5 Key Myths About the Greek God Hades
Hades, the ancient Greek god of the underworld, was so closely associated with his realm that his name became a synonym for it. He was part of the main Olympian gods club, along with Zeus and Poseidon. Hades had power over the dead and was sometimes called “Zeus below the earth” because of his authority and the vastness of his kingdom. People avoided saying his name directly and used other titles like Host-of-Many or He-Who-Leads-Away. Another name for him was Plouton or Pluto, which means wealthy, probably because valuable metals were found underground, making them part of his domain. The Romans also linked Hades with their own god of the underworld, Dis Pater.
Unlike his siblings who had big followings, like Zeus and Demeter, Hades didn’t have a huge fan base. People were scared to mention his name in case he noticed them. Hades didn’t have many stories about himself, but he appeared in tales involving Greek heroes like Heracles, Theseus, and Orpheus, usually as a challenging force for them to conquer.
1. Birth and Ascension of Hades
The Titan Kronos and the mother goddess Rhea had a son named Hades, who was one of six siblings and the oldest of their three sons. Kronos, fearing a prophecy that foretold his downfall by one of his children, swallowed them all at birth, except for Zeus. Rhea cleverly tricked Kronos by giving him a stone wrapped in cloth instead of baby Zeus. Zeus grew up, defeated Kronos, and forced him to regurgitate his siblings in reverse order. This made Hades, the eldest son, become the youngest when he was released.
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So, Hades teamed up with Zeus to fight against their dad and the other Titans. They even released the Cyclopes from Tartaros to help them out. As a thank you, they gave Hades his cool invisible helmet. Zeus got the thunderbolt, Poseidon got the trident, and together they defeated their father. They split up his powers by drawing straws – Zeus got the sky, Poseidon got the sea, and Hades got the underworld.
2. Abduction of Persephone
The story of Hades and Persephone involves Hades kidnapping and marrying Persephone without her consent. Persephone was tricked into the underworld by Hades while picking flowers in a meadow, leading to her mother Demeter’s sorrow and causing a famine on Earth. Zeus eventually intervened, sending Hermes to convince Hades to let Persephone return. Before she left, Hades made Persephone eat a pomegranate seed, binding her to return to the underworld for part of each year. This myth explains the changing seasons, with Persephone’s time in the underworld bringing winter and her return signaling spring.
3. Leuce and Minthe
This marble bust of a goddess from the 4th century BCE is on display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Before Persephone, Hades had a nymph named Minthe as his mistress. She was the daughter of the river Cocytus, one of the rivers in the underworld.
Ovid briefly mentioned this story in Book X of his Metamorphoses, where Venus (Aphrodite) asked Persephone if she once turned a young woman into fragrant mint. Another author, Oppian, wrote that Minthe (Mint) was Hades’ mistress before he took Persephone. When Minthe got jealous and claimed she was more beautiful than Persephone, Demeter, Persephone’s mother, got angry and trampled Minthe, turning her into the herb mint.
Leuce was a nymph and one of Oceanus’ daughters. Hades fell in love with her and brought her to the underworld. When Leuce passed away, Hades planted a leucen tree in Elysium, the fields of the dead, in her memory. It’s said that Heracles wore a crown made of leaves from this tree when he came back from the underworld.
4. Hades and the Labours of Heracles
In one of Hercules’ final tasks, he had to capture Cerberus, the three-headed dog guarding the underworld. Hades challenged Hercules to do it without weapons, and Hercules managed to subdue Cerberus with his bare hands, even though he got bitten by the dragon tail. After completing the task, Hercules returned Cerberus to Hades.
Later on, in The Iliad, there’s a part where Hercules wounds Hades with a spear during a battle. Hades then retreats from the fight due to the injury. It’s said that only the people of Elis worshiped Hades, which is why he joined their side in the battle.
5. Punishments of Hades
The story of Sisyphos involves him tricking Hades and escaping death by chaining the god. However, he was eventually caught and condemned to an eternal punishment of rolling a boulder up a hill, only for it to roll back down each time before reaching the top. He managed to come back to the living world once but never returned to the underworld, which angered the gods.The Red-Figure Calyx-Krater shows Hades punishing Greek heroes Theseus and Pirithous. They wanted to marry daughters of Zeus; Theseus took Helen of Sparta, while Pirithous aimed higher by wanting Persephone. When they went to the underworld, Hades tricked them into getting stuck on stone chairs with snakes binding them. Theseus escaped with Heracles’ help, but Pirithous remained trapped forever.
Another hero, Orpheus, went to the underworld out of love for his wife Eurydice. He sang a song that moved everyone there, and Hades agreed to let Eurydice return to the living world as long as Orpheus didn’t look back until they left. Sadly, he glanced back too soon, and Eurydice was lost again. Orpheus tried to go back, but he was refused entry.Although Hades wasn’t the main character in his own stories, he showed up in a lot of famous ancient tales. He mostly hung out in the underworld, but heroes often had to deal with him when they ventured into the land of the dead. People either had to beat him or strike a deal with him, and those who tried to trick him ended up in big trouble forever. Even if some managed to escape temporarily, they always ended up back with him eventually.
