176-404: Hades ( / ˈ h eɪ d iː z / ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : ᾍδης , translit. Hā́idēs , Attic Greek : [háːi̯dεːs] , later [háːdεːs] ), in the ancient Greek religion and mythology , is the god of the dead and the king of the underworld , with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea , although this also made him
352-518: A bident and wearing his helm with Cerberus , the three-headed guard-dog of the underworld, standing at his side. Roman-era mythographers eventually equated the Etruscan god Aita and the Roman gods Dis Pater and Orcus with Hades and merged all these figures into Pluto , a Latinisation of Plouton ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : Πλούτων , translit. Ploútōn ), itself
528-518: A bident , though the ornamented tip of his scepter may have been misunderstood at times as a bident. In the Roman world, the bident (from bi- , "two" + dent- , "teeth") was an agricultural implement. It may also represent one of the three types of lightning wielded by Jupiter , the Roman counterpart of Zeus, and the Etruscan Tinia . The later notion that the ruler of the underworld wielded
704-536: A "chthonic Zeus." That the trident and bident might be somewhat interchangeable is suggested by a Byzantine scholiast , who mentions Poseidon being armed with a bident. In the Middle Ages, classical underworld figures began to be depicted with a pitchfork. Early Christian writers had identified the classical underworld with Hell, and its denizens as demons or devils. In the Renaissance, the bident became
880-489: A "cover name" for the underworld Dionysus. He suggests that this dual identity may have been familiar to those who came into contact with the Mysteries . Dionysus also shared several epithets with Hades such as Chthonios ("the subterranean"), Eubouleus ("Good Counselor"), and Euclius ("glorious" or "renowned") . Evidence for a cult connection is quite extensive, particularly in southern Italy, especially when considering
1056-459: A "son of Pluto." In his 14th-century mythography, Boccaccio records a tradition in which Pluto was the father of the divine personification Veneratio ("Reverence"), noting that she had no mother because Proserpina (the Latin name of Persephone) was sterile. In The Faerie Queene (1590s), Edmund Spenser invents a daughter for Pluto whom he calls Lucifera. The character's name was taken from
1232-577: A basis for coinages: anthropology , photography , telephony , isomer , biomechanics , cinematography , etc. Together with Latin words , they form the foundation of international scientific and technical vocabulary ; for example, all words ending in -logy ('discourse'). There are many English words of Greek origin . Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The ancient language most closely related to it may be ancient Macedonian , which, by most accounts,
1408-479: A benefactor in the twelfth month, implicitly ranking him as one of the twelve principal deities. In the Attic calendar , the twelfth month, more or less equivalent to June, was Skirophorion ; the name may be connected to the rape of Persephone. In the theogony of Euhemerus (4th century BC), the gods were treated as mortal rulers whose deeds were immortalized by tradition. Ennius translated Euhemerus into Latin about
1584-473: A black pig " if the curse is fulfilled by the desired deadline. The pig was a characteristic animal sacrifice to chthonic deities, whose victims were almost always black or dark in color. A set of curse tablets written in Doric Greek and found in a tomb addresses a Pasianax, "Lord to All," sometimes taken as a title of Pluto, but more recently thought to be a magical name for the corpse. Pasianax
1760-482: A boulder up a hill in the underworld; but every time he reached the top, the boulder would roll down again and again. In another version, it is Persephone who lets him out. Heracles 's final labour was to capture Cerberus. First, Heracles went to Eleusis to be initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries . He did this to absolve himself of guilt for killing the centaurs and to learn how to enter and exit
1936-561: A clear distinction between Pluto and "chthonic Zeus" confuses the question of whether in some traditions, now obscure, Persephone bore children to her husband. In the late 4th century AD, Claudian's epic on the abduction motivates Pluto with a desire for children. The poem is unfinished, however, and anything Claudian may have known of these traditions is lost. Justin Martyr (2nd century AD) alludes to children of Pluto, but neither names nor enumerates them. Hesychius (5th century AD) mentions
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#17327658432682112-405: A compromise, to which all parties had agreed: of the year, Persephone would spend one third with her husband. It is during this time, when Persephone is down in the underworld with her husband, that winter falls upon the earth, "an aspect of sadness and mourning." The hero Orpheus once descended into the underworld in search of his late wife Eurydice , who died when a snake bit her. So lovely
2288-502: A conventional attribute of Pluto. In an influential ceiling mural depicting the wedding of Cupid and Psyche , painted by Raphael 's workshop for the Villa Farnesina in 1517, Pluto is shown holding the bident, with Cerberus at his side, while Neptune holds the trident. Perhaps influenced by this work, Agostino Carracci originally depicted Pluto with a bident in a preparatory drawing for his painting Pluto (1592), in which
2464-507: A cypress, consumed by grief over the accidental death of a pet stag . A "white cypress" is part of the topography of the underworld that recurs in the Orphic gold tablets as a kind of beacon near the entrance, perhaps to be compared with the Tree of Life in various world mythologies. The description of the cypress as "white" (Greek leukē ), since the botanical tree is dark, is symbolic, evoking
2640-479: A daughter of Oceanus . Hades fell in love with her and abducted her to the underworld. She lived out the span of her life in his realm, and when she died, the god sought consolation by creating a suitable memorial of their love: in the Elysian Fields where the pious spend their afterlife, he brought a white tree into existence. It was this tree with which Heracles crowned himself to celebrate his return from
2816-587: A desire for the presence of a deity, and has been compared to a similar epiclesis in the Acts of Thomas . The names of both Hades and Pluto appear also in the Greek Magical Papyri and curse tablets , with Hades typically referring to the underworld as a place, and Pluto regularly invoked as the partner of Persephone. Five Latin curse tablets from Rome, dating to the mid-1st century BC, promise Persephone and Pluto an offering of " dates , figs , and
2992-528: A divine tripartite deity with Zeus. The Orphics in particular believed that Zeus and Hades were the same deity and portrayed them as such. This nature and aspect of Hades and Zeus displayed in the Orphic stories is the explanation for why both Hades and Zeus are considered to be the father of Orphic Dionysus-Zagreus. Orphics also described Zagreus as the son of Hades, while also regarding Zagreus as an aspect of Dionysus. The role of unifying Hades, Zeus and Dionysus as
3168-454: A euphemistic title (meaning "the rich one") often given to Hades. The origin of Hades's name is uncertain but has generally been seen as meaning "the unseen one" since antiquity . An extensive section of Plato 's dialogue Cratylus is devoted to the etymology of the god's name, in which Socrates is arguing for a folk etymology not from "unseen" but from "his knowledge ( eidenai ) of all noble things". Modern linguists have proposed
3344-558: A fairly stable set of consonantal contrasts . The main phonological changes occurred during the Hellenistic and Roman period (see Koine Greek phonology for details): In all its stages, the morphology of Greek shows an extensive set of productive derivational affixes , a limited but productive system of compounding and a rich inflectional system. Although its morphological categories have been fairly stable over time, morphological changes are present throughout, particularly in
3520-560: A faster, more convenient cursive writing style with the use of ink and quill . The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, each with an uppercase ( majuscule ) and lowercase ( minuscule ) form. The letter sigma has an additional lowercase form (ς) used in the final position of a word: In addition to the letters, the Greek alphabet features a number of diacritical signs : three different accent marks ( acute , grave , and circumflex ), originally denoting different shapes of pitch accent on
3696-540: A foreign language. It is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, " Homeric Greek is probably closer to Demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English ". Greek is spoken today by at least 13 million people, principally in Greece and Cyprus along with a sizable Greek-speaking minority in Albania near
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#17327658432683872-532: A helmet (kyneê) . The helmet Pluto receives is presumably the magical Cap of Invisibility (aidos kyneê) , but the Bibliotheca is the only ancient source that explicitly says it belonged to Pluto. The verbal play of aidos , "invisible," and Hades is thought to account for this attribution of the helmet to the ruler of the underworld, since no ancient narratives record his use or possession of it. Later authors such as Rabelais (16th century) do attribute
