(Redirected from Hades in Christianity)
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Hades,
Greek god of the underworld, enthroned, with his bird-headed staff, on a red-figure Apulian vase made in the
4th century BC.
'Hades' (from
Greek , ''Haidēs'', originally , ''Haidēs'' or , ''Aidēs'', probably from
Indo-European ★ 'unseen'
[1]) refers to both the ancient
Greek underworld and the god of the dead. The word originally (as in
Homer) referred to just the god; , ''Haidou'' its
genitive, was an elision of "the house of Hades". Eventually, the
nominative, too, came to designate the abode of the dead.
Hades and his brothers
Zeus and
Poseidon defeated the
Titans and claimed rulership over the universe, ruling the underworld, sky, and sea, respectively. Hades is depicted as a grim figure.
Hades was also known as
'Pluto' (from Greek ''Ploutōn''), and was known by this name, as "the unseen one", or "the rich one", as well as
Dis Pater and
Orcus, in
Roman mythology; the corresponding
Etruscan god was 'Aita'. The
symbols associated with him are
sceptre and
cornucopia.
The term ''hades'' has sometimes been used in Christianity to mean the abode of the dead, where the dead would await Judgment Day either at peace or in torment. See
Hades in Christianity.
Hades, Abode of the Dead
Main articles: Greek underworld
In older Greek myths, Hades is the misty and gloomy
[2] abode of the dead, where all mortals go. There is no reward or special punishment in this Hades, akin to the Hebrew
sheol. In later Greek philosophy appeared the idea that all mortals are judged after death and rewarded or cursed.
There were several sections of Hades, including the
Elysian Fields (contrast the Christian
Paradise or
Heaven), and
Tartarus, (compare the Christian
Hell). Greek
mythographers were not perfectly consistent about the geography of the
afterlife.
A contrasting myth of the afterlife concerns the
Garden of the Hesperides, often identified with the
Isles of the Blessed, where the blest heroes may dwell.
In
Roman mythology, an entrance to the underworld located at
Avernus, a crater near
Cumae, was the route
Aeneas used to descend to the Underworld. By
synecdoche, "Avernus" could be substituted for the underworld as a whole. The
Inferi Dii were the Roman gods of the underworld.
The deceased entered the underworld by crossing the
Acheron ferried across by
Charon (kair'-on), who charged an ''
obolus,'' a small coin for passage, placed under the tongue of the deceased by pious relatives.
Paupers and the friendless gathered forever on the near shore. Greeks offered propitiatory libations to prevent the deceased from returning to the upper world to "haunt" those that had not given them a proper burial. The far side of the river was guarded by
Cerberus, the three-headed dog defeated by
Heracles (Roman
Hercules). Beyond Cerberus, the shades of the departed entered the land of the dead to be judged.
Since Hades was the ruler of the Underworld, it makes sense to note one of the key features of this region - its myriad rivers. These rivers had names and symbolic meanings:
The five rivers of Hades are
Acheron (the river of sorrow),
Cocytus (lamentation),
Phlegethon (fire),
Lethe (forgetfulness) and
Styx (hate). See also
Eridanos. The Styx forms the boundary between upper and lower worlds.
The first region of Hades comprises the
Fields of Asphodel, described in ''
Odyssey'' xi, where the shades of heroes wander despondently among lesser spirits, who twitter around them like bats. Only
libations of blood offered to them in the world of the living can reawaken in them for a time the sensations of humanity.
Beyond lay
Erebus, which could be taken for a euphonym of Hades, whose own name was dread. There were two pools, that of Lethe, where the common souls flocked to erase all memory, and the pool of
Mnemosyne ("memory"), where the initiates of the Mysteries drank instead. In the forecourt of the palace of Hades and Persephone sit the three judges of the Underworld:
Minos,
Rhadamanthys and
Aeacus. There at the
trivium sacred to
Hecate, where three roads meets, souls are judged, returned to the Fields of Asphodel if they are neither virtuous nor evil, sent by the road to Tartarus if they are impious or evil, or sent to
Elysium (Islands of the Blest) with the heroic or blessed.
