Hades (Pluto) God of the Underworld

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Hades (Pluto) God of the Underworld Hades (Pluto) God of the Underworld Two palaces: one in Olympus & a black one in the bowels of the Earth Married to Persephone Weapon: Invisibility Hat Controlled all earth phenomena, including gemstones (wealth), agricultural abundance, and death Entering the Underworld Greek men and women were buried with coins in their mouths. The task of bringing the newly dead to the Underworld belonged to Thanatos (Death). The dead paid the ferryman Charon with their coins to ferry them across the River Styx (the river of unbreakable oaths) to the Underworld. Those buried without coins (i.e. dishonorably) were condemned to live in purgatory on the banks of the river for all eternity. The gates to the Underworld were guarded by a three-headed dog called Cerberus. No one alive could enter, and no one dead could leave, or they would face Cerberus’s wrath. The After-Life Upon arrival in the Underworld, souls stand before three judges, who pass sentence on the dead. The very evil are sent to everlasting torment. The very good are sent to the Elysian Fields, where they can choose to be re-born. If you reach Elysian Fields three times in three lives, you can progress to the Isles of the Blessed. The rest are sent to the Fields of Asphodel – a wasteland inhabited by wandering spirits The Erinyes (Furies) pursued sinners on earth & punished evildoers in the Underworld. The waists of the Erinyes were entwined with serpents and their eyes dripped with blood. They have wings. Fun Facts J.K. Rowling was inspired by many myths when she penned the Harry Potter series. As we progress, see who you recognize! Hera (Juno) Queen of the Gods Married to Zeus Goddess of marriage, Goddess of fertility (obviously) of legitimate children, women in all stages of life, & motherhood Hates all Zeus’s other partners and illegitimate children, and pursues them relentlessly, but also intensely loyal to all who are unjustly persecuted. Animal: Peacock Symbol: Pomegranate Aphrodite (Venus) Goddess of Love & Beauty Arose from the sea as a fully grown adult Married to Hephaestus, but usually paired in an adulterous affair with Ares Weapon: Magic girdle (belt) that makes her even more irresistible Birth of Athena Zeus lay with the a Titan called Metis, who bore all the wisdom of the world within her. She became pregnant. A prophecy was uttered that Metis’s daughter would bear a son who would de-throne Zeus. Terrified, Zeus swallowed Metis whole. Nine months later, he developed an unbearable pain in his head. He begged Hephaestus to split his head with an axe. Athena sprang forth, fully grown. .
Recommended publications
  • The Song Elite's Obsession with Death, the Underworld, and Salvation
    BIBLID 0254-4466(2002)20:1 pp. 399-440 漢學研究第 20 卷第 1 期(民國 91 年 6 月) Visualizing the Afterlife: The Song Elite’s Obsession with Death, the Underworld, and Salvation Hsien-huei Liao* Abstract This study explores the Song elite’s obsession with the afterlife and its impact on their daily lives. Through examining the ways they perceived the relations between the living and the dead, the fate of their own afterlives, and the functional roles of religious specialists, this study demonstrates that the prevailing ideas about death and the afterlife infiltrated the minds of many of the educated, deeply affecting their daily practices. While affected by contem- porary belief in the underworld and the power of the dead, the Song elite also played an important role in the formation and proliferation of those ideas through their piety and practices. Still, implicit divergences of perceptions and practices between the elite and the populace remained abiding features under- neath their universally shared beliefs. To explore the Song elite’s interactions with popular belief in the underworld, several questions are discussed, such as how and why the folk belief in the afterlife were accepted and incorporated into the elite’s own practices, and how their practices corresponded to, dif- fered from, or reinforced folk beliefs. An examination of the social, cultural, * Hsien-huei Liao is a research associate in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University, U.S.A. 399 400 漢學研究第20卷第1期 and political impact on their conceptualization of the afterlife within the broad historical context of the Song is key to understand their beliefs and practices concerning the underworld.