4048-404: A late romance, Psyche . None of them were pleased with what they witnessed in the realm of the dead. In particular, the Greek war hero Achilles , whom Odysseus conjured with a blood libation , said: O shining Odysseus, never try to console me for dying. I would rather follow the plow as thrall to another man, one with no land allotted to him and not much to live on, than be a king over all
4224-566: A name that was unsafe to pronounce, which evolved into epithets . He spent most of the time in his dark realm. Formidable in battle, he proved his ferocity in the famous Titanomachy , the battle of the Olympians versus the Titans , which established the rule of Zeus. Feared and loathed, Hades embodied the inexorable finality of death: "Why do we loathe Hades more than any god, if not because he
4400-603: A number of other deities, including Summanus , the Roman god of nocturnal thunder; Februus , the Roman god from whose purification rites the month of February takes its name and an Etruscans god of the underworld the syncretic god Serapis , regarded as Pluto's Egyptian equivalent ; and the Semitic god Muth (Μούθ). Muth was described by Philo of Byblos as the equivalent of both Thanatos (Death personified ) and Pluto. The ancient Greeks did not regard Pluto as "death" per se. The best-known myth involving Pluto or Hades
4576-579: A pallor. Martianus Capella (5th century) describes him as both "growing pale in shadow, a fugitive from light" and actively "shedding darkness in the gloom of Tartarean night," crowned with a wreath made of ebony as suitable for the kingdom he governs. The horses of Pluto are usually black, but Ovid describes them as "sky-colored" ( caeruleus , from caelum , "sky"), which might be blue, greenish-blue, or dark blue. The Renaissance mythographer Natale Conti says wreaths of narcissus , maidenhair fern (adianthus) , and cypress were given to Pluto. In
4752-466: A single tripartite god was used to represent the birth, death and resurrection of a deity and to unify the 'shining' realm of Zeus and the dark realm of Hades that lay beneath the Earth. Among the other appellations under which Hades or Pluto is generally known, are the following: In Greek: In Latin or Etruscan: In Egypt: Hades was depicted infrequently in artwork, as well as mythology, because
4928-524: A trident or bident can perhaps be traced to a line in Seneca 's Hercules Furens ("Hercules Enraged"), in which Father Dis, the Roman counterpart of Pluto, uses a three-pronged spear to drive off Hercules as he attempts to invade Pylos. Seneca calls Dis the "Infernal Jove" or the "dire Jove" (the Jove who gives dire or ill omens, dirae ) , just as in the Greek tradition, Plouton is sometimes identified as
5104-459: A wonder for gods and mortal men. And now tell me how he rapt you away to the realm of darkness and gloom, and by what trick did the strong Host of Many beguile you? Persephone does admit that she ate the food of the dead, as she tells Demeter that Hades gave her a pomegranate seed and forced her to eat it. Persephone's eating the pomegranate seed binds her to Hades and the underworld, much to the dismay of Demeter. Zeus, however, had previously proposed
5280-490: A young bride whose memory even the Lethe 's waters of forgetting have not erased from him. Pluto assures him that death will reunite them someday, but Protesilaus argues that Pluto himself should understand love and its impatience, and reminds the king of his grant to Orpheus and to Alcestis , who took her husband's place in death and then was permitted at the insistence of Heracles to return to him. When Persephone intercedes for
5456-549: Is monogamous , and is rarely said to have children. In Orphic texts , the chthonic nymph Melinoe is the daughter of Persephone by Zeus disguised as Pluto, and the Eumenides ("The Kindly Ones") are the offspring of Persephone and Zeus Chthonios , often identified as Pluto. The Augustan poet Vergil says that Pluto is the father of the Furies , but the mother is the goddess Nox ( Nyx ), not his wife Persephone.The lack of
Hades - Misplaced Pages Continue
5632-422: Is a sceptre , but he also often holds a full or overflowing cornucopia; Hades sometimes holds a horn, but it is depicted with no contents and should be understood as a drinking horn . Unlike Plouton, Hades never holds agrarian attributes such as stalks of grain. His chest is usually bare or only partly covered, whereas Plouton is fully robed (exceptions, however, are admitted by the author). Plouton stands, often in
5808-804: Is also found in Bulgaria near the Greek-Bulgarian border. Greek is also spoken worldwide by the sizable Greek diaspora which has notable communities in the United States , Australia , Canada , South Africa , Chile , Brazil , Argentina , Russia , Ukraine , the United Kingdom , and throughout the European Union , especially in Germany . Historically, significant Greek-speaking communities and regions were found throughout
5984-773: Is an Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece , Cyprus , Italy (in Calabria and Salento ), southern Albania , and other regions of the Balkans , Caucasus , the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor , and the Eastern Mediterranean . It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records. Its writing system
6160-479: Is an Indo-European language, but also includes a number of borrowings from the languages of the populations that inhabited Greece before the arrival of Proto-Greeks, some documented in Mycenaean texts ; they include a large number of Greek toponyms . The form and meaning of many words have changed. Loanwords (words of foreign origin) have entered the language, mainly from Latin, Venetian , and Turkish . During
6336-513: Is called Pluto (or the rich). Note also, that he will have nothing to do with men while they are in the body, but only when the soul is liberated from the desires and evils of the body. Now there is a great deal of philosophy and reflection in that; for in their liberated state he can bind them with the desire of virtue, but while they are flustered and maddened by the body, not even father Cronos himself would suffice to keep them with him in his own far-famed chains. Since "the union of body and soul
6512-539: Is considered the master of the goddesses of Fate , not his brother Zeus and the god who designates the end and origin of all things and orders the alternation of birth and destruction, the arbiter of life and death. This relationship is very clear in Roman epics like Statius 's Thebaid , where they are mentioned taking souls to be judged by Hades and inflicting severe punishments or in Claudian 's De raptu Proserpinae where they appear begging their master not to release
6688-689: Is distant from the sky." Greek mythographers were not perfectly consistent about the geography of the afterlife . A contrasting myth of the afterlife concerns the Garden of the Hesperides , often identified with the Isles of the Blessed , where the blessed heroes may dwell. Greek language Greek ( Modern Greek : Ελληνικά , romanized : Elliniká , [eliniˈka] ; Ancient Greek : Ἑλληνική , romanized : Hellēnikḗ )
6864-534: Is distinguished from the gloomier Hades. The Roman poet Ennius ( ca. 239–169 BC), the leading figure in the Hellenization of Latin literature , considered Pluto a Greek god to be explained in terms of the Roman equivalents Dis Pater and Orcus. It is unclear whether Pluto had a literary presence in Rome before Ennius. Some scholars think that rituals and beliefs pertaining to Pluto entered Roman culture with
7040-422: Is found elsewhere as an epithet of Zeus, or in the tablets may invoke a daimon like Abrasax . A sanctuary dedicated to Pluto was called a ploutonion (Latin plutonium ). The complex at Eleusis for the mysteries had a ploutonion regarded as the birthplace of the divine child Ploutos, in another instance of conflation or close association of the two gods. Greek inscriptions record an altar of Pluto, which
7216-567: Is in Statius 's Thebaid , when Hades orders Tisiphone to punish humans for having invaded the underworld . He is said to hate Alecto , even though she is one of his children. In contrast to many of his other classical representations the satirical author Lucian of Samosata presents Hades in a more positive and even comic way. In his Dialogues of the Dead , he is represented trying to solve problems of some famous mythological figures and one of
Hades - Misplaced Pages Continue
7392-644: Is no direct evidence of such a turn. The blood from all chthonic sacrifices including those to propitiate Hades dripped into a pit or cleft in the ground. The person who offered the sacrifice had to avert his face. One ancient source says that he possessed the Cap of invisibility . His chariot, drawn by four black horses, made for a fearsome and impressive sight. These beasts were variously named as, according to Claudian : Orphnaeus , Aethon , Nycteus and Alastor while other authors listed also: Nonius, Ametheus, Abastor, Abetor and Metheus. His other ordinary attributes were
7568-453: Is not better than the loosing," death is not an evil. Walter Burkert thus sees Pluto as a "god of dissolution." Among the titles of Pluto was Isodaitēs , "divider into equal portions," a title that connects him to the fate goddesses the Moirai . Isodaitēs was also a cult title for Dionysus and Helios . In ordering his ideal city, Plato proposed a calendar in which Pluto was honored as
7744-562: Is of him abducting Persephone to be his wife and the queen of his realm. Plouton as the name of the ruler of the underworld first appears in Greek literature of the Classical period , in the works of the Athenian playwrights and of the philosopher Plato , who is the major Greek source on its significance. Under the name Pluto, the god appears in other myths in a secondary role, mostly as
