HADES: HATER OR HATED?

Hater, or Hated?

Who is Hades?

Hades is the son of titans Cronos and Rhea. He rules over the underworld (also called

Hades) while his brothers, Zeus, and Poseidon rule the sky and sea.

Hades has a helmet of invisibility, given to him by a Cyclops. Therefore, his name means “The Invisible.”

Parts of the Underworld

(The underworld isn`t entirely like heaven and hell, but they do have resemblances.)

The first part of the underworld is the Elysian Fields, a beautiful place for prominent and heroic people to go after they die. This is sort of like heaven.

The second part is Tartarus, a torturous area for the evil souls. Here they are punished for eternity.

The last part is the Plains of Asphodel, where most of the ghosts in the underworld stay. It`s very joyless and gloomy- though much better than Tartarus, it`s much worse than life.

The rivers in the underworld are the River Lethe (forgetfullness), and the River Styx, which all souls had to cross to get into the underworld.

Persephone

This is Hades`s wife, and Demeter`s daughter. He caught sight of her playing one day and abducted

her. A crack in the earth opened up and he rose out of it on his black chariot. She was grabbed by him and dragged down into the underworld.

Hades tried to make her love him. Eventually, he gave up and tricked her into staying. She ate 3 seeds of a pomengranite from the garden in the underworld. If you eat the food of the dead, you can never leave.

Persephone only had to stay with Hades a few months out of the year, because her mother, Demeter (goddess of grains and harvest), pined away when she lost her daughter. The land died and created winter.

More Myths . . .

Hades and HerculesTheseus and Persephone Hercules had to bring the

watchdog, Cerberus, back from the underworld.

Since the dog was only being borrowed, Hades didn`t mind and let him take it.

Theseus decided to go with his friend, Perithus to rescue Hades`s wife Persephone.

Hades tricked them into sitting on seats of forgetfulness. They couldn't get up from them until Hercules ripped them off.

Underworld Characters:

Keres- Death spirits with fangs and talons. Charon- rowed the boat across the River Styx. Cerberus- Vicious, 3-headed watch dog, that kept the

souls in the underworld. Sisyphus- king forced to forever push a rock up a hill as

punishment. King Minos- The once-mortal judge of souls. Rhadymanthus- Due to his keen sense of justice in his

mortal life, Hades made him a judge of the souls going into the underworld. (There are three in all)

Citations:

"Hades - Basic Facts About the Greek God Hades." Ancient / Classical History - Ancient Greece & Rome & Classics Research Guide. About.com, 2011. Web. 08 Aug. 2011. <http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/hades/g/Hades.htm>.

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