JAMES HILLMAN ON HADES SEE: UNDERWORLD UNDERGROUND

Hell, Giovanni da Modena, 1410 (detail) Cappela Bolognini, San Petronio, Bologna.

HADES

It seems that the name of the ruler of the Underworld derives from the privative prefix 'a' and the verb 'to see'.The name Hades thus meant 'Invisible' and evoked an idea of mystery. He was also called Pluto, from the word for 'riches'. It was he who received buried treasure. Afterwards he was considered the god of agricultural wealth; from the centre of the earth he exerted his influence on cultivation and crops.

Hades - also called Aidoneus - was the son of Rhea and the ferocious Cronus, who devoured him as he devoured his brothers and sisters. Fortunately Hades was delivered by his brother Zeus, from whom he received as his share of the inheritance the Kingdom of the Underworld.

Over this domain Hades ruled as absolute master. He seemed happy there and was seen to leave his kingdom on only two occasions: once to abduct Persephone and the other time to go in search of Paean in order to be cured of a wound inflicted by Hercules, who had struck his shoulder with a sharp-pointed arrow. On the other hand, if an impulse to emerge from the Underworld seized him, no one could see him; for his helmet made him invisible.

hades was not a particularly inconstant husband. Persephone had only twice to complain of his infidelity. First he became interested in Minthe, a nymph of the Cocytus. Persephone - or perhaps it was Demeter - pursued the unfortunate nymph and trod her ferociously underfoot. Hades transformed her into a plant which first grew in Triphylia; this was mint, which afterwards was sacred to Hades.

Hades also brought a daughter of Oceanus to his kingdom, one Leuce, who died a natural death and became a white poplar, the tree of the Elysian Fields. When Hercules came up from the Underworld he was crowned with its foliage.

Hades was very little venerated, though as Pluto he received much more homage. This was because Hades was essentially a god or terror, mystery and the inexorable. Pluto, on the contrary, was regarded as a benevolent deity and his cult was sometimes associated with that of Demeter.

To pray to him - Homer says - one struck the ground with bare hands or with rods. One sacrificed to him a black ewe or a black ram.`Plants sacred to the god of the Underworld were the cypress and the narcissus.

 

THE CHILD PLOUTON

THE UNDERWORLD AND ITS DIVINITIES

In Greek mythology the Infernal Regions were the mournful abode where, separated from their bodies, the souls of those who had finished their earthly existence took refuge.

 

SITUATION AND TOPOGRAPHY OF THE UNDERWORLD

There were two successive conceptions of where the afterworld wa situated. 'The Afterworld', says Circe to Odysseus, 'lies at the extremity of the earth, beyond the vast ocean.' The earth was thought of as a flat surface limited by an immense encircling River Ocean. This river had to be crossed in order to reach the desolate and uncultivated shore of the Infernal Regions. There few things grew, the soil was barren and no living being could survive, for the sun's rays could not penetrate so far. Black poplars were found there, and willows which never bore fruit. The ground supported asphodel, a funerary plant of ruins and cemeteries.

This was the tradition of the epic poems. It was altered with the progress of geography when navigators discovered that very far to the west - where the infernal regions were supposed to be - there existed lands which were in fact inhabited. Popular belief then placed the Kingdom of Shadows elsewhere: from then on it was situated in the centre of the earth.It continued to remain a place of shadows and mystery, of Erebus. Its approaches were no longer the Ocean. The Underworld communicated with the earth by direct channels. These were caverns whose depths were unplumbed, like that of Acherusia in Epirus, or Heraclea Pontica.Near Cape Taenarium... 

PERSEPHONE

PLOUTON AND PERSEPHONE (PHEREPHATTA.

The name of the wife of Hades occurs in several forms: Persephone, Persephoneia, Phersephone, Persephassa, Phersephatta.It is difficult to discover the etymology of all these variations. It is believed that the last half of the word Persephone comes from a word meaning 'to show' and evokes an idea of light. Whether the first half derives from a word meaning 'to destroy' - in which case Persephone would be 'she who destroys the light' - or from an adverbial root signifying 'dazzling brilliance' as in the name Perseus, it is difficult to decide.

The problem is complicated by the fact that Persephone is not a purely infernal divinity. Before marry-

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Persephone was offered a cock - see: Fig.66, Dionysus file.