7920-414: Is portrayed as the dark and violent abductor of Persephone. Pluto and Hades differ in character, but they are not distinct figures and share two dominant myths. In Greek cosmogony , the god received the rule of the underworld in a three-way division of sovereignty over the world, with his brother Zeus ruling the sky and his other brother Poseidon sovereign over the sea. His central narrative in myth
8096-519: Is protected and promoted officially as a regional and minority language in Armenia, Hungary , Romania, and Ukraine. It is recognized as a minority language and protected in Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne . The phonology , morphology , syntax , and vocabulary of the language show both conservative and innovative tendencies across the entire attestation of the language from the ancient to
8272-494: Is so adamantine and unyielding?" The rhetorical question is Agamemnon 's. Hades was not, however, an evil god, for although he was stern, cruel, and unpitying, he was still just. Hades ruled the underworld and was therefore most often associated with death and feared by men, but he was not Death itself — it is Thanatos , son of Nyx and Erebus , who is the actual personification of death, although Euripides's play " Alkestis " states fairly clearly that Thanatos and Hades were one and
8448-896: Is sometimes called aljamiado , as when Romance languages are written in the Arabic alphabet. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Greek: Transcription of the example text into Latin alphabet : Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English: Proto-Greek Mycenaean Ancient Koine Medieval Modern Pluto (mythology) In ancient Greek religion and mythology , Pluto ( Greek : Πλούτων , Ploutōn )
8624-475: Is spoken by at least 13.5 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey , and the many other countries of the Greek diaspora . Greek roots have been widely used for centuries and continue to be widely used to coin new words in other languages; Greek and Latin are the predominant sources of international scientific vocabulary . Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around
8800-763: Is still used internationally for the writing of Ancient Greek . In Greek, the question mark is written as the English semicolon, while the functions of the colon and semicolon are performed by a raised point (•), known as the ano teleia ( άνω τελεία ). In Greek the comma also functions as a silent letter in a handful of Greek words, principally distinguishing ό,τι ( ó,ti , 'whatever') from ότι ( óti , 'that'). Ancient Greek texts often used scriptio continua ('continuous writing'), which means that ancient authors and scribes would write word after word with no spaces or punctuation between words to differentiate or mark boundaries. Boustrophedon , or bi-directional text,
8976-650: Is the Greek alphabet , which has been used for approximately 2,800 years; previously, Greek was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary . The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin , Cyrillic , Coptic , Gothic , and many other writing systems. The Greek language holds a very important place in the history of the Western world. Beginning with
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#17327658432689152-626: Is the abduction of Persephone, also known as Kore ("the Maiden"). The earliest literary versions of the myth are a brief mention in Hesiod's Theogony and the extended narrative of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter ; in both these works, the ruler of the underworld is named as Hades ("the Hidden One"). Hades is an unsympathetic figure, and Persephone's unwillingness is emphasized. Increased usage of
9328-426: The Homeric Hymn to Demeter , which is the oldest story of the abduction, most likely dating back to the beginning of the 6th century BC. Helios told the grieving Demeter that Hades was not an unworthy groom or son-in-law given his status among the gods, as her own brother and king on his own right: But, Goddess, give up your strong grief; let go of your infinite anger. Hades isn't an unsuitable son-in-law among
9504-491: The Odyssey , took place in a fallow field that had been ploughed three times, in what seems to be a reference to a ritual copulation or sympathetic magic to ensure the earth's fertility. "The resemblance of the name Ploutos to Plouton ...," it has been noted, "cannot be accidental. Plouton is lord of the dead, but as Persephone's husband he has serious claims to the powers of fertility." Demeter's son Plutus merges in
9680-495: The Eastern Mediterranean , in what are today Southern Italy , Turkey , Cyprus , Syria , Lebanon , Israel , Palestine , Egypt , and Libya ; in the area of the Black Sea , in what are today Turkey, Bulgaria , Romania , Ukraine , Russia , Georgia , Armenia , and Azerbaijan ; and, to a lesser extent, in the Western Mediterranean in and around colonies such as Massalia , Monoikos , and Mainake . It
9856-673: The Eleusinian icon Ploutos, and from this he also received a priestess, which was not previously practiced in Greece. More elaborate names of the same genre were Ploutodótēs ( Πλουτοδότης , [pluː.toˈdo.tεːs] ) or Ploutodotḗr ( Πλουτοδοτήρ , [pluː.to.doˈtεːr] ), meaning "giver of wealth". Epithets of Hades include Agesander ( Ἀγήσανδρος , [aˈgεː.san.dros] ) and Agesilaos ( Ἀγεσίλαος , [a.geˈsi.la.os] ), both from ágō ( ἄγω , "lead", "carry" or "fetch") and anḗr ( ἀνήρ , "man") or laos ( λαός , "men" or "people"), describing Hades as
10032-582: The Homeric Hymn to Demeter , Gaia (Earth) produced the narcissus at Zeus's request as a snare for Persephone; when she grasps it, a chasm opens up and the "Host to Many" (Hades) seizes her. Narcissus wreaths were used in early times to crown Demeter and Persephone, as well as the Furies ( Eumenides ). The flower was associated with narcotic drugginess ( narkê , "torpor"), erotic fascination , and imminent death; to dream of crowning oneself with narcissus
10208-516: The Indo-Iranian languages (see Graeco-Aryan ), but little definitive evidence has been found. In addition, Albanian has also been considered somewhat related to Greek and Armenian, and it has been proposed that they all form a higher-order subgroup along with other extinct languages of the ancient Balkans; this higher-order subgroup is usually termed Palaeo-Balkan , and Greek has a central position in it. Linear B , attested as early as
10384-524: The Proto-Greek form * Awides ("unseen"). The earliest attested form is Aḯdēs ( Ἀΐδης ), which lacks the proposed digamma . Martin Litchfield West argues instead for an original meaning of "the one who presides over meeting up" from the universality of death. In Homeric and Ionic Greek , he was known as Áïdēs . Other poetic variations of the name include Aïdōneús ( Ἀϊδωνεύς ) and
10560-533: The Roman Imperial era , the Greek geographer Strabo (1st century AD) makes a distinction between Pluto and Hades. In writing of the mineral wealth of ancient Iberia ( Roman Spain ), he says that among the Turdetani , it is "Pluto, and not Hades, who inhabits the region down below." In the discourse On Mourning by the Greek author Lucian (2nd century AD), Pluto's "wealth" is the dead he rules over in
10736-606: The Titans and saying everything they do is for him, after Hades threatens Zeus to release the Titans against him if he does not give him a wife. Hades is considered the father of the Furies in some versions, but the mother's identity varies. in Virgil 's Aeneid their mother is the night goddess Nyx and in the Orphic Hymns their mother is Persephone by Hades. One of the rare occasions when he appears interacting with them
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#173276584326810912-398: The abyss (chasma) ; the name Hades is reserved for the underworld itself. In Greek religious practice, Pluto is sometimes seen as the "chthonic Zeus" ( Zeus Chthonios or Zeus Catachthonios ), or at least as having functions or significance equivalent to those of Zeus but pertaining to the earth or underworld. In ancient Roman and Hellenistic religion , Pluto was identified with
11088-540: The hubris directed toward her daughter, Demeter trampled Minthe and turned her into mint. Theophile was a girl who claimed that Hades loved her and that she was better than Persephone. Once, when a plague hit Aonia , a region in Boeotia , the people consulted an oracle, and the god replied to them that they needed to make an appeal to the gods of the Underworld and sacrifice two willing young maidens to appease
11264-492: The nominal and verbal systems. The major change in the nominal morphology since the classical stage was the disuse of the dative case (its functions being largely taken over by the genitive ). The verbal system has lost the infinitive , the synthetically -formed future, and perfect tenses and the optative mood . Many have been replaced by periphrastic ( analytical ) forms. Pronouns show distinctions in person (1st, 2nd, and 3rd), number (singular, dual , and plural in
11440-452: The self is a Platonic cave with capillaires , in French both "maidenhair fern" and " blood vessels ". The cypress (Greek cyparissus , Latin cupressus ) has traditional associations with mourning. In ancient Attica , households in mourning were garlanded with cypress, and it was used to fumigate the air during cremations . In the myth of Cyparissus , a youth was transformed into
11616-616: The "All-Receiver" who commands death and is the master of mortals. His titles are given as Zeus Chthonios and Euboulos ("Good Counsel"). In the hymn's topography , Pluto's dwelling is in Tartarus , simultaneously a "meadow" and "thick-shaded and dark," where the Acheron encircles "the roots of the earth." Hades is again the name of the place, here described as "windless," and its gates, through which Pluto carried "pure Demeter's daughter" as his bride, are located in an Attic cave within