In the
Sibylline Oracles, a curious hodgepodge of Greco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian elements, Hades again appears as the abode of the dead, and by way of
folk etymology, it even derives ''Hades'' from the name
Adam (the first man), saying it is because he was the first to enter there.
[3]
Hades in Christianity
Like other first-century Jews literate in Greek, early Christians used the Greek word ''Hades'' to translate the Hebrew word ''
Sheol''. Thus, in , the Hebrew phrase in appears in the form: "you will not abandon my soul to Hades." Death and Hades are repeatedly associated in the
Book of Revelation.
[4] The word "Hades" appears in Jesus' promise to Peter: "And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it",
[5] and in the warning to Capernaum: "And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted unto heaven? thou shalt go down unto Hades."
[6] The word also appears in Luke's story of
Lazarus and the rich man, which shows that Sheol/Hades, which had originally been seen as dark and gloomy, with little if any relation to afterlife rewards or punishments, had come to be understood as a place of comfort for the righteous ("in the
bosom of Abraham") and of torment for the wicked ("in anguish in this flame").
[5].
The Greek word "Hades" was translated into Latin as "infernus" and passed into English as "hell", as in the
King James Version of the above-cited
New Testament passages. The word continued to be used to refer generically to the abode or situation of the dead, whether just or unjust, as in the
Apostles' Creed, where "he descended into hell" is said of Christ.. But, except in Greek, this generic usage of the word "Hades", "infernus", "hell" has become archaic and unusual. In Greek, the word (literally, "punishment"; cf. , which speaks of "everlasting ''kolasis''") is used to refer to what nowadays is usually meant by "hell" in English.
Hades has often been pictured as a place within the earth, rather than just a state of the soul. Tertullian, speaking of those who did not believe in the resurrection of the body, wrote: "You must suppose Hades to be a subterranean region, and keep at arm's length those who are too proud to believe that the souls of the faithful deserve a place in the lower regions"
[8].
For souls in the situation of Hades, understood as that of the dead in general, early Christians believed that it is possible, not only for those who died before the coming of Christ,
[9] but also for those who died later "to be translated to a state of happiness" when prayed for, even if they were not baptized.
[10]
The ancient Christian Churches
[11] hold that a final universal judgement will be pronounced on all human beings when soul and body are reunited in the
resurrection of the dead. They also believe that, even while awaiting resurrection, the fate of souls differs: "The souls of the righteous are in light and rest, with a foretaste of eternal happiness; but the souls of the wicked are in a state the reverse of this."
[12] Meanwhile, the saints among the dead can intercede for the living, and the living can help "such souls as have departed with faith, but without having had time to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance … towards the attainment of a blessed resurrection by prayers offered in their behalf, especially such as are offered in union with the oblation of the bloodless sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ, and by works of mercy done in faith for their memory."
[13]
In
Protestantism, it is believed that a person's fate is definitively sealed at death, and that the dead can neither assist the living nor be assisted by them.
Some, such as the
Jehovah's Witnesses, hold that, until the resurrection, the dead simply cease to exist or, if they exist at all, do so in a state of unconsciousness.
Hades, the lord of the Underworld
In
Greek mythology, 'Hades' (the "unseen"), the god of the underworld, was a son of the
Titans,
Cronus and
Rhea. He had three younger sisters,
Hestia,
Demeter, and
Hera, as well as two younger brothers, Poseidon and Zeus: the six of them were
Olympian gods.