    [Show full text]
  • 'Myth' and 'Religion'
    THOUGHTS ON MYTH AND RELIGION IN EARLY GREEK HISTORIOGRAPHY Robert L. FOWLER University of Bristol [email protected] RESUMEN: El artículo examina el nacimiento del concepto de mythos/mito en el contexto de la historiografía y la mitografía de la Grecia arcaica. La posibilidad de oponerse a relatos tradicionales es un factor crítico en este proceso y se relaciona estrechamente con los esfuerzos de los autores por fijar su autoridad. Se compara la práctica de Heródoto con la de los primeros mitógrafos y, aunque hay amplias similitudes, hay diferencias cruciales en el tratamiento de los asuntos religiosos. Los escrúpulos personales de Heródoto responden en parte a su bien conocida reserva en lo referente a los dioses, pero es también relevante su actitud acerca de la tarea del historiador y su noción de cómo los dioses intervienen en la historia. Mientras que los mitógrafos tratan de historicizar la mitología, Heródoto trata de modo notable de desmitologizar la historia, separando ambas, pero al mismo tiempo definiendo con más profundidad que nunca sus auténticas interconexiones. Esta situación sugiere algunas consideraciones generales acerca de la relación entre mito y ritual en Grecia. ABSTRACT: The article examines the emerging concept of mythos/myth in the context of early Greek historiography and mythography. The possibility of contesting traditional stories is a critical factor in this process, and is closely related to the efforts of writers to establish their authority. Herodotos’ practice is compared with that of the early mythographers, and though there are some broad similarities, there are crucial differences in their approach to religious matters.
    [Show full text]
  • Death and the Afterlife in Homer
    Death and the Afterlife in Homer Death and what happens after death are universal concerns for humanity; around the world different cultures and religions contemplate our existence, and try to make sense of both our place in the world and our deaths. Although we no longer (for the most part) follow the religious beliefs of the ancient Greeks and Romans, their exploration of mortality and the afterlife can nonetheless be emotionally powerful and meaningful for us. In what follows, we will consider the presentation of death and the afterlife in some of the earliest Greek literature, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. The most common name for the underworld was Hades, a personified god and brother of Zeus, but also a place to which the souls of departed mortals go. Hades is in fact far more commonly mentioned as the underworld than as a personified god in Greek literature, although we do see him as an actual character in some myths, most famously in the story of the abduction of Persesphone by Hades, a tale told in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. In post-classical times, the term Hades was adopted by Christian authors, including the early Church Fathers, Dante and Milton, to refer to the Christian concept of Hell. The term used is the same, but it is important to distinguish between the Christian conception of Hell and Hades. For Christians, Hell is a place to which the souls of the wicked descend after death, whereas the souls of the good are taken to Heaven to be with God. The ancient Greek concept is extremely different.
    [Show full text]
  • The Underworld Krater from Altamura
    The Underworld Krater from Altamura The Underworld krater was found in 1847 in Altamura in 1 7 Persephone and Hades Herakles and Kerberos ITALY southeastern Italy. The ancient name of the town is unknown, Hades, ruler of the Underworld, was the brother of Zeus (king of the gods) and Poseidon (god of The most terrifying of Herakles’s twelve labors was to kidnap the guard dog of the Underworld. APULIA Naples but by the fourth century bc it was one of the largest fortified Altamura the sea). He abducted Persephone, daughter of the goddess Demeter, to be his wife and queen. For anyone who attempted to leave the realm of the dead without permission, Kerberos (Latin, Taranto (Taras) m settlements in the region. There is little information about Although Hades eventually agreed to release Persephone, he had tricked her into eating the seeds Cerberus) was a threatening opponent. The poet Hesiod (active about 700 BC) described the e d i t e r of a pomegranate, and so she was required to descend to the Underworld for part of each year. “bronze-voiced” dog as having fifty heads; later texts and depictions give it two or three. r a what else was deposited with the krater, but its scale suggests n e a n Here Persephone sits beside Hades in their palace. s e a that it came from the tomb of a prominent individual whose community had the resources to create and transport such a 2 9 substantial vessel. 2 The Children of Herakles and Megara 8 Woman Riding a Hippocamp Map of southern Italy marking key locations mentioned in this gallery The inhabitants of southeastern Italy—collectively known as The Herakleidai (children of Herakles) and their mother, Megara, are identified by the Greek The young woman riding a creature that is part horse, part fish is a puzzling presence in the Apulians—buried their dead with assemblages of pottery and other goods, and large vessels inscriptions above their heads.