11792-424: The 16th-century mythography of Natale Conti, who used it as the Latin translation of Greek phosphor , "light-bearer," a regular epithet of Hecate . Spenser incorporated aspects of the mysteries into The Faerie Queene . Orpheus was regarded as a founder and prophet of the mysteries called " Orphic ," " Dionysiac ," or " Bacchic ." Mythologized for his ability to entrance even animals and trees with his music, he
11968-470: The 3rd millennium BC, or possibly earlier. The earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the world's oldest recorded living language . Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now-extinct Anatolian languages . The Greek language is conventionally divided into
12144-461: The 5th century BC, the Greeks started referring to Hades as Plouton ( Πλούτων , Ploútōn , [ˈpluː.tɔːn] ), with a root meaning "wealthy", considering that from the abode below (i.e., the soil) come riches (e.g., fertile crops, metals and so on). Plouton became the Roman god who both rules the underworld and distributed riches from below. This deity was a mixture of the Greek god Hades and
12320-486: The Greek alphabet since approximately the 9th century BC. It was created by modifying the Phoenician alphabet , with the innovation of adopting certain letters to represent the vowels. The variant of the alphabet in use today is essentially the late Ionic variant, introduced for writing classical Attic in 403 BC. In classical Greek, as in classical Latin, only upper-case letters existed. The lower-case Greek letters were developed much later by medieval scribes to permit
12496-425: The Greek language are often emphasized. Although Greek has undergone morphological and phonological changes comparable to those seen in other languages, never since classical antiquity has its cultural, literary, and orthographic tradition been interrupted to the extent that one can speak of a new language emerging. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than
12672-495: The Greek language was the Cypriot syllabary (also a descendant of Linear A via the intermediate Cypro-Minoan syllabary ), which is closely related to Linear B but uses somewhat different syllabic conventions to represent phoneme sequences. The Cypriot syllabary is attested in Cyprus from the 11th century BC until its gradual abandonment in the late Classical period, in favor of the standard Greek alphabet. Greek has been written in
12848-629: The Greek verb have likewise remained largely the same over the course of the language's history but with significant changes in the number of distinctions within each category and their morphological expression. Greek verbs have synthetic inflectional forms for: Many aspects of the syntax of Greek have remained constant: verbs agree with their subject only, the use of the surviving cases is largely intact (nominative for subjects and predicates, accusative for objects of most verbs and many prepositions, genitive for possessors), articles precede nouns, adpositions are largely prepositional, relative clauses follow
13024-685: The Greek-Albanian border. A significant percentage of Albania's population has knowledge of the Greek language due in part to the Albanian wave of immigration to Greece in the 1980s and '90s and the Greek community in the country. Prior to the Greco-Turkish War and the resulting population exchange in 1923 a very large population of Greek-speakers also existed in Turkey , though very few remain today. A small Greek-speaking community
13200-513: The Greeks were so afraid of him. His artistic representations, which are generally found in Archaic pottery, are not even concretely thought of as the deity; however at this point in time it is heavily believed that the figures illustrated are indeed Hades. He was later presented in the classical arts in the depictions of the Rape of Persephone . Within these illustrations, Hades was often young, yet he
13376-764: The Latin Fables of Hyginus ( ca. 64 BC–AD 17). The most influential version of the abduction myth is that of Ovid (d. 17 or 18 AD), who tells the story in both the Metamorphoses (Book 5) and the Fasti (Book 4). Another major retelling, also in Latin, is the long unfinished poem De raptu Proserpinae ("On the Abduction of Proserpina") by Claudian (d. 404 AD). Ovid uses the name Dis , not Pluto in these two passages, and Claudian uses Pluto only once; translators and editors , however, sometimes supply
13552-404: The acute during the late 20th century, and it has only been retained in typography . After the writing reform of 1982, most diacritics are no longer used. Since then, Greek has been written mostly in the simplified monotonic orthography (or monotonic system), which employs only the acute accent and the diaeresis. The traditional system, now called the polytonic orthography (or polytonic system),
13728-609: The agricultural wealth of "the year's fruits." Pausanias explains the significance of Pluto's key in describing a wondrously carved cedar chest at the Temple of Hera in Elis. Numerous deities are depicted, with one panel grouping Dionysus, Persephone, the nymphs and Pluto. Pluto holds a key because "they say that what is called Hades has been locked up by Pluto, and that nobody will return back again therefrom." Natale Conti cites Pausanias in noting that keys are an attribute of Pluto as
13904-402: The ancient language; singular and plural alone in later stages), and gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and decline for case (from six cases in the earliest forms attested to four in the modern language). Nouns, articles, and adjectives show all the distinctions except for a person. Both attributive and predicative adjectives agree with the noun. The inflectional categories of
14080-416: The anger of Hades and Persephone. The girls that were chosen were Menippe and Metioche , the daughters of Orion , who solemnly offered their lives in order to save their countrymen. After invoking the chthonic deities three times, they took their own lives with the shuttles of their looms. Hades and Persephone then took pity in both of them, and transformed their corpses into comets . In some versions Hades
14256-449: The best portion? ... How much better are things below than what Zeus possesses! To Plato, the god of the underworld was "an agent in [the] beneficent cycle of death and rebirth" meriting worship under the name of Plouton , a giver of spiritual wealth. In the dialogue Cratylus , Plato has Socrates explain the etymology of Plouton , saying that Pluto gives wealth ( ploutos ), and his name means "giver of wealth, which comes out of
14432-420: The color glaukos , "bluish grey," "greenish" or "sea-colored," which might describe the plant's leaves. Because the color could describe the sky, Cornutus regularly gives it divine connotations. Pluto's twin sister was named Glauca . Ambiguity of color is characteristic of Pluto. Although both he and his realm are regularly described as dark, black, or gloomy, the god himself is sometimes seen as pale or having
14608-492: The company of both Demeter and Kore, or sometimes one of the goddesses, but Hades almost always sits or reclines, usually with Persephone facing him. "Confusion and disagreement" about the interpretation of these images remain. Attributes of Pluto mentioned in the Orphic Hymn to Pluto are his scepter , keys, throne, and horses. In the hymn, the keys are connected to his capacity for giving wealth to humanity, specifically
14784-402: The cult of Apollo , as confirmed by archaeological investigations during the 1960s. It too was a dream oracle. The sites often seem to have been chosen because the presence of naturally occurring mephitic vapors was thought to indicate an opening to the underworld. In Italy, Avernus was considered an entrance to the underworld that produced toxic vapors, but Strabo seems not to think that it
14960-451: The dark-clouded son of Cronos and be honored by all the deathless gods; but if you have tasted food, you must go back again beneath the secret places of the earth, there to dwell a third part of the seasons every year: yet for the two parts you shall be with me and the other deathless gods. But when the earth shall bloom with the fragrant flowers of spring in every kind, then from the realm of darkness and gloom thou shalt come up once more to be
15136-457: The dead by fighting and defeating Hades. In other versions, like Euripides 's play Alcestis , Heracles fought Thanatos instead. At another time, Heracles sieged the town of Pylos and during the fight he wounded Hades, who had sided with the Pylians. In great pain, Hades went to Olympus to be healed by the physician of the gods, Paean . Leuce was the most beautiful of the nymphs and
15312-525: The dead warrior, Pluto grants the request at once, though allowing only one day for the reunion. As Pluto gained importance as an embodiment of agricultural wealth within the Eleusinian Mysteries, from the 5th century BC onward the name Hades was increasingly reserved for the underworld as a place. Neither Hades nor Pluto was one of the traditional Twelve Olympians , and Hades seems to have received limited cult, perhaps only at Elis , where
15488-575: The death symbolism included in Dionysian worship; statues of Dionysus found in the Ploutonion at Eleusis gives further evidence as the statue bears a striking resemblance to the statue of Eubouleus also known as the youthful depiction of the Lord of the underworld. The statue of Eubouleus is described as being radiant but disclosing a strange inner darkness. Both Hades and Dionysus were associated with
15664-485: The deep earth that contained the seeds necessary for a bountiful harvest. The name Ploutōn came into widespread usage with the Eleusinian Mysteries , in which Pluto was venerated as both a stern ruler and a loving husband to Persephone . The couple received souls in the afterlife and are invoked together in religious inscriptions, being referred to as Plouton and as Kore respectively. Hades, by contrast, had few temples and religious practices associated with him, and he
