloomy Hades enriches himself with our sighs and our tears."

Hades ruled the dead, assisted by other beings that he had complete authority over. 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. Hercules was the only living person who managed to steal back a soul from the underworld.

His wrath was equally matched or even surpassed 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, such as Odysseus and Aeneas

Sisyphus King Sisyphus promoted navigation and commerce to his land but was

very deceitful. He also killed travelers and his guests, a violation of Xenia (hospitality) which fell under Zeus' domain. He took pleasure in these killings because they allowed him to maintain his iron-fisted rule over his people.

King Sisyphus also betrayed one of Zeus' secrets by telling the river god Asopus of the whereabouts of his daughter Aegina, Asopus daughter who was taken away by Zeus in return for causing a spring to flow on the Corinthian Acropolis

Zeus then ordered Hades to chain King Sisyphus down below in Tartarus. Sisyphus was curious as to why Hermes, whose job was to guide souls to the Underworld had not come. King Sisyphus then cunningly asked Hades to demonstrate how the chains worked. As Hades was granting his wish, Sisyphus then seized the advantage and trapped Hades instead. This caused an uproar since no human could die with Hades trapped in Tartarus.

Eventually Ares the God of War got really annoyed that his battles had lost their fun because his opponents would not die, so he intervened. The annoyed Ares freed Hades and turned King Sisyphus over to Hades as well.[

As a punishment for his trickery, King Sisyphus was made to roll a huge boulder up a steep hill. However before he could reach the top, the massive stone would always roll back down, and he would have to begin again.

The incredibly frustrating nature of the punishment was reserved for King Sisyphus due to his hubristic belief that his cleverness surpassed that of Zeus himself.

Zeus accordingly displayed his own cleverness by enchanting the boulder into rolling away from King Sisyphus before he reached the top which ended up consigning Sisyphus to an eternity of useless efforts and unending frustration

Souls

It is thought that Charon, the old ferry man who ferries the dead onto the underworld, crosses the river Styx where the dragon tailed dog Cerberus guards,

allowing all souls to enter but none to leave. This is a misconception, Charon crosses the river Acheron where also Cerebus stands his eternal guard. Also while on this subject, Charon only takes the souls across that are buried properly with a coin

(called an obol) that was placed in their mouths upon burial.

1.Acheron - the river of woe;

2.Cocytus - the river of lamentation;

3.Phlegethon - the river of fire;

4.Lethe - the river of forgetfulness;

5.Styx - the river of hate.

In older Greek myths, the realm of Hades is the misty and gloomy abode of the dead

Eventually this is where all mortals go. Later Greek philosophy introduced the idea that all mortals are judged

after death and are either rewarded or cursed There were several sections of the realm of Hades, including Elysium,

the Asphodel Meadows, and Tartarus. Elysium or the Elysium fields are separate from the realm of Hades,

admission was initially reserved for mortals related to the gods and other heroes.

It also include those chosen by the gods, the righteous, and the heroic, where they would remain after death, to live a blessed and happy life, and indulging in whatever employment they had enjoyed in life

Asphodel Meadows, and Tartarus Some depictions of the Asphodel Meadows describe it as a land

of neutrality. That is because the people in this place are neither good nor evil,

Their lives treated as neither good nor evil as well, as they mechanically perform their daily tasks here

all residents drink from the river Lethe(oblivion) before entering the fields, thus losing their identities and becoming something similar to a machine.

Tartarus is a deep, gloomy place it’s described as an abyss a black pit of sorts used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides beneath the underworld

Tartarus was used as a prison for the worst of villains, including Cronus and the other Titans who were thrown in by Zeus.

Greek Sculptures: Hades and Cerberus This is just one of many depictions of

Hades in Greek mythology. He is shown here with his famous three headed dog named Cerberus. The size and number of heads always fluctuated between 3 and 100 until they finally decided on 3

Despite how docile Cerberus looks here the guardian of the gates of the underworld was actually very vicious. In mythology Cerberus is actually much larger than seen here

Cerberus effectively guards the gates of the underworld preventing those who managed to cross the river of Styx to escape.

Cerberus 

The three-headed, serpent-tailed dog Cerberus was the offspring of Echidna and Typhon. (In Greek mythology, parents didn't

necessarily resemble their offspring.) Plato Republic 588 likens Cerberus to chimeras: "'One of those natures that the ancient

fables tell of,' said I, 'as that of the Chimaera or Scylla or Cerberus, and the numerous other examples that are told of many forms grown together in one.'" Describing the hound, likewise, as a chimera, Apollodorus 2.V.12.I writes: "Now this Cerberus had

three heads of dogs, the tail of a dragon, and on his back the heads of all sorts of snakes." In one of the main sources on Greek

mythological figures, Hesiod's Theogony, Cerberus had not 3, but 50 heads. Some artists have portrayed the beast with two heads. The point was, he had more than one threatening, toothy set of

jaws, although by the time of the Roman poets, the number seems to have been fixed at 3

. Cerberus was a fierce, pitiless, honey cakes and flesh-eating

Underworld watchdog, stationed by the River Styx, from which post he would keep the living from entering the land of the dead. Even the gods feared Cerberus, but Hercules (Heracles), for his 12th Labor, had to kidnap the three-headed dog and bring him back to the world of the living to Hercules' taskmaster, King

Eurystheus. Vergil included in his Aeneid a trip to the Underworld, in which it was necessary for the Roman hero,

Aeneas, to get past Cerberus. In Book VI of the Aeneid, the Sibyl threw tranquilizers to each of the three heads of Cerberus so

Aeneas could pass in safety.

Orpheus and Psyche were two other mortals who managed to get by Cerberus.

Persephone Persephone's Symbol or Attribute: The pomegranate. The

narcissus, which Hades planted in a meadow to entice her to pluck it; pulling on the flower opened up the Underworld and Hades sprang out, carrying her off.

Her Strengths: Loving and lovely. Her Weaknesses: Beauty so ravishing it attracts Hades'

unwanted attention. Persephone's Spouse: Hades, with whom she must stay part of

each year because she ate a few pomegranate seeds in the Underworld.

Interesting Fact: Persephone is also sometimes known just as Kore, or the Maiden. She was sometimes called "the maiden of the beautiful ankles". While most sources indicate Persephone was not happy to be "married" by Hades, others assert that she ate the pomegranate seed (or seeds) deliberately, as a way of breaking free from Mom, and that she was actually content with the final arrangement.

The wife of Hades was Persephone, depicted by the Greeks as the beautiful daughter of Demeter.

Persephone did not willingly become Hades wife, but was abducted by him while picking flowers in the fields of Nysa.

Demeter protested against this action by casting a curse on the land and there was a great famine

This is the Greek explanation of winter. Fall is Demeter getting anxious about her leave to the underworld to be with her husband winter is the curse on the land and Demeter’s depression. While spring and summer signify Persephone's return.

Though one by one, the gods came to request she lift it so that mankind wouldn’t perish, she asserted that the earth would remain barren until she saw her daughter again.

It wasn’t until Zeus intervened by requesting that Hades release her that he let her go.