Hades/Pluto1
In Greek culture Hades is
the brother of Zeus. After
the overthrow of their
Father Cronus he drew lots
with Zeus and Poseidon,
another brother, for shares
of the world. He had the
worst draw and was made lord of the underworld, ruling over
the dead. He is a greedy god who is greatly concerned with
increasing his subjects. He is exceedingly disinclined to allow
any of his subjects leave.
He is also the god of wealth, due to the precious metals mined
from the earth. He has a helmet that makes him invisible. He
rarely leaves the underworld. He is unpitying and terrible, but
not capricious. He is the King of the dead but death itself is
another god, Thanatos.
There were five rivers that fed into the Underworld they were
the Cocytus: the river of wailing, Phlegethon: the river of fire,
Acheron: the river of pain, Lethe: the river of forgetfulness, and
Styx: the river of Hate. The tears of the damned fed the
Cocytus, if you were by it you could hear their voices crying.
The Phlegethon wouldn’t kill you; it would just burn you and
make you wish that you were dead. The Acheron started in the
mortal world at the temple of the dead in Epirus and caused
pain. The Lethe looks harmless, but don’t trust it. A single
drop of water from the Lethe would wipe your short-term
memory. The Styx flowed through the deepest, darkest parts of
the Underworld. It is said to be a mix of sulfuric acid and
sewage with hatred thrown in for good measure. Of all the
rivers in the Underworld this is perhaps the most famous. For
1 This is a summary of the myths about Hades/Pluto by the creator of this website. Some elements may be missing.
if you took a dip in the Styx you were unbeatable as long as
your enemy didn’t know your anchor point. If they did, they
could kill you. Also swearing on the river Styx was an
unbreakable oath.
One myth that Hades (Pluto) is involved in is with King
Tantalus. Tantalus wanted to bring to earth the food of the
gods, which was ambrosia and nectar. Zeus (Jupiter) wouldn’t
allow him to do so. So Tantalus went home. He felt angry and
insulted by the gods. So he decided to take revenge.
Tantalus invited the gods to his house for dinner where he
prepared a special meal for them. Once the gods had all taken
a bite they asked Tantalus what it was. You see what Tantalus
had done was he killed his own son and cooked him up and
served him to the gods. When the gods found out, Zeus
(Jupiter) killed Tantalus and had Hades (Pluto) fix up a special
punishment for him.
Hades (Pluto) sank Tantalus in a pool of fresh water with his
feet stuck in the ground. And over Tantalus’s head he had all
sorts of good fruits growing. No matter how much Tantalus
struggled he couldn’t reach it. If he got close, the tree would
just move its branches out of the way. The same thing
happened to the lake. If Tantalus tried to drink the lake would
sink into the ground. Therefore Tantalus was always hungry
and thirsty.
In Roman culture Pluto was the Roman god of death and the
Underworld. Festivals of the winter were associated with the
dead and the underworld when Pluto was particularly
worshipped. Animal Sacrifices were made to the god at the
Roman Coliseum when a marble altar was set in the middle of
the arena, complete with a burning fire.
During the blood sacrifices to the Roman gods the sex of the
victim had to correspond to the sex of the god to whom it was
offered. White animals were given to the gods of the upper
world whereas black victims to the gods of the underworld. A
black pig was a characteristic animal sacrifice to Pluto.
The blood from sacrifices was dripped into a pit so it could
reach him in the Underworld. As the god of Death the name of
Pluto was used in Roman curse tablets where promises of
various offerings were made to the god if the curse is fulfilled
by the desired deadline.