15840-411: The district of Eleusis . The route from Persephone's meadow to Hades crosses the sea. The hymn concludes: You alone were born to judge deeds obscure and conspicuous. Holiest and illustrious ruler of all, frenzied god, You delight in the worshiper's respect and reverence. Come with favor and joy to the initiates. I summon you. The hymn is one of several examples of Greco-Roman prayer that express
16016-473: The divine couple appear as welcoming figures in a metrical epitaph : I know that even below the earth, if there is indeed a reward for the worthy ones, the first and foremost honors, nurse, shall be yours, next to Persephone and Pluto. Hesychius identifies Pluto with Eubouleus , but other ancient sources distinguish between these two underworld deities. In the Mysteries Eubouleus plays
16192-404: The early 19th century that was used for literary and official purposes in the newly formed Greek state. In 1976, Dimotiki was declared the official language of Greece, after having incorporated features of Katharevousa and thus giving birth to Standard Modern Greek , used today for all official purposes and in education . The historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of
16368-540: The earth beneath". Because the name Hades is taken to mean "the invisible", people fear what they cannot see; although they are in error about the nature of this deity's power, Socrates says, "the office and name of the God really correspond": He is the perfect and accomplished Sophist , and the great benefactor of the inhabitants of the other world; and even to us who are upon earth he sends from below exceeding blessings. For he has much more than he wants down there; wherefore he
16544-446: The earth, both the crops on its surface—he was originally a god of the land—and the mines hidden within it." What is sometimes taken as "confusion" of the two gods Plouton and Ploutos ("Wealth") held or acquired a theological significance in antiquity. As a lord of abundance or riches, Pluto expresses the aspect of the underworld god that was positive, symbolized in art by the "horn of plenty" ( cornucopia ), by means of which Plouton
16720-488: The end of the plough-tail and bring down your stick on the backs of the oxen as they draw on the pole-bar by the yoke-straps." Plouton was one of several euphemistic names for Hades, described in the Iliad as the god most hateful to mortals. Plato says that people prefer the name Plouton , "giver of wealth," because the name of Hades is fear-provoking. The name was understood as referring to "the boundless riches of
16896-618: The epics of Homer , ancient Greek literature includes many works of lasting importance in the European canon . Greek is also the language in which many of the foundational texts in science and philosophy were originally composed. The New Testament of the Christian Bible was also originally written in Greek. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world , the Greek texts and Greek societies of antiquity constitute
17072-547: The establishment of the Saecular Games in 249 BC, and that Dis pater was only a translation of Plouton . In the mid-1st century BC, Cicero identifies Pluto with Dis, explaining that "The earth in all its power and plenty is sacred to Father Dis, a name which is the same as Dives , 'The Wealthy One,' as is the Greek Plouton . This is because everything is born of the earth and returns to it again." During
17248-511: The famine to stop. Hermes obeys and goes down to Hades's realm, wherein he finds Hades seated upon a couch, Persephone seated next to him. Hermes relays Zeus's message, and Hades complies, saying, Go now, Persephone, to your dark-robed mother, go, and feel kindly in your heart towards me: be not so exceedingly cast down; for I shall be no unfitting husband for you among the deathless gods, that am own brother to father Zeus. And while you are here, you shall rule all that lives and moves and shall have
17424-452: The following periods: In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia : the coexistence of vernacular and archaizing written forms of the language. What came to be known as the Greek language question was a polarization between two competing varieties of Modern Greek: Dimotiki , the vernacular form of Modern Greek proper, and Katharevousa , meaning 'purified', a compromise between Dimotiki and Ancient Greek developed in
17600-463: The god ended up holding his characteristic key. In Caravaggio 's Giove, Nettuno e Plutone (ca. 1597), a ceiling mural based on alchemical allegory, it is Neptune who holds the bident. The name Plouton is first used in Greek literature by Athenian playwrights . In Aristophanes ' comedy The Frogs ( Batrachoi , 405 BC), in which "the Eleusinian colouring is in fact so pervasive,"
17776-460: The god who carries away all. Nicander uses the form Hegesilaus ( Ἡγεσίλαος , [hεː.geˈsi.la.os] ). He was also referred to as Zeus katachthonios (Ζεὺς καταχθόνιος, [zdeu̯s ka.taˈkʰtʰo.ni.os] ), meaning "the Zeus of the underworld", by those avoiding his actual name, as he had complete control over the underworld. In Greek mythology , Hades, the god of the Greek underworld,
17952-491: The goddess has been waiting. Demeter and Persephone run towards each other and embrace one another, happy that they are reunited. Demeter, however, suspects that Persephone may have eaten food while down in the underworld , and so she questions Persephone, saying: My child, tell me, surely you have not tasted any food while you were below? Speak out and hide nothing, but let us both know. For if you have not, you shall come back from loathly Hades and live with me and your father ,
18128-500: The gods: Lord of the Many Dead, your own brother from the same seed. As for honor, he won the third share back when the division was made and now lives among those whom he was allotted to rule." Despite modern connotations of death as evil, Hades was actually more altruistically inclined in mythology. Hades was portrayed as passive and never portrayed negatively; his role was often maintaining relative balance. That said, he
18304-451: The greatest rights among the deathless gods: those who defraud you and do not appease your power with offerings, reverently performing rites and paying fit gifts, shall be punished for evermore. Afterwards, Hades readies his chariot, but not before he secretly gives Persephone a pomegranate seed to eat; Hermes takes the reins, and he and Persephone make their way to the Earth above, coming to a halt in front of Demeter's temple at Eleusis, where
18480-435: The helmet to Pluto. Erasmus calls it the "helmet of Orcus" and gives it as a figure of speech referring to those who conceal their true nature by a cunning device. Francis Bacon notes the proverbial usage: "the helmet of Pluto, which maketh the politic man go invisible, is secrecy in the counsel, and celerity in the execution." No ancient image of the ruler of the underworld can be said with certainty to show him with
18656-439: The infinitive entirely (employing a raft of new periphrastic constructions instead) and uses participles more restrictively. The loss of the dative led to a rise of prepositional indirect objects (and the use of the genitive to directly mark these as well). Ancient Greek tended to be verb-final, but neutral word order in the modern language is VSO or SVO. Modern Greek inherits most of its vocabulary from Ancient Greek, which in turn
18832-436: The inflected forms Áïdos ( Ἄϊδος , gen .), Áïdi ( Ἄϊδι , dat. ), and Áïda ( Ἄϊδα , acc. ), whose reconstructed nominative case * Áïs ( * Ἄϊς ) is, however, not attested. The name as it came to be known in classical times was Háidēs ( Ἅιδης ). Later the iota became silent, then a subscript marking ( ᾍδης ), and finally omitted entirely ( Άδης ). Perhaps from fear of pronouncing his name, around
19008-497: The land and there was a great famine; though, one by one, the gods came to request she lift it, lest mankind perish and cause the gods to be deprived of their receiving gifts and sacrifices, Demeter asserted that the earth would remain barren until she saw her daughter again. Zeus then sends for his son, Hermes , and instructs him to go down to the underworld in hopes that he may be able to convince Hades to allow Persephone to return to Earth, so that Demeter might see Persephone and cause
19184-413: The last son to be regurgitated by his father . He and his brothers, Zeus and Poseidon , defeated their father's generation of gods, the Titans , and claimed joint rulership over the cosmos . Hades received the underworld, Zeus the sky, and Poseidon the sea, with the solid earth (long the province of Gaia ) available to all three concurrently. In artistic depictions, Hades is typically portrayed holding
19360-467: The late 15th century BC, was the first script used to write Greek. It is basically a syllabary , which was finally deciphered by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick in the 1950s (its precursor, Linear A , has not been deciphered and most likely encodes a non-Greek language). The language of the Linear B texts, Mycenaean Greek , is the earliest known form of Greek. Another similar system used to write
19536-640: The membership of Greece and Cyprus in the European Union, Greek is one of the organization's 24 official languages . Greek is recognized as a minority language in Albania, and used co-officially in some of its municipalities, in the districts of Gjirokastër and Sarandë . It is also an official minority language in the regions of Apulia and Calabria in Italy. In the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , Greek