Upon reaching adulthood Zeus managed to force his father to disgorge his siblings. After their release the six younger gods, along with allies they managed to gather, challenged the elder gods for power in the
Titanomachy, a divine war. Zeus, Poseidon and Hades received weapons from the three
Cyclops to help in the war. Zeus the thunderbolt; Hades the
Cap of Invisibility; and Poseidon the trident. During the night before the first battle Hades put on his helmet and, being invisible, slipped over to the Titans' camp and destroyed their weapons. The war lasted for ten years and ended with the victory of the younger gods. Following their victory, according to a single famous passage in the ''
Iliad'' (xv.187-93), Hades and his two brothers, Poseidon and Zeus, drew lots
[14] for realms to rule. Zeus got the sky, Poseidon got the seas, and Hades received the underworld,
[15] the unseen realm to which the dead go upon leaving the world as well as any and all things beneath the earth.
Hades obtained his eventual consort and queen,
Persephone, through trickery, a story that connected the ancient
Eleusinian Mysteries with the Olympian pantheon.
Helios told the grieving Demeter that Hades was not unworthy as a consort for Persephone:
"Aidoneus, the Ruler of Many, is no unfitting husband among the deathless gods for your child, being your own brother and born of the same stock: also, for honor, he has that third share which he received when division was made at the first, and is appointed lord of those among whom he dwells."
Despite modern connotations of death as "evil", Hades was actually more altruistically inclined in mythology. Hades was often portrayed as passive rather than evil; his role was often maintaining relative balance.
Hades ruled the dead, assisted by others over whom he had complete authority. 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.
Besides
Heracles, the only other living people who ventured to the Underworld were all
heroes:
Odysseus,
Aeneas (accompanied by the
Sibyl),
Orpheus,
Theseus,
Pirithoüs(see note 18), and
Psyche. None of them was especially pleased with what they witnessed in the realm of the dead. In particular, the Greek war hero
Achilles, whom Odysseus met in Hades (although some believe that Achilles dwells in the
Isles of the Blest), said:
:"Do not speak soothingly to me of death, glorious Odysseus. I should choose to serve as the hireling of another, rather than to be lord over the dead that have perished."
::—Achilles' soul to Odysseus.
Homer, ''
Odyssey'' 11.488
Hades, labelled as ''"Plouton"'', "The Rich One", bears a
cornucopia on an Attic red-figure amphora, ca 470 BC.
Hades, god of the dead, was a fearsome figure to those still living; in no hurry to meet him, they were reticent to swear oaths in his name. To many, simply to say the word "Hades" was frightening. So, a euphemism was pressed into use. Since precious minerals come from under the earth (i.e., the "underworld" ruled by Hades), he was considered to have control of these as well, and was referred to as Πλούτων (Plouton, related to the word for "wealth"), hence the Roman name
Pluto.
Sophocles explained referring to Hades as "the rich one" with these words: "the gloomy Hades enriches himself with our sighs and our tears." In addition, he was called
Clymenus ("notorious"), Eubuleus ("well-guessing"), and
Polydegmon ("who receives many"), all of them
euphemisms for a name it was unsafe to pronounce, which evolved into
epithets.
Although he was an Olympian, he spent most of the time in his dark realm. Formidable in battle, he proved his ferocity in the famous
Titanomachy, the battle of the Olympians versus the
Titans, which established the rule of Zeus.
Because of his dark and morbid personality he was not especially liked by either the gods nor the mortals. Feared and loathed, Hades embodied the inexorable finality of death: "Why do we loathe Hades more than any god, if not because he is so adamantine and unyielding?" The rhetorical question is
Agamemnon's (''
Iliad'' ix). He was not, however, an evil god, for although he was stern, cruel, and unpitying, he was still just. Hades ruled the Underworld and therefore most often associated with death and was feared by men, but he was not Death itself — the actual embodiment of Death was
Thanatos.
When the Greeks propitiated Hades, they banged their hands on the ground to be sure he would hear them. Black animals, such as sheep, were sacrificed to him, and it is believed that at one time even human sacrifices were offered. The blood from sacrifices to Hades dripped into a pit so it could reach him. The person who offered the sacrifice had to turn away his face. Every hundred years festivals were held in his honor, called the
Secular Games.
Hades' weapon was a two-pronged fork, which he used to shatter anything that was in his way or not to his liking, much as Poseidon did with his trident. This ensign of his power was a staff with which he drove the shades of the dead into the lower world.
