Ancient Greece is an amazing country. Its highly developed culture has played a huge role in the development of world civilization. The mythological way of thinking inherent in the people of that time gave rise to a religion in which paganism, totemic beliefs, the cult of ancestors and the influence of the worldviews of other peoples with whom the ancient Greeks came into contact in the most bizarre way. The Odyssey and the Iliad, the works of Hesiod, numerous temples, statues of gods, drawings - these are the sources thanks to which we can learn a lot about the great Hellas.
Picture of the world and consciousness
In the basis of the mythological consciousness of the ancient Greeks and their culture are ideas about the Cosmos as a kind of living world. In science, this is called animated-intelligent cosmologism. The Universe with planets, stars, constellations and the Earth itself with everything that exists, seemed to them alive, endowed with intelligence and spiritual content. The laws and forces of nature were personified by the Greeks in the images of ancient gods - great and small, in their servants and helpers, heroes and titans. The Hellenes perceived the whole world and everything that happened in it as a grandiose mystery, as a play played out on the stage of the stage of life. The actors in it are both the people themselves and the deities that control them. The gods were not too distant from the people. They resembled them in appearance, habits, character traits, habits. Because the ancient Greeks could challenge them, disobey and win! We will not find such freedom in other religions.
Divine Pantheon
The earliest ancient Greek gods, in particular the god Hades, are associated with common Indo-European religions that existed at that time. Researchers find many parallels between Indian, for example, and Hellenic celestials. When myths and religion began to intertwine more and more closely in the minds of the people, the Greek pantheon was replenished with new "tenants". They were the heroes of myths and legends. Thus, the primitive pagan cosmogony was combined with the religiosity of the later times. And the very Olympus, which we know about from works of art, with all its inhabitants did not take shape immediately.
Generations of gods
In the ancient Pantheon, it is customary to distinguish between the gods of the older and younger generations. The first includes Chaos - darkness and disorder, from which all the rest were then born. The Earth was formed out of chaos - the Greeks called its divine incarnation Gaia. The goddess of the night - Nikta - announced the change of time of day with her appearance. Gloomy Tartar became the personification of the word "abyss". Later, from some mythical creature, it will turn into a space of endless darkness, which is controlled by the god Hades. From chaos was born and Eros - the embodiment of love. The Greeks considered the children of Gaia and Titan to be the second generation of higher powers. Chronos. They were Uranus - the ruler of the sky, Pontus - the ruler of all inland seas, the god Hades - the owner of the underworld, as well as Zeus, Poseidon, Hypnos and many other Olympians. Each of them had their own "sphere of influence", their own special relationship with each other and with people.
Names of God
God Hades has several proper names. The Greeks also called him Hades, and in Roman mythology he is known as Pluto - a huge, lame-footed, dark-skinned, terrible, awesome look. And, finally, Polydegmon (from “poly” - a lot, “degmon” - to contain), i.e., “accommodating a lot”, “accepting a lot”. What did the ancients mean? Only that the Greek god Hades led the realm of the dead. All the souls who left this world fell into his "diocese". Therefore, it accommodates "many", and there are isolated cases when someone could go back. And the definition of “receiving a lot, recipient of gifts” is associated with such a myth: each soul, before moving to its new abode, must pay tribute to the carrier Charon. It is also ruled by the Greek god Hades. This means that those coins that give souls when crossing the Styx go to the treasury of the ruler of the kingdom of the dead. That is why, by the way, there was a custom in Ancient Greece: to bury the dead with "money".
Hades in Hades
Why is Hades the god of the dead? How did it happen that the celestial chose such a gloomy abode for himself? Kronos, fearing competition, devoured his children. According to some sources, the same fate befell Hades. According to other researchers of antiquity, the abusive parent abandonedhis child into the abyss of Tartarus. When the younger gods rebelled against the older ones, a merciless struggle arose between them. Battles have been fought for thousands of years, but Zeus, Poseidon and other children of Kronos won a long-awaited victory. Then they released the prisoners, overthrew the father and placed him, the titans and the cyclops in the place of the recent prisoners, and divided the whole world into "spheres of influence". as a result, Zeus is the ruler of the sky and all higher powers, Hades is the god of the underworld, which is also called. Poseidon took to his hands all the water elements. The brothers decided to rule amicably, without entering into conflicts and without harming one another.