Hades

http://www-lib.haifa.ac.il/www/art/mythology_westart_hades.htmlMythmedia was prepared in The Library of The University of Haifa by Ora Zehavi, and by Dr. Sonia Klinger from the Department of Art History.
This project is being used in Dr. Klinger's survey course: Mythology in Western Art at the Department of Art History.


Hades, the Underworld, Orpheus


September 27, 2004


Return to Syllabus
CC 303 Intro to Classical Mythology - Fall 2004

Department of Classics, University of Texas at Austin
Prof. Lawrence Kim


I. Names to Remember

Cerberus, Charon, Tantalus, Sisyphus, Danaids, Minos
River Styx, River Lethe, Elysian Fields, Tartarus
Orpheus, Eurydice, Thrace, Lesbos

II. Lecture Outline

  1. The Underworld and Its Inhabitants
    1. The King: Hades/Pluto
    2. The Queen: Persephone/Proserpina
    3. The Judges: Minos, Rhadamanthys, and Aeacus
    4. The Furies, or, the Erinyes
    5. The Watchdog: Cerberus, the Three-Headed Dog
    6. The Rivers: Styx (Hatred), Acheron (Sorrow), Cocytus (Wailing), Phlegethon (Burning), Lethe (Forgetfulness)
    7. The Ferryman: Charon
      1. Requires payment
      2. Takes souls across the River (Styx or Acheron)into Hades' realm
  2. Other Places in the Underworld
    1. Elysium, or the Elysian Fields (Champs d' Elysee)
      1. Also Known as the "Islands of the Blessed"
      2. The Ghosts and Souls of Heroes
    2. Tartarus
      1. Prison of the Titans and the Great Sinners
      2. Dark Region far beneath Hades
  3. The Sufferers of the Underworld
    1. Tantalus: Fed his son Pelops to the Gods
      1. Cannot reach food and drink
    2. Sisyphus: Outwitted the Gods, Put Death in Chains
      1. Forever Rolling Rock uphill
    3. Tityus: Attempted to rape Leto, mother of Apollo & Artemis
      1. Vulture picks at his liver eternally
    4. Ixion: Attempted to rape Hera
      1. Tied to a slowly turning flaming wheel
    5. Danaïds
      1. Try to fill a tub by using vases full of holes
  4. Orpheus
    1. Orpheus the Musician (Lyre)
      1. Charms the Trees, Stones, Beasts
      2. Metaphor for the Artist and Poet
    2. Orpheus the Argonaut
      1. Overcomes the Siren's Song
      2. Provided Rhythm for the Oarsmen
    3. Orpheus and Eurydice
      1. His wife, Eurydice, dies, bitten by a snake
      2. He Visits the Underworld to get her back
      3. Don't Look Down/Back!
    4. Orpheus' Death
      1. Distraught over Eurydice
      2. Spurns women, turns to boys
      3. Torn Limb from Limb by angry Thracian women
    5. Orpheus' Head
      1. Floats to Lesbos, still singing
      2. Apollo commands it to be silent
    6. Modern Film Versions
      1. Jean Cocteau, Orpheus (L'Orphée) (1950)
      2. Marcel Camus, Black Orpheus (L'Orfeu Negre) (1960)

III. Images

Orpheus

  1. Orpheus. Marcello Provenzale, 1608. Galleria di Villa Borghese, Rome.
  2. Orpheus Leading Eurydice. Camille Corot, 1861. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
  3. Nymphs Finding the Head of Orpheus. J.W. Waterhouse, 1900. Private collection.
  4. Orpheus. Gustave Moreau, 1865. MusŽe d'Orsay, Paris
  5. Death of Orpheus. Attic Red-Figure Stamnos, by Hermonax, c. 470-450 BCE. MusŽe du Louvre, Paris
  6. Orpheus, Eurydice, Hermes. Relief Sculpture, c. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples. (From L to R: Hermes, Eurydice, Orpheus)

Underworld

  1. Sisyphus. Franz von Stuck, 1920.
  2. Charon Crossing the Styx. Joachim Patenier, 1515-24. Museo del Prado, Madrid.
  3. Charon and Hermes. White ground lekythos, c. 450 BCE. National Archaeological Museum, Athens.
  4. Herakles brings Cerberus to Eurystheus (hiding in a pithos). Caeretan hydria, c. 530. MusŽe du Louvre, Paris.