His identifying possessions included a famed helmet of darkness, given to him by the
Cyclopes, which made anyone who wore it invisible. Hades was known to sometimes loan his
helmet of invisibility to both gods and men (such as
Perseus). His dark chariot, drawn by four coal-black horses, always made for a fearsome and impressive sight. His other ordinary attributes were the Narcissus and Cypress plants, the Key of Hades and
Cerberus, the three-headed dog. He sat on an ebony throne.
In the Greek version of an obscure Judaeo-Christian work known as
3 Baruch (never considered
canonical by any known group), Hades is said to be a dark, serpent-like monster or
dragon who drinks a
cubit of water from the sea every day, and is 200
plethra (20,200 English feet, or nearly four miles) in length.
Artistic representations
Hades is rarely represented in classical arts, save in depictions of the Rape of Persephone.
Hades is also mentioned in ''The Odyssey,'' when Odysseus visits the underworld as part of his journey. However, in this instance it is Hades the place, not the god.
Persephone and Hades Ploutos (with
cornucopia): tondo of an Attic red-figured
kylix, ca. 440-430 BCE
Persephone
The consort of Hades, and the archaic queen of the Underworld in her own right, before the Hellene Olympians were established, was
Persephone, represented by the Greeks as daughter of Zeus and
Demeter. Persephone did not submit to Hades willingly, but was abducted by him while picking flowers with her friends. Persephone's mother missed her and without her daughter by her side she cast a curse on the land and there was a great famine. Hades tricked Persephone into eating
pomegranate seeds:
"But he on his part secretly gave her sweet pomegranate seed to eat, taking care for himself that she might not remain continually with grave, dark-
robed Demeter."
Demeter questioned Persephone on her return to light and air:
"...but if you have tasted food, you must go back
again beneath the secret places of the earth, there to dwell a
third part of the seasons every year: yet for the two parts you
shall be with me and the other deathless gods."[16]
Thus every year Hades fights his way back to the land of the living with Persephone in his chariot. Famine (autumn and winter) occurs during the months that Persephone is gone and
Demeter grieves in her absence. It is believed that the last half of the word Persephone comes from a word meaning 'to show' and evokes an idea of light. Whether the first half derives from a word meaning 'to destroy' - in which case Persephone would be 'she who destroys the light'.
Theseus and Pirithous
Hades imprisoned
Theseus and
Pirithous, who had pledged to marry daughters of
Zeus. Theseus chose
Helen and together they kidnapped her and decided to hold onto her until she was old enough to marry. Pirithous chose
Persephone. They left Helen with Theseus' mother,
Aethra and traveled to the underworld. Hades pretended to offer them hospitality and set a feast; as soon as the pair sat down, snakes coiled around their feet and held them there. Theseus was eventually rescued by
Heracles but Pirithous remained trapped as punishment for daring to seek the wife of a god for his own, and he loved her very much.
Heracles
Heracles' final labour was to capture Cerberus. First, Heracles went to
Eleusis to be initiated into the
Eleusinian Mysteries. He did this to absolve himself of guilt for killing the
centaurs and to learn how to enter and exit the underworld alive. He found the entrance to the underworld at
Tanaerum.
Athena and
Hermes helped him through and back from Hades. Heracles asked Hades for permission to take Cerberus. Hades agreed as long as Heracles didn't harm him, though in some versions, Heracles shot Hades with an arrow. When Heracles dragged the dog out of Hades, he passed through the cavern
Acherusia.
Orpheus and Eurydice
Hades showed mercy only once: Because the music of
Orpheus was so hauntingly good, he allowed Orpheus to bring his wife,
Eurydice, back to the land of the living as long as she walked behind him and he never tried to look at her face until they got to the surface. Orpheus agreed but, yielding to the temptation to glance backwards, failed and lost Eurydice again, to be reunited with her only after his death.
