Document belonging to the Greek Mythology Link, a web site created by Carlos Parada, author of Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology
Biographies • GROUPS • Places & Peoples • DictionariesImagesAlbums
Copyright © 1997 Carlos Parada and Maicar Förlag.



Hades


"Hades is not to be soothed, neither overcome, wherefore he is most hated by mortals of all gods." (Agamemnon. Homer, Iliad 9.158).

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.

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.

Hades abducting Persephone.
0126: Der Raub der Proserpina. Relief by C. F. Holbeck, 1811-1880. Neue Pinakotek, München.

Wounded by Heracles 1

Hades

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.


Family 

Parentage

Mates

Notes

 

Minthe

Minthe was the concubine of Hades; Persephone transformed her into a plant called Hedyosmos (mint).


Genealogical Charts

Names in this chart: Cronos, Demeter, Gaia, Hades, Hera, Hestia, Minthe, Persephone, Poseidon, Rhea 1, Uranus, Zeus.

Hades and his three-headed hound Cerberus 1.
3709: Niederländischer Maler des 16. Jahrhundert: Fünf Mythologische Figuren: Hades. Landesmuseum Oldenburg, Das Schloß.


Related sections
Sources
Abbreviations

AO.1192; Apd.1.2.1, 1.5.1; Cic.ND.2.66; Hes.The.455; Hom.Dem.2.405ff.; Hom.Il.5.395, 15.187ff.; Hyg.Fab.146; Ov.Fast.4.605; Ov.Met.6.114; Pau.6.25.2; Stat.Theb.8.21ff., 8.61; Strab.8.3.14.