19712-441: The modern period. The division into conventional periods is, as with all such periodizations, relatively arbitrary, especially because, in all periods, Ancient Greek has enjoyed high prestige, and the literate borrowed heavily from it. Across its history, the syllabic structure of Greek has varied little: Greek shows a mixed syllable structure, permitting complex syllabic onsets but very restricted codas. It has only oral vowels and
19888-623: The monstrous Typhon attacked the Olympian gods, Hades is said to have trembled in fear in the underworld while Zeus fought Typhon above. In one of Plato 's dialogues, Socrates talks about Hades as a figure capable of making everyone fall by his enchantments and that is why no one ever leaves the underworld, including the sirens. Hades, as the god of the dead, was a fearsome figure to those still living; in no hurry to meet him, they were reluctant to swear oaths in his name, and averted their faces when sacrificing to him. Since to many, simply to say
20064-408: The more familiar "Pluto" when other epithets appear in the source text . The abduction myth was a popular subject for Greek and Roman art , and recurs throughout Western art and literature, where the name "Pluto" becomes common (see Pluto in Western art and literature below). Narrative details from Ovid and Claudian influence these later versions in which the abductor is named as Pluto, especially
20240-404: The most beautiful of the nymphs, and abducted her to live with him in his realm. After the long span of her life came to its end, he memorialized their love by creating a white tree in the Elysian Fields . The tree was the white poplar (Greek leukē ), the leaves of which are white on one side and dark on the other, representing the duality of upper and underworld. A wreath of white poplar leaves
20416-505: The most outstanding dialogues is with Protesilaus , one of the Greek heroes killed in the Trojan War . In this conversation Protesilaus asks him to be reunited with his (still living) lover, and brings up as example that Hades did the same for Admetus and Alcestis , Orpheus and Eurydice , and that he himself also knows what being in love is like. Hades is skeptical, but Persephone manages to persuade him. According to Hesiod , when
20592-501: The name Plouton in religious inscriptions and literary texts reflects the influence of the Eleusinian Mysteries , which treated Pluto and Persephone as a divine couple who received initiates in the afterlife; as such, Pluto was disassociated from the "violent abductor" of Kore. Two early works that give the abductor god's name as Pluto are the Greek mythography traditionally known as the Library of "Apollodorus" (1st century BC) and
20768-475: The name Plouton instead of Hades in relating the tripartite division of sovereignty, the abduction of Persephone, and the visit of Orpheus to the underworld. This version of the theogony for the most part follows Hesiod (see above ), but adds that the three brothers were each given a gift by the Cyclopes to use in their battle against the Titans : Zeus thunder and lightning; Poseidon a trident ; and Pluto
20944-571: The name 'Zeus', Zeus Olympios, the great king of the gods, noticeably differs from the Zeus Meilichios, a decidedly chthonian character, often portrayed as a snake, and as seen beforehand, they cannot be different manifestations of the same god, in fact whenever 'another Zeus' is mentioned, this always refers to Hades. Zeus Meilichios and Zeus Eubouleus are often referred to as being alternate names for Hades. The philosopher Heraclitus , unifying opposites, declared that Hades and Dionysus ,
21120-615: The name of both a god of the underworld and the underworld as a place. Pluto ( Pluton in French and German, Plutone in Italian) becomes the most common name for the classical ruler of the underworld in subsequent Western literature and other art forms . The name Plouton does not appear in Greek literature of the Archaic period . In Hesiod 's Theogony , the six children of Cronus and Rhea are Zeus , Hera , Poseidon , Hades , Demeter , and Hestia . The male children divide
21296-464: The narcissus and cypress plants, the Key of Hades and Cerberus, the three-headed dog. In certain portraits, snakes also appeared to be attributed to Hades as he was occasionally portrayed to be either holding them or accompanied by them. This is believed to hold significance as in certain classical sources Hades ravished Kore in the guise of a snake, who went on to give birth to Zagreus-Dionysus. While bearing
21472-445: The narrative tradition with her son-in-law Pluto, redefining the implacable chariot-driver Hades whose horses trample the flowering earth. That the underworld god was associated early on with success in agricultural activity is already evident in Hesiod's Works and Days , line 465–469: "Pray to Zeus of the Earth and to pure Demeter to make Demeter's holy grain sound and heavy, when first you begin ploughing, when you hold in your hand
21648-587: The normal obduracy of Pluto; the Augustan poet Horace describes him as incapable of tears. Claudian, however, portrays the steely god as succumbing to Orpheus's song so that "with iron cloak he wipes his tears" (ferrugineo lacrimas deterget amictu) , an image renewed by Milton in Il Penseroso (106–107): "Such notes ... / Drew iron tears down Pluto's cheek." The Greek writer Lucian ( ca. 125–after 180 AD) suggests that Pluto's love for his wife gave
21824-446: The notion of referring to Hades as Plouton with these words: "the gloomy Hades enriches himself with our sighs and our tears." In addition, he was called Clymenus ( Κλύμενος , Klýmenos , ' infamous', [ˈkly.me.nos] ), Polydegmon ( Πολυδέγμων , Polydégmon , 'host of many', [po.lyˈdeg.mɔːn] ), and perhaps Eubuleus ( Εὐβουλεύς , Eubouleús , 'good counsel', [eu̯.buːˈleu̯s] ), all of them euphemisms for
22000-399: The noun they modify and relative pronouns are clause-initial. However, the morphological changes also have their counterparts in the syntax, and there are also significant differences between the syntax of the ancient and that of the modern form of the language . Ancient Greek made great use of participial constructions and of constructions involving the infinitive, and the modern variety lacks
22176-536: The objects of study of the discipline of Classics . During antiquity , Greek was by far the most widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world . It eventually became the official language of the Byzantine Empire and developed into Medieval Greek . In its modern form , Greek is the official language of Greece and Cyprus and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union . It
22352-706: The older periods of Greek, loanwords into Greek acquired Greek inflections, thus leaving only a foreign root word. Modern borrowings (from the 20th century on), especially from French and English, are typically not inflected; other modern borrowings are derived from Albanian , South Slavic ( Macedonian / Bulgarian ) and Eastern Romance languages ( Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian ). Greek words have been widely borrowed into other languages, including English. Example words include: mathematics , physics , astronomy , democracy , philosophy , athletics , theatre, rhetoric , baptism , evangelist , etc. Moreover, Greek words and word elements continue to be productive as
22528-551: The other gods, as he was disliked by them as well as humans. As Pluto , he was regarded in a more positive light. He holds a cornucopia , representing the gifts he bestows upon people as well as fertility, which he becomes connected to. In older Greek myths, the realm of Hades is the misty and gloomy abode of the dead (also called Erebus ) where all mortals go when they die. Very few mortals could leave Hades once they entered. The exceptions, Heracles and Theseus , are heroic. Even Odysseus in his Nekyia ( Odyssey , xi) calls up
22704-400: The perished dead. The consort of Hades was Persephone , daughter of Zeus and Demeter . Persephone did not submit to Hades willingly, but was abducted by him while picking flowers in the fields of Nysa (her father, Zeus, had previously given Persephone to Hades, to be his wife, as is stated in the first lines of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter ). In protest of his act, Demeter cast a curse on
22880-404: The plant. For extracting stings and thorns , xiphion was mixed with wine and frankincense to make a cataplasm . The plant was also used as an aphrodisiac and contraceptive . It grew in humid places. In an obscure passage, Cornutus seems to connect Pluto's wearing of phasganion to an etymology for Avernus , which he derives from the word for "air," perhaps through some association with
23056-492: The possessor of a quest -object, and especially in the descent of Orpheus or other heroes to the underworld. Plūtō ( [ˈpluːtoː] ; genitive Plūtōnis ) is the Latinized form of the Greek Plouton . Pluto's Roman equivalent is Dis Pater , whose name is most often taken to mean "Rich Father" and is perhaps a direct translation of Plouton. Pluto was also identified with the obscure Roman Orcus , like Hades
23232-459: The privilege of returning to the upper world . The play also draws on beliefs and imagery from Orphic and Dionysiac cult, and rituals pertaining to Ploutos (Plutus, "wealth"). In a fragment from another play by Aristophanes, a character "is comically singing of the excellent aspects of being dead", asking in reference to the tripartition of sovereignty over the world: And where do you think Pluto gets his name [i.e. "rich"], if not because he took