Realm of the Dead
What is the realm of the dead, ruled by the ancient Greek god Hades? When a person has to say goodbye to life, Hermes is sent to him - a messenger in winged sandals. He escorts the souls to the banks of the border river Styx, which separates the world of people from the world of shadows, and transfers them to Charon, a ferryman who delivers his victims to the underworld. Charon's assistant is Cerberus, a monster dog with three heads and snakes instead of a collar. He makes sure that no one leaves the land of souls and returns to earth. In the lowest, most remote parts of Hades, Tartarus is hidden, the entrance to which is closed by iron doors. In general, a ray of the sun never penetrates into the “gloomy kingdom of Hades”. It's sad, cold, lonely. The souls of the dead roam it, filling the space with loud moans, cries, groans. Their suffering is intensified by the horror of encounters with ghosts and monsters lurking in the dark. Because this place is so hatefulmourn people!
Attributes of power
What are the identifying symbols of the god Hades? He sits in the middle of the main hall of his palace on a luxurious throne of pure gold. Nearby is his wife - always sad, beautiful Persephone. According to legend, this throne was made by Hephaestus - the god of blacksmithing, the patron of crafts, a skilled craftsman. Hades is surrounded by viciously hissing Erinnia - the goddess of revenge, secret torment and suffering. No one can hide from them, they will easily torture any person to death! Since Hades is the god of the underworld (you can see a photo from ancient images in our article) of the dead, he was often depicted with his head backwards. With this detail, artists and sculptors emphasized that he does not look into anyone's eyes, they are empty, dead at the deity. Another obligatory attribute of Hades is a magic helmet. It makes its owner invisible. A wonderful armor was presented to the god by the Cyclopes when he rescued them from Tartarus. God never appears without his all-powerful tool - a two-pronged pitchfork. His scepter is decorated with a figure of a three-headed dog. God rides in a chariot, to which only horses black as night are harnessed. The element of the god of the dead, naturally, is earth, dust that takes human bodies into its bowels. And the flowers symbolizing Hades are wild tulips. The ancient Greeks sacrificed black bulls to him.
Inner environment
But back to the terrifying retinue of Hades. In addition to Erinnes, next to him are always tough, inexorable judges, whose names are Radamanths and Minos. The dying tremble in advance, for they know that each of theman unrighteous step, every sin will be taken into account at the incorruptible court of Hades, and no prayers will save from retribution. Huge black wings, similar to those with which nature endowed bats, a cloak and a sharp sword of the same color - this is what another inhabitant of Hades looks like - Thanatos, the god of death. It is his weapon that cuts off the thread of life and a simple tiller, and a disenfranchised slave, and a mighty king, the owner of countless treasures. Everyone is equal before death - this is the philosophical meaning of this mythical image. Hypnos, the god of deep dreams, a handsome young man, is also nearby. He is the twin of Thanatos, so sometimes he sends heavy, deep dreams, about which they say "like death." And, of course, the goddess Hecate, whose very name makes people tremble.
Myths and legends
As with any celestial being, there are many legends and myths associated with the god Hades. The most famous is about Persephone, the daughter of Zeus, and the goddess of the earth and fertility - Demeter. The story of Orpheus and Eurydice is unusually beautiful. A sad myth about a girl named Mint, who had the misfortune to please Hades, which caused a fit of anger and jealousy in Persephone. As a result, we can drink tea with fragrant grass, into which, in fact, the goddess turned the girl! Yes, in the same garden mint. We also remember the popular expression about Sisyphean labor, which is directly related to Hades.
