Hades he was one of the gods that were part of Greek and Roman religiosity and one of the most feared, as he was the guardian of the underworld. He was Zeus' brother, and took part in the fight against the titan Kronos, his own father. He was married to Persephone, a goddess who was kidnapped by him when he was picking flowers in the field.
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Who was Hades?
Hades was a god who made part of the religiosity of the ancient Greeks , being considered one of the most feared gods in Greece. The fear was due to the fact that he was known as the god of the underworld , where the dead went, according to Greek belief. The Greeks also knew the underworld as Hades.
Hades was therefore the only Greek god who had no abode on Mount Olympus , and, despite being one of the main gods of the Greek religion, he was not Olympian for that very reason. The Greeks believed that the dead would have different fates according to their works in life.
Good people would go to a quiet place, the Fields Elysées , but the bad ones were sent to Tatarus , a place of suffering. Both locations were in the interior of the underworld, the realm of Hades. Those who were waiting for his judgment remained in Erebus .
The Greeks believed that Hades wore a helmet capable of giving him the power da invisibility, and it is believed that the etymology of his name comes exactly from this attribute (that of not being seen). Hades, like all Greek gods, was assimilated by the religiosity of the Romans, who knew him as Pluto .
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Hades X Chronos
Hades was the brother of some of the main gods of Greek religiosity, such as Zeus , Poseidon , Demeter , Ivy and Hestia . Hades and his brothers were children of Kronos and Rhea , two titans that inhabited Earth in early times. Kronos was known to devour his children because of a prophecy he had received that said he would be dethroned by one of them.
At one point, Rhea tricked him to prevent him from eating another of her children. From this action, Zeus survived and, some time later, started a rebellion against Cronos, fight in which Hades, after being rescued, took part. The result of the struggle of Zeus and his brothers was the defeat of Kronos and the Titans, who were imprisoned in Tartarus.
Hades, Zeus, and Poseidon were the main actors in the fight against Kronos, so they divided the three available kingdoms between them . Zeus became lord of Earth and Sky, Poseidon was given the seas, and Hades was given the underworld .
Belief in Hades
As mentioned, Hades was one of the most feared gods among the Greeks, and accounts say they avoided even pronouncing your name , preferring to use pseudonyms to refer to him. However, despite the fear he caused, historians know what rituals were performed in his honor.
One of the rituals was the sacrifice of animals, which had their bodies carried so that their blood spread through the ground and reached the underworld. There were also temples in worship of Hades, such as the Nekromanteion , dedicated to the practices of necromancy (magic involving rituals to communicate with the dead).
Regarding Hades, it is important to consider one thing:and le was the god of the underworld and not the god of death . The personification of death for the Greeks was Thanatus , responsible for determining the end of people's lives. Thus, Thanatos was responsible for death, while Hades was responsible for the underworld, where the souls of the dead went.
In the Archaic and Classical periods of Greek history (between the 8th and 4th centuries BC), Hades was represented as an elderly man with a long beard . Depictions of him commonly brought him in possession of a scepter, spears, and a cornucopia . Furthermore, the Greeks considered him a merciless and disgusting god.
The Greeks believed that the dead were sent to the underworld by Hermes , responsible for guiding souls to the banks of the River Styx. Arriving there, the souls had to cross the rivers Styx and Acheron, being the boatman Charon responsible for it. After crossing the rivers, the dead reached the underworld.
However, the crossing would only take place if the dead paid the ferryman Charon for his service. That's why the Greeks put a coin over each eye of their dead, as they believed that these coins would be used in the crossing to the underworld.
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Hades and Persephone
The Greeks believed Hades was hopelessly in love by Persephone , daughter of Demeter and considered the goddess of flowers, fruits, seeds, grains, etc. Greek myths say that he first saw her when she was picking flowers in a field. After that, Hades kidnapped- a , taking her as his wife to the underworld.
Persephone's kidnapping infuriated her mother, Demeter, who cursed the Earth with a great famine. Demeter requested that Zeus, Persephone's father, intervene so that her daughter could be returned. Persephone, meanwhile, could be returned from Hades if she hadn't consumed any underworld food .
Hermes was sent to Hades to request the return of Persephone, but the goddess had been deceived by the god of the underworld, who had offered her pomegranate seeds, which she consumed. This led to an impasse which was resolved by an agreement between Hades and Demeter. They both decided that Persephone would spend 1/3 of the year with Hades and the rest of the time with Demeter .
In the period when she stayed with Hades, the Earth was cold and infertile, but when she returned, the Earth regained its fertility. Historians point out that this myth was used by the Greeks to explain the variations that occur with the seasons. Thus, when Persephone was in Hades, her mother, goddess of agriculture, was saddened and the climate cooled, preventing this activity.
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