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6520: Hades. Relief dedicated by the priest Lakrateides and his family to the Eleusinian deities. It depicts the legend of Triptolemos 100-90 BC. Archaeological Museum of Eleusis.
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Hades was allotted the dominion of the
Underworld and rules over the dead. He is known under several other names: Pluto 2, Aedoneus, Orcus and Dis. It is said that Hades was worshipped only in Elis.
Ruler of the
Underworld
Hades belongs to the first generation of
OLYMPIANS, being the
brother of Zeus,
Poseidon,
Hera,
Hestia, and
Demeter. After the war
agains the TITANS, the
three brothers divided the world, and Hades was
allotted the dominion of the
Underworld, while
Poseidon ruled the sea
and Zeus the Heavens.
His helmet Hades possessed a helmet—which the CYCLOPES gave him (as
they gave the thunderbolt to Zeus and the trident
to Poseidon)—that rended the wearer invisible.
He sometimes lent it to both gods and men. So, for
example, Perseus 1 put
the helmet on his head when he went to kill
Medusa 1, and
Hermes, wearing the
helmet, fought the
GIANTS. Later,
Athena at
Troy put on the helmet of
Hades, so that Ares should not see her (see Diomedes 2).
Abduction of Persephone
Demeter's daughter
Persephone was
carried off by Hades, and because of her eating one
(or several) seed of a pomegranate in the
Underworld, she had
to divide her time between this and the upper
world.
Consequences of the abduction
When Hades abducted her,
Demeter went about
seeking her daughter all over the earth with
torches by night and day, and during that time she
did not allow the earth to produce any fruits. When
Zeus ordered Hades to send
back Persephone, Hades then gave her a seed of a pomegranate to eat, in order that she might not tarry long with her mother. Not foreseeing the consequence, she swallowed it; and because Ascalaphus 2 bore witness against her, Demeter
laid a heavy rock on him in Hades. But later
Heracles 1 rolled away the stone of Ascalaphus 2, and then Demeter turned Ascalaphus 2 into a short-eared owl.
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Hades abducting Persephone.
0126: Der Raub der Proserpina. Relief by C. F. Holbeck, 1811-1880. Neue Pinakotek, München.
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Wounded by Heracles 1
It has been told that when
Heracles 1 campaigned
against Pylos, Hades came
to support the Pylians being wounded by
Heracles 1 with an
arrow in the shoulder. Hades then retired to
Olympus where Paeeon, who in Heaven knows the
remedies for all things, healed him.
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