23408-496: The ritual texts of the mystery religions preserved by the so-called Orphic or Bacchic gold tablets , from the late 5th century BC onward the name Hades appears more frequently than Plouton , but in reference to the underground place: Plouton is the ruler who presides over it in a harmonious partnership with Persephone. By the end of the 4th century BC, the name Plouton appears in Greek metrical inscriptions. Two fragmentary tablets greet Pluto and Persephone jointly, and
23584-511: The role of Venus and Cupid in manipulating Pluto with love and desire. Throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance , and certainly by the time of Natale Conti 's influential Mythologiae (1567), the traditions pertaining to the various rulers of the classical underworld coalesced into a single mythology that made few if any distinctions among Hades, Pluto, Dis, and Orcus. Unlike his freely procreating brothers Zeus and Poseidon, Pluto
23760-412: The role of a torchbearer, possibly a guide for the initiate's return. In the view of Lewis Richard Farnell , Eubouleus was originally a title referring to the "good counsel" the ruler of the underworld was able to give and which was sought at Pluto's dream oracles ; by the 2nd century BC, however, he had acquired a separate identity. The Orphic Hymn to Pluto addresses the god as "strong-spirited" and
23936-475: The ruler of the underworld a special sympathy or insight into lovers parted by death. In one of Lucian's Dialogues of the Dead , Pluto questions Protesilaus , the first Greek hero killed in the Trojan War , who wishes to return to the world of the living. "You are then in love with life?", Pluto asks. "Such lovers we have here in plenty; but they love an object, which none of them can obtain." Protesilaus explains, like an Orpheus in reverse, that he has left behind
24112-534: The ruler of the underworld as Plouton , as for instance in the Bibliotheca . The myth demonstrates the importance of Pluto "the Rich" as the possessor of a quest-object. Orpheus performing before Pluto and Persephone was a common subject of ancient and later Western literature and art, and one of the most significant mythological themes of the classical tradition . The demonstration of Orpheus's power depends on
24288-409: The ruler of the underworld is one of the characters, under the name of Plouton . The play depicts a mock descent to the underworld by the god Dionysus to bring back one of the dead tragic playwrights in the hope of restoring Athenian theater to its former glory. Pluto is a silent presence onstage for about 600 lines presiding over a contest among the tragedians, then announces that the winner has
24464-498: The same deity, and gives an interesting description of Hades as being dark-cloaked and winged; moreover, Hades was also referred to as Hesperos Theos ("god of death & darkness"). When the Greeks propitiated Hades, they banged their hands on the ground to be sure he would hear them. Black animals, such as sheep, were sacrificed to him. While some suggest the very vehemence of the rejection of human sacrifice expressed in myth might imply an unspoken memory of some distant past, there
24640-448: The scepter is of Jove (Greek Zeus) and the trident of Neptune (Poseidon). A golden key (chrusea klês) was laid on the tongue of initiates by priests at Eleusis and was a symbol of the revelation they were obligated to keep secret. A key is among the attributes of other infernal deities such as Hecate , Anubis , and Persephone, and those who act as guardians or timekeepers, such as Janus and Aion . Aeacus (Aiakos) , one of
24816-465: The six younger gods, along with allies they managed to gather, challenged the elder gods for power in the Titanomachy , a divine war. The war lasted for ten years and ended with the victory of the younger gods. Following their victory, according to a single famous passage in the Iliad ( Book XV , ln.187–93), Hades and his two brothers, Poseidon and Zeus, drew lots for realms to rule. Zeus received
24992-447: The sky, Poseidon received the seas, and Hades received the underworld, the unseen realm to which the souls of the dead go upon leaving the world as well as any and all things beneath the earth. Hades obtained his wife and queen, Persephone , through abduction at the behest of Zeus. This myth is the most important one Hades takes part in; it also connected the Eleusinian Mysteries with the Olympian pantheon, particularly as represented in
25168-472: The spirits of the departed, rather than descend to them. Later Greek philosophy introduced the idea that all mortals are judged after death and are either rewarded or cursed. There were several sections of the realm of Hades, including Elysium , the Asphodel Meadows , and Tartarus . The mythographer Apollodorus , describes Tartarus as "a gloomy place in Hades as far distant from Earth, as Earth
25344-437: The stressed vowel; the so-called breathing marks ( rough and smooth breathing ), originally used to signal presence or absence of word-initial /h/; and the diaeresis , used to mark the full syllabic value of a vowel that would otherwise be read as part of a diphthong. These marks were introduced during the course of the Hellenistic period. Actual usage of the grave in handwriting saw a rapid decline in favor of uniform usage of
25520-490: The temple was opened once a year. During the time of Plato , the Athenians periodically honored the god called Plouton with the "strewing of a couch" ( tên klinên strôsai ) . At Eleusis , Plouton had his own priestess. Pluto was worshipped with Persephone as a divine couple at Knidos , Ephesos , Mytilene , and Sparta as well as at Eleusis, where they were known simply as God ( Theos ) and Goddess (Thea) . In
25696-463: The three mortal kings who became judges in the afterlife , is also a kleidouchos (κλειδοῦχος), "holder of the keys," and a priestly doorkeeper in the court of Pluto and Persephone. According to the Stoic philosopher Cornutus (1st century AD), Pluto wore a wreath of phasganion , more often called xiphion , traditionally identified as a type of gladiolus . Dioscorides recorded medical uses for
25872-584: The underworld . Minthe was a nymph of the river Cocytus who became Hades's mistress. A jealous Persephone trampled the nymph under her foot, transforming her into garden mint in the process. According to a scholiast on Nicander , Hades turned his dead lover into the mint herb after Persephone tore her into pieces for sleeping with him. In another version, Hades had kept Minthe as his mistress before he married Persephone, and set her aside afterwards. Minthe boasted of being more beautiful than Persephone, and that Hades would soon take her back. In anger over
26048-492: The underworld alive. He found the entrance to the underworld at Taenarum . Athena and Hermes helped him through and back from Hades. Heracles asked Hades for permission to take Cerberus. Hades agreed as long as Heracles did not harm Cerberus. When Heracles dragged the dog out of Hades, he passed through the cavern Acherusia . In the myth of Admetus and Alcestis , after Alcestis chose to die in place of her husband Admetus in order to save him, Heracles brought her back from
26224-504: The underworld and acts as a reminder that the gates of the underworld were always locked so that souls could not leave. Even if the doors were open, Cerberus, the three-headed guard dog of the underworld, ensured that, while all souls were allowed to enter into the underworld freely, none could ever escape. Cerberus is a very integral symbol of Hades so much so that when Cerberus is depicted, the depiction very rarely portrays him without Hades. Sometimes, artists painted Hades as looking away from
26400-418: The underworld. Hades knew of their plan to capture his wife, so he pretended to offer them hospitality and set a feast; as soon as the pair sat down, snakes coiled around their feet and held them there. Theseus was eventually rescued by Heracles but Pirithous was either trapped as punishment for daring to seek the wife of a god for his own or killed by Cerberus, depending on the version of the story. Sisyphus
26576-520: The underworld. He cared little about what happened in the world above, as his primary attention was ensuring none of his subjects ever left his domain. He strictly forbade his subjects to leave his domain and would become quite enraged when anyone tried to leave, or if someone tried to steal the souls from his realm. His wrath was equally terrible for anyone who tried to cheat death or otherwise crossed him, as Sisyphus and Pirithous found out to their sorrow. While usually indifferent to his subjects, Hades
26752-577: The very essence of indestructible life ( zoë ) , are the same god. Among other evidence, Karl Kerényi notes in his book that the Homeric Hymn To Demeter, votive marble images and epithets all link Hades to being Dionysus. He also notes that the grieving goddess Demeter refused to drink wine, as she states that it would be against themis for her to drink wine, which is the gift of Dionysus, after Persephone's abduction, because of this association; indicating that Hades may in fact have been
26928-466: The white garments worn by initiates or the clothing of a corpse, or the pallor of the dead. In Orphic funeral rites, it was forbidden to make coffins of cypress. The tradition of the mystery religions favors Pluton/Hades as a loving and faithful partner to Persephone, but one ancient myth that preserves a lover for him parallels the abduction and also has a vegetative aspect. A Roman source says that Pluto fell in love with Leuca (Greek Leukē , "White"),
27104-575: The word "Hades" was frightening, euphemisms were pressed into use. Since precious minerals come from under the earth (i.e., the "underworld" ruled by Hades), he was considered to have control of these as well, and as such the Greeks referred to him as Πλούτων (Greek Plouton ; Latin PLVTO, Pluto , "the rich one"). This title is derived from the word Ploutos ( Ancient Greek : Πλοῦτος , romanized : Ploútos , lit. 'wealth, riches', [ˈpluː.tos] ). Sophocles explained