    [Show full text]
  • 1. Some of the Definitions of the Different Types of Objects in the Solar
    1. Some of the definitions of the different types of objects in has the greatest orbital inclination (orbit at the the solar system overlap. Which one of the greatest angle to that of Earth)? following pairs does not overlap? That is, if an A) Mercury object can be described by one of the labels, it B) Mars cannot be described by the other. C) Jupiter A) dwarf planet and asteroid D) Pluto B) dwarf planet and Kuiper belt object C) satellite and Kuiper belt object D) meteoroid and planet 10. Of the following objects in the solar system, which one has the greatest orbital eccentricity and therefore the most elliptical orbit? 2. Which one of the following is a small solar system body? A) Mercury A) Rhea, a moon of Saturn B) Mars B) Pluto C) Earth C) Ceres (an asteroid) D) Pluto D) Mathilde (an asteroid) 11. What is the largest moon of the dwarf planet Pluto 3. Which of the following objects was discovered in the called? twentieth century? A) Chiron A) Pluto B) Callisto B) Uranus C) Charon C) Neptune D) Triton D) Ceres 12. If you were standing on Pluto, how often would you see 4. Pluto was discovered in the satellite Charon rise above the horizon each A) 1930. day? B) 1846. A) once each 6-hour day as Pluto rotates on its axis C) 1609. B) twice each 6-hour day because Charon is in a retrograde D) 1781. orbit C) once every 2 days because Charon orbits in the same direction Pluto rotates but more slowly 5.
    [Show full text]
  • Aspects of the Demeter/Persephone Myth in Modern Fiction
    Aspects of the Demeter/Persephone myth in modern fiction Janet Catherine Mary Kay Thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy (Ancient Cultures) at the University of Stellenbosch Supervisor: Dr Sjarlene Thom December 2006 I, the undersigned, hereby declare that the work contained in this thesis is my own original work and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it at any university for a degree. Signature: ………………………… Date: ……………… 2 THE DEMETER/PERSEPHONE MYTH IN MODERN FICTION TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE 1. Introduction: The Demeter/Persephone Myth in Modern Fiction 4 1.1 Theories for Interpreting the Myth 7 2. The Demeter/Persephone Myth 13 2.1 Synopsis of the Demeter/Persephone Myth 13 2.2 Commentary on the Demeter/Persephone Myth 16 2.3 Interpretations of the Demeter/Persephone Myth, Based on Various 27 Theories 3. A Fantasy Novel for Teenagers: Treasure at the Heart of the Tanglewood 38 by Meredith Ann Pierce 3.1 Brown Hannah – Winter 40 3.2 Green Hannah – Spring 54 3.3 Golden Hannah – Summer 60 3.4 Russet Hannah – Autumn 67 4. Two Modern Novels for Adults 72 4.1 The novel: Chocolat by Joanne Harris 73 4.2 The novel: House of Women by Lynn Freed 90 5. Conclusion 108 5.1 Comparative Analysis of Identified Motifs in the Myth 110 References 145 3 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The question that this thesis aims to examine is how the motifs of the myth of Demeter and Persephone have been perpetuated in three modern works of fiction, which are Treasure at the Heart of the Tanglewood by Meredith Ann Pierce, Chocolat by Joanne Harris and House of Women by Lynn Freed.
    [Show full text]
  • ENGLISH HOME LANGUAGE GRADE 9 Reading a Myth: Persephone
    ENGLISH HOME LANGUAGE GRADE 9 Reading a myth: Persephone MEMORANDUM 1. This myth explains the changing of the seasons. Which season is your favourite and why? Learners own response. Winter/Autumn/Spring/Summer✓ + reason.✓ 2. Myths are stories that explain natural occurrences and express beliefs about what is right and wrong. What natural occurrence does the bracketed paragraph explain? The paragraph relates to earthquakes and volcanos✓ that shake the earth’s core. It suggests that “fearful’ fire-breathing giants” presumably volcanos✓, heave and struggle to get free, which causes the earthquakes. ✓ 3. How do the Greeks explain how people fall in love? Eros (Cupid) the god of love✓, shoots people in the heart with a love-arrow✓ that makes them fall in love. 4. Who is Pluto? He is the “dark monarch” king of the underworld✓ otherwise known as hell. 5. A cause is an effect or action that produces a result. A result is called an effect. What effect does Eros’s arrow have on Pluto? Eros’s arrow fills Pluto’s heart with warm emotions. ✓He sees Persephone and immediately falls in love with her. ✓ 6. What is the result of Demeter’s anger at the land? The ground was no longer fertile. ✓ Nothing could grow anymore. Men and oxen worked to grow crops, but they could not. ✓ There was too much rain ✓ and too much sun✓, so the crops did not grow. The cattle died✓ due to starvation. All of mankind would die✓ of starvation. 7. How do the details that describe what happened to the earth explain natural occurrences? The paragraph suggests that drought✓ is caused by Demeter who is angry✓ with the land.
