Hades
Another name for Hell.
In classical mythology, the underworld, the kingdom of the dead, the abode of the departed spirits, a place of gloom but not necessarily a place of punishment and torture.
It was named after its ruler, Hades (Greek), Dis or Pluto (Roman), which was one of the twelve great Olympians, son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea and the brother of Zeus and Poseidon. His queen was Persephone, whom he abducted from her father Demeter.
The underworld lies beneath the secret places of the earth, says the Iliad. In the Odyssey, the way to it leads over the edge of the world across the ocean. Other poets described its entrance through caverns and beside deep lakes. A location for it is suggested by Virgil; near the volcanic Mount Vesuvius, where, as Bulfinch phrases it, "the whole country is cleft with chasms, from which sulphurous flames arise, while the ground is shaken with pent-up vapors, and mysterious sounds issue from the bowels of the earth."
Homer described Hades as a vague and shadowy place, inhabited by ghosts. Nothing is real there, and existence is like a miserable dream. Later descriptions defined it more clearly as the place to where the wicked were punished and the good rewarded. On guard at its gates is Cerberus, who permits all to enter, but none to return. Upon their arrival, everyone is brought before Rhadamanthus, Minos and Aeacus, the three judges who pass sentence and send the guilty to everlasting torments and reward the good by sending them to the Elysian Fields.
See Troy, Zeus, Apollo, Delphi, Olympians, Greeks, Hermes, Hera, Hades, Bacchus, Centaurs, Cerberus, Daedalus, Dionysus, Vulcan, Mars, Oracle, Tarpeian Rock, Tartarus, Telegonus, Telemachus, Mystic Gifts and Charms - New Age Gift Shop & Wicca and Pagan Supplies, Love Spells -- Use these powerful love spells to help you find and keep your true love, The Tarot Store, Divination & Scrying Tools and Supplies, Unique Amulets, Talismans, Good Luck Charms, and Love Tokens, Powerful Witch Doctor Spell Kits, Powerful Spells - Cast by Andreika the Witch, Webmasters Make $$$, AzureGreen - Celebrating All Paths to the Divine, ISIS - Tools for Your Soul's Journey, and The Pyramid Collection - Myth, Magick, Fantasy and Romance.
Sources: (1) Cooper, J.C. (Editor), Brewer's Book of Myth and Legend, Cassell Academic Publishing; (2) Evans, Bergen, Dictionary of Mythology, Dell Publishing Co., Inc.; (3) Dixon-Kennedy, Mike, Encyclopedia of Greco-Roman Mythology, ABC-Clio Inc. Publishers; (4) Ayto, John, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable, Collins Reference Publishing.
| | |