Minthe and Leuce
According to
Ovid, Hades pursued and would have won the nymph
Minthe, associated with the river
Cocytus, had not Persephone turned Minthe into the plant called
mint. Similarly the nymph
Leuce, who was also ravished by him, was metamorphosed by Hades into a white
poplar tree after her death. Another version is that she was metamorphosed by
Persephone into a white poplar tree while standing by the pool of Memory.
Epithets and other names
Hades, "the son of Cronos, He who has many names" was the "Host of Many" in the
Homeric Hymn to Demeter.
[17] The most feared of the Olympians had
euphemistic names as well as attributive
epithets.
★ Aides
★ Aiidoneus
★ Chthonian Zeus
★ Haides
★ Pluton
★ Plouto(n) ("the giver of wealth")
★ The Rich One
★ The Unseen One
Roman mythology
★ Dis
★ Dis Pater
In popular culture
★
Hades is the main antagonist of the
Disney animated movie ''
Hercules''. In it, he is depicted as a grayish-blue skinned man wearing a black robe, he is bald, but has blue flames emerging from his head which, when he is angered, enlarge in size and become red. Hades' voice was performed by
James Woods. Hades also appeared in an and the ''
Kingdom Hearts'' series of video games. These versions of Hades are quite the opposite the traditional Greek legends, presenting him as flashy and scheming rather than grim and passive.
★ He is also the last enemy in the japanese manga "Saint Seiya" in which is protrayed as a god that has been slept for many years and only posseses a special body every 100 years to fight with Athena, the goddess of the earth. In the last part of the manga he is killed by Athena's staff and the energies of four bronze saints (Cygnus, Dragon, Andromeda, Phoenix).
Notes
★ D' Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths
1. Vyacheslav V. Ivanov, "Old Novgorodian Nevide, Russian nevidal’: Greek ", citing Robert S.P. Beekes, "Hades and Elysion" in J. Jasanoff, ''et al.'', eds., ''Mír Curad: Studies in Honor of Calvert Watkins'', 1998. Beekes shows that Thieme’s derivation from
★ som wid- is semantically untenable. Analogously, the Hebrew word for the abode of the dead, ''Sheol'', also literally means "unseen". Plato's ''Cratylus'' discusses the etymology extensively, with the character of Socrates asserting that the god's name is not from ''aiedes'' (unseen) as commonly thought, but rather from "his knowledge (''eidenai'') of all noble things".
2. Homeric Hymn to Demeter
3. ''Sibylline Oracles'' Bk. I, 101-3
4. , ,
5.
6. ;
7.
8. A Treatise on the Soul, chapter 55
9. Clement of Alexandria stated: "It is not right that these should be condemned without trial, and that those alone who lived after the coming (of Christ) should have the advantage of the divine righteousness" (Stromata, book VI, chapter VI.
10. Acts of Paul and Thecla, 8:5-7; The Passion of the Holy Martyrs Perpetua and Felicity, 2:3-4.
11. The Assyrian Church of the East, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church
12. The Longer Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church, 372
13. The Longer Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church, 376
14. Walter Burkert, in ''The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age'', 1992, (pp 90ff) compares this single reference with the Mesopotamian ''Atra-Hasis'': ""the basic structure of both texts is astonishingly similar." The drawing of lots is not the usual; Hesiod (''Theogony'', 883) declares that Zeus overthrew his father and was acclaimed king by the other gods. "There is hardly another passage in Homer which comes so close to being a translation of an Akkadian epic," Burkert concludes (p.91).
15. Poseidon speaks: "For when we threw the lots I received the grey sea as my abode, Hades drew the murky darkness, Zeus, however, drew the wide sky of brightness and clouds; the earth is common to all, and spacious Olympus." ''Iliad 15.187''
16. Homeric Hymn to Demeter.
17. Homeric Hymn to Demeter
External links
;Maps of the Underworld (Greek mythology)
★
Color map
★
Ancient map
★
Map of the Underworld
;The God Hades
★
Theoi Project, Hades references in classical literature & ancient art
★
Greek Mythology Link, Hades summary of god
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