    [Show full text]
  • The Bounds of Narrative in Don Delillo's Underworld
    humanities Article The Bounds of Narrative in Don DeLillo’s Underworld: Action and the Ecology of Mimêsis Andrew Bowie Hagan Independent Scholar, Atlanta, GA 30309, USA; [email protected] Abstract: The interrelationship of natural and cultural history in Don DeLillo’s Underworld presents an ecology of mimesis. If, as Timothy Morton argues, ecological thought can be understood as a “mesh of interconnection,” DeLillo’s novel studies the interpretation of connection. Underworld situates its action in the Cold War era. DeLillo’s formal techniques examine the tropes of paranoia, containment, excess, and waste peculiar to the history of the Cold War. Parataxis and free-indirect discourse emphasize the contexts of reference in the novel, illustrating how hermeneutics informs the significance of boundaries. DeLillo’s use of parataxis exemplifies the conditions that propose and limit metaphor’s reference to reality, conditions that offer the terms for meaningful action. I utilize Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutics to demonstrate how Underworld situates the reference to reality in its temporal and narrative condition. The historical situation of the novel’s narrative structure allows DeLillo to interrogate the role of discourse in producing and interpreting connection. Underworld offers layers of significance; the reader’s engagement with the novel’s discourse reaffirms the conditions of a meaningful relationship with reality in the pertinence of a metaphor. Keywords: contemporary fiction; ecocriticism; temporality; reference; metaphor; parataxis; epic; Citation: Hagan, Andrew Bowie. novel; immanence 2021. The Bounds of Narrative in Don DeLillo’s Underworld: Action and the Ecology of Mimêsis. Humanities 10: 40. https://doi.org/10.3390/ 1. Introduction h10010040 Figurative conditions present an ecology in Don DeLillo’s 1997 novel, Underworld.A work of fiction, the novel is grounded in the history and historiography of the Cold War Received: 1 January 2021 era.
    [Show full text]
  • 2018: Aiaa-Space-Report
    AIAA TEAM SPACE TRANSPORTATION DESIGN COMPETITION TEAM PERSEPHONE Submitted By: Chelsea Dalton Ashley Miller Ryan Decker Sahil Pathan Layne Droppers Joshua Prentice Zach Harmon Andrew Townsend Nicholas Malone Nicholas Wijaya Iowa State University Department of Aerospace Engineering May 10, 2018 TEAM PERSEPHONE Page I Iowa State University: Persephone Design Team Chelsea Dalton Ryan Decker Layne Droppers Zachary Harmon Trajectory & Propulsion Communications & Power Team Lead Thermal Systems AIAA ID #908154 AIAA ID #906791 AIAA ID #532184 AIAA ID #921129 Nicholas Malone Ashley Miller Sahil Pathan Joshua Prentice Orbit Design Science Science Science AIAA ID #921128 AIAA ID #922108 AIAA ID #761247 AIAA ID #922104 Andrew Townsend Nicholas Wijaya Structures & CAD Trajectory & Propulsion AIAA ID #820259 AIAA ID #644893 TEAM PERSEPHONE Page II Contents 1 Introduction & Problem Background2 1.1 Motivation & Background......................................2 1.2 Mission Definition..........................................3 2 Mission Overview 5 2.1 Trade Study Tools..........................................5 2.2 Mission Architecture.........................................6 2.3 Planetary Protection.........................................6 3 Science 8 3.1 Observations of Interest.......................................8 3.2 Goals.................................................9 3.3 Instrumentation............................................ 10 3.3.1 Visible and Infrared Imaging|Ralph............................ 11 3.3.2 Radio Science Subsystem.................................
