Who is Hades?
What we know from myth, history, and inspiration
Hades is the ancient Greek God of the Underworld and of the Dead; his realm bears his name, or perhaps he bears its name. Either way, the name means “The Unseen One”; Hades had a helm of invisibility, and this was the only way he would walk on the upper earth. He was also known as Aidoneus (another form of the name Hades) and Plouton, which was later Latinized into Pluto and meant “giver of wealth” due to the precious metals and gems beneath the ground. Another of his titles was “Hesperos Theos”, the God of death and darkness; still others were “Agelastus” – meaning “melancholy countenance”, and the Latin “Niger Deus” or “black god”. Hades is often depicted with his three-headed hound Cerberus, the guardian of the Underworld.
Hades was the oldest son of Rhea and Cronos, the god of Time who ate almost all his children. He was the first swallowed and the last regurgitated when Zeus, the only unswallowed son, forced him to vomit up his siblings. As the deity kept longest in darkness, he came out with a gloomy and silent nature. When the siblings drew lots as to whom would rule what area of the world, Hades was the unluckiest and won the Underworld, the realm of the Dead. He was generally seen as stern an unyielding, but just.
The most well-known story of Hades is the tale of his rape of Persephone, Demeter’s maiden daughter. This story had several versions even in the ancient days, and has been retold many times with many different motivations on both parts. What we do know is that Persephone stayed with Hades for half the year and her mother the other half (in some versions only a third of the year, depending on the length of winter in that area), but he was a generally kind and faithful husband.
He attempted once to catch a nymph, Mentha, but failed when Persephone turned her into a mint plant, and he seemed to give up on emulating his brother Zeus after that. He could be terrible in his wrath when crossed, however, especially when his dead subjects were harassed or his peace threatened. When Theseus and Pirithous descended to his realm in order to kidnap Persephone to be Pirithous’s wife, Hades feasted them at his table where they were seated in chairs of forgetfulness, to slumber forever. Heracles eventually came down to rescue Theseus, but Hades would not release Pirithous. Later, Heracles came down again to borrow Cerberus in order to win one of his quests; Hades allowed it as long as Cerberus was not harmed and would be returned to him.
When Aesclepias, the miracle-working doctor-son of Zeus started bringing the dead back to life, Hades became angered and asked Zeus to slay his son. Zeus did so, but made him a deity. Orpheus, however, played his music for Hades and Persephone in order to win free his wife Eurydice, and Hades showed him mercy – Orpheus could take her from the Underworld as long as he did not look back on the journey up, trusting in Hades’s mercy. Orpheus was unable to resist looking back, and Eurydice was drawn back to the Underworld.
Hades was rarely shown in paintings or statues because the ancients were so afraid of him. When he was pictured it might be in his chariot drawn by black horses, or on his ebony throne with a scepter, sometimes holding a cornucopia (for the wealth of the Earth), a key (for his locked kingdom) or a rooster. When he was shown with other Gods, he is often shown looking away from them, as Hades and his job were disliked by the other Gods as well.