27280-489: The world into three realms. Hades takes Persephone by force from her mother Demeter , with the consent of Zeus. Ploutos , "Wealth," appears in the Theogony as the child of Demeter and Iasion : "fine Plutus, who goes upon the whole earth and the broad back of the sea, and whoever meets him and comes into his hands, that man he makes rich, and he bestows much wealth upon him." The union of Demeter and Iasion, described also in
27456-488: Was a bad sign. In the myth of Narcissus , the flower is created when a beautiful, self-absorbed youth rejects sexuality and is condemned to perpetual self-love along the Styx . Conti's inclusion of adianthus ( Adiantum in modern nomenclature) is less straightforward. The name, meaning "unmoistened" (Greek adianton ), was taken in antiquity to refer to the fern's ability to repel water. The plant, which grew in wet places,
27632-574: Was a distinct dialect of Greek itself. Aside from the Macedonian question, current consensus regards Phrygian as the closest relative of Greek, since they share a number of phonological, morphological and lexical isoglosses , with some being exclusive between them. Scholars have proposed a Graeco-Phrygian subgroup out of which Greek and Phrygian originated. Among living languages, some Indo-Europeanists suggest that Greek may be most closely related to Armenian (see Graeco-Armenian ) or
27808-533: Was a mortal king from Corinth who was punished in Tartarus for revealing to the river god Asopus the whereabouts of his daughter Aegina after Zeus abducted her, and for trying to cheat death as well. Zeus, angry at Sisyphus for revealing the secret, sent Thanatos to Sisyphus, but he cleverly cast Death into his own bonds, and as a result no one could die until Ares freed Thanatos and delivered Sisyphus to him. But still, Sisyphus ordered his wife Merope not to perform any funeral rites for him and what else
27984-577: Was a ploutonion. Kevin Clinton attempted to distinguish the iconography of Hades, Plouton, Ploutos, and the Eleusinian Theos in 5th-century vase painting that depicts scenes from or relating to the mysteries. In Clinton's schema, Plouton is a mature man, sometimes even white-haired; Hades is also usually bearded and mature, but his darkness is emphasized in literary descriptions, represented in art by dark hair. Plouton's most common attribute
28160-410: Was able to bring the dead back to life. Feeling cheated, Hades persuaded Zeus to kill him with a thunderbolt. After his death, Asclepius was brought to Olympus where he became a god. Hades was only depicted outside of the underworld once in myth, and even that is believed to have been an instance where he had just left the gates of the underworld , which was when Heracles shot him with an arrow as Hades
28336-445: Was accustomed as tribute to the underworld gods before he was brought to Hades. After some time that Merope had not offered proper honours, Hades learnt of this, and allowed Sisyphus to return to the world of the living so that he could punish his wife, with the understanding that he would return afterwards. Sisyphus, however, never returned as promised until years later, when he died of old age. Hades punished Sisyphus by making him roll
28512-399: Was also called capillus veneris , "hair of Venus," divinely dry when she emerged from the sea. Historian of medicine John M. Riddle has suggested that the adianthus was one of the ferns Dioscorides called asplenon and prescribed as a contraceptive (atokios) . The associations of Proserpine (Persephone) and the maidenhair are alluded to by Samuel Beckett in a 1946 poem, in which
28688-495: Was also credited in antiquity with the authorship of the lyrics that have survived as the Orphic Hymns , among them a hymn to Pluto . Orpheus's voice and lyre-playing represented a medium of revelation or higher knowledge for the mystery cults. In his central myth, Orpheus visits the underworld in the hope of retrieving his bride, Eurydice , relying on the power of his music to charm the king and queen of Hades. Greek narratives of Orpheus's descent and performance typically name
28864-404: Was also depicted as cold and stern, and he held all of his subjects equally accountable to his laws. Any other individual aspects of his personality are not given, as Greeks refrained from giving him much thought to avoid attracting his attention. Hades ruled the dead, assisted by others over whom he had complete authority. The House of Hades was described as full of "guests," though he rarely left
29040-422: Was also shown as varying ages in other works. Due to this lack of depictions, there were not very strict guidelines when representing the deity. On pottery, he has a dark beard and is presented as a stately figure on an "ebony throne." His attributes in art include a bident (less commonly, a scepter), a helm, cornucopias, roosters, and a key. They key plays a doubly symbolic role in that it represents his control over
29216-568: Was also used as the official language of government and religion in the Christian Nubian kingdoms , for most of their history. Greek, in its modern form, is the official language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population. It is also the official language of Cyprus (nominally alongside Turkish ) and the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (alongside English ). Because of
29392-505: Was also used in Ancient Greek. Greek has occasionally been written in the Latin script , especially in areas under Venetian rule or by Greek Catholics . The term Frankolevantinika / Φραγκολεβαντίνικα applies when the Latin script is used to write Greek in the cultural ambit of Catholicism (because Frankos / Φράγκος is an older Greek term for West-European dating to when most of (Roman Catholic Christian) West Europe
29568-454: Was attempting to defend the city of Pylos. After he was shot, however, he traveled to Olympus to heal. Besides Heracles , the only other living people who ventured to the underworld were also heroes : Odysseus , Aeneas (accompanied by the Sibyl ), Orpheus , to whom Hades showed uncharacteristic mercy at Persephone's urging, who was moved by Orpheus's music, Theseus with Pirithous , and, in
29744-402: Was fashioned by Heracles to mark his ascent from the underworld , an aition for why it was worn by initiates and by champion athletes participating in funeral games . Like other plants associated with Pluto, white poplar was regarded as a contraceptive in antiquity. The relation of this tree to the white cypress of the mysteries is debated. The Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus uses
29920-539: Was the first-born son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea . He had three older sisters, Hestia , Demeter , and Hera , as well as a younger brother, Poseidon , all of whom had been swallowed whole by their father as soon as they were born. Zeus was the youngest child and through the machinations of their mother, Rhea, he was the only one that had escaped this fate. Upon reaching adulthood, Zeus managed to force his father to disgorge his siblings. After their release,
30096-507: Was the music he played that it charmed even Hades (as well as his wife Persephone), who allowed him to take Eurydice to the land of the living, as long as he did not look back at her on his way out. In another story, Theseus and Pirithous pledged to kidnap and marry daughters of Zeus . Theseus chose Helen and together they kidnapped her and decided to hold onto her until she was old enough to marry. Pirithous chose Persephone . They left Helen with Theseus's mother, Aethra , and traveled to
30272-400: Was the ruler of the Greek underworld . The earlier name for the god was Hades , which became more common as the name of the underworld itself. Pluto represents a more positive concept of the god who presides over the afterlife . Ploutōn was frequently conflated with Ploûtos , the Greek god of wealth, because mineral wealth was found underground, and because as a chthonic god Pluto ruled
30448-402: Was to be "plastered", that is, resurfaced for a new round of sacrifices at Eleusis. One of the known ploutonia was in the sacred grove between Tralleis and Nysa , where a temple of Pluto and Persephone was located. Visitors sought healing and dream oracles . The ploutonion at Hierapolis , Phrygia , was connected to the rites of Cybele , but during the Roman Imperial era was subsumed by
30624-580: Was under the control of the Frankish Empire ). Frankochiotika / Φραγκοχιώτικα (meaning 'Catholic Chiot') alludes to the significant presence of Catholic missionaries based on the island of Chios . Additionally, the term Greeklish is often used when the Greek language is written in a Latin script in online communications. The Latin script is nowadays used by the Greek-speaking communities of Southern Italy . The Yevanic dialect
30800-431: Was very focused on the punishment of these two people; particularly Pirithous , as he entered the underworld in an attempt to steal Persephone for himself, and consequently was forced onto the "Chair of Forgetfulness". Another myth is about the Greek god Asclepius who was originally a demigod, son of Apollo and Coronis , a Thessalian princess. During his lifetime, he became a famous and talented physician, who eventually
30976-673: Was written by Romaniote and Constantinopolitan Karaite Jews using the Hebrew Alphabet . In a tradition, that in modern time, has come to be known as Greek Aljamiado , some Greek Muslims from Crete wrote their Cretan Greek in the Arabic alphabet . The same happened among Epirote Muslims in Ioannina . This also happened among Arabic-speaking Byzantine rite Christians in the Levant ( Lebanon , Palestine, and Syria ). This usage
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