    [Show full text]
  • Hesiod Theogony.Pdf
    Hesiod (8th or 7th c. BC, composed in Greek) The Homeric epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, are probably slightly earlier than Hesiod’s two surviving poems, the Works and Days and the Theogony. Yet in many ways Hesiod is the more important author for the study of Greek mythology. While Homer treats cer- tain aspects of the saga of the Trojan War, he makes no attempt at treating myth more generally. He often includes short digressions and tantalizes us with hints of a broader tra- dition, but much of this remains obscure. Hesiod, by contrast, sought in his Theogony to give a connected account of the creation of the universe. For the study of myth he is im- portant precisely because his is the oldest surviving attempt to treat systematically the mythical tradition from the first gods down to the great heroes. Also unlike the legendary Homer, Hesiod is for us an historical figure and a real per- sonality. His Works and Days contains a great deal of autobiographical information, in- cluding his birthplace (Ascra in Boiotia), where his father had come from (Cyme in Asia Minor), and the name of his brother (Perses), with whom he had a dispute that was the inspiration for composing the Works and Days. His exact date cannot be determined with precision, but there is general agreement that he lived in the 8th century or perhaps the early 7th century BC. His life, therefore, was approximately contemporaneous with the beginning of alphabetic writing in the Greek world. Although we do not know whether Hesiod himself employed this new invention in composing his poems, we can be certain that it was soon used to record and pass them on.
    [Show full text]
  • The Myth of Persephone: Greek Goddess of the Underworld Original
    The Myth of Persephone: Greek Goddess of the Underworld Original Story and Interpretation by Laura Strong, PhD http://www.mythicarts.com/writing/Persephone.html ©2000-2014 Laura Strong It was a beautiful day like all the others in this land, the sun shone brightly in the sky, the hills were lush and green, and flowers blossomed from the earth. The lovely young maiden, Persephone, frolicked with her friends upon the hillside, as her mother Demeter sat near by, and her father Zeus peered down from the sky above. Laughter could be heard in between the young girls' whispered secrets, as they gathered handfuls of purple crocuses, royal blue irises and sweet-smelling hyacinths. Persephone thought to bring some to her mother, but was soon distracted by a vision of the most enchanting flower she had ever seen. It was a narcissus, the exact flower her father hoped that she would find. As she reached down to pluck it from its resting place, her feet began to tremble and the earth was split in two. Life for Persephone would never be the same again. From this gaping crevice in the ground emerged the awe-inspiring God of the Underworld, Hades, and before Persephone could even think to utter a word, she was whisked off her feet onto the God's golden chariot. As the crack of the whip upon his majestic horses brought her to her senses, she realized she was about to taken into the black depths from which he'd come. The thought of this brought terror to her heart, yet any screams of protest were soon lost within the darkness, as they descended quickly into the Underworld below.
    [Show full text]
  • Athena ΑΘΗΝΑ Zeus ΖΕΥΣ Poseidon ΠΟΣΕΙΔΩΝ Hades ΑΙΔΗΣ
    gods ΑΠΟΛΛΩΝ ΑΡΤΕΜΙΣ ΑΘΗΝΑ ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ Athena Greek name Apollo Artemis Minerva Roman name Dionysus Diana Bacchus The god of music, poetry, The goddess of nature The goddess of wisdom, The god of wine and art, and of the sun and the hunt the crafts, and military strategy and of the theater Olympian Son of Zeus by Semele ΕΡΜΗΣ gods Twin children ΗΦΑΙΣΤΟΣ Hermes of Zeus by Zeus swallowed his first Mercury Leto, born wife, Metis, and as a on Delos result Athena was born ΑΡΗΣ Hephaestos The messenger of the gods, full-grown from Vulcan and the god of boundaries Son of Zeus the head of Zeus. Ares by Maia, a Mars The god of the forge who must spend daughter The god and of artisans part of each year in of Atlas of war Persephone the underworld as the consort of Hades ΑΙΔΗΣ ΖΕΥΣ ΕΣΤΙΑ ΔΗΜΗΤΗΡ Zeus ΗΡΑ ΠΟΣΕΙΔΩΝ Hades Jupiter Hera Poseidon Hestia Pluto Demeter The king of the gods, Juno Vesta Ceres Neptune The goddess of The god of the the god of the sky The goddess The god of the sea, the hearth, underworld The goddess of and of thunder of women “The Earth-shaker” household, the harvest and marriage and state ΑΦΡΟΔΙΤΗ Hekate The goddess Aphrodite First-generation Second- generation of magic Venus ΡΕΑ Titans ΚΡΟΝΟΣ Titans The goddess of MagnaRhea Mater Astraeus love and beauty Mnemosyne Kronos Saturn Deucalion Pallas & Perses Pyrrha Kronos cut off the genitals Crius of his father Uranus and threw them into the sea, and Asteria Aphrodite arose from them.
    [Show full text]