Weekly Deity: Hades

Hades is the Greek god of the dead and the underworld.  His Roman counterpart is actually Dis, not Pluto, though over time the two Roman gods became associated with each other and soon Dis was lost in favor of Pluto, who took over his attributes and responsibilities.  Hades’s name means “the unseen.”  Another name for Hades is Polydegmon, which means “receiver of many guests”, for the number of souls he received in the Underworld.  The name Hades refers to both the god and to the Underworld itself.  His Roman name, Pluto, is associated with another Greek name for him, “Plouton”, which means “giver of wealth”.

Attributes

A middle aged man who look a great deal like Zeus, Hades was often shown as a muscular god with a full beard.  He tended to be a very grim-looking god.  Sometimes he was depicted with Cerberus, the three-headed guard dog of the Underworld, at his side.  He carried a staff and drove a chariot with four horses.  Being a god of things beneath the earth, the Greeks, like the Romans with Dis and Pluto, associated Hades with wealth, and he was sometimes shown wearing fine garments or eating fine food, or surrounded by treasures.

Mythology

Hades was the brother of Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia, and third most powerful god in the pantheon (below Zeus and Poseidon).  He was the son of Cronos and Rhea.

Probably his most famous myth is that of his marriage to Persephone.  There are likely many versions of this story, but the most prevalent one is that Persephone, the goddess of Spring and daughter of Demeter and Zeus, was picking narcissus flowers (a flower associated with Hades) in a field.  Hades saw her and wanted her for his own.

He quickly got his chariot and broke through the surface of the earth and kidnapped Persephone.  Demeter, of course, protested the abduction of her daughter.  Zeus dragged his heels, reluctant to intervene since in his mind Hades was acting in an acceptable manner.  Demeter threw a fit and refused to grow things.  This went on for long enough that humans and animals began to starve, and the gods weren’t getting their sacrifices at all, which left them in a poor mood.  Finally, Zeus sent Hermes, the messenger god, to Hades telling him he had to give Persephone back.  By that time, Persephone had been with Hades for a number of months and had been tricked into eating of the food of the dead.  She had eaten pomegranate, and because of this Persephone had to return to the underworld for a third of the year.  Demeter was upset but had to relent.  Thus, Hades got a wife for a third of the year.

However, it is believed this version of the myth was intentionally twisted to be an abduction and rape.  An earlier version records similar events but implies that Persephone went of her own free will, and was not abducted or raped by Hades, which places both of these deities in a very different light.

Hades taking Persephone away in his chariot

Another myth, though short, involves how Hades gained his kingdom in the first place.  After Zeus had defeated his father and the Titans and become ruler of the gods, he and his brothers agreed to split the world into domains for each.  They agreed to draw lots.  Zeus got the sky as his realm, Poseidon the sea, and Hades the underworld.

Herakles (aka Hercules) was also involved in a Hades myth.  As part of his Twelve Labors, Herakles needed to capture Cerberus.  The versions vary, but the widely accepted one is that Herakles went to Hades to ask him if he could take Cerberus for a while.  Hades agreed on the proviso that Herakles not harm Cerberus at all, and return him.  Herakles agreed and took Cerberus and eventually returned him at the completion of this Twelfth Labor.

Hades is known to be a grim and unforgiving god.  However, in one instance, he did show mercy.  When Orpheus journeyed to the Underworld in search of his wife, Eurydice (pronounced “your-id-ih-key”), the famous musician who was able to make even stones weep with the skill of his playing played his music for Hades and asked him for a second chance for Eurydice.  Hades, moved to feel by the emotion of Orpheus’s music, allowed Eurydice’s soul to return with Orpheus.  But he added the condition that Orpheus must not look back at Eurydice to see if she was there until both had reached the sunlight again.  Orpheus almost made it, but looked back when he had almost reached the top, and Eurydice returned to Hades.

A final myth is that of Minthe.  Hades, usually a devoted husband to Persephone, ended up chasing a nymph called Minthe.  He had almost won her when Persephone found out about it and turned the nymphe into a mint plant.

Light Side

Hades is the king of the dead but he is not death itself.  He does not cause people to die, he only watched over their souls and makes sure none return to life and that all are given their punishment of reward as they deserve (meaning whether they go to the Elysian fields or if they suffer a punishment like Tantalus or Sisyphus).  Hades is lord of all beneath the earth, and so is a god of wealth as well as death.  He actually seems to be more of a neutral god than anything else–he doesn’t help much, but he doesn’t actively work against anyone either.  He can be moved to feel emotion, but only in one exceptional circumstance–still, that speaks well of him, for he could have refused Orpheus even after hearing his song, yet he didn’t (which could also point to a slightly romantic side of him, especially if the original version of the abduction of Persephone is taken into account).

Dark Side

Hades only gets his bad reputation because he and his stories had been twisted around to put him in a bad light by those trying to suppress the old beliefs.  Yes, he is a grim god, but it is necessary to him to be so.  If he were more light-hearted and easy-going, he would be more susceptible to giving in to souls who wanted to return to life.  Other than his dour nature, he isn’t a bad guy at all.  On the contrary, when stories of his personality are actually studied closely, he seems like the quiet kid in the back of the classroom who doesn’t really do anything wrong but people don’t like him because he keeps to himself most of the time.  Also, it is more likely that he did not abduct or rape Persephone if the original version is counted as having more weight than the altered version, which, if it is, Hades loses the traits of being a rapist and kidnapper.  Which definitely puts him in a more positive light.  I suppose his only “dark” side is that he deals with the dead and lives in darkness, since most of the Underworld is likely dark, and many people are afraid of death and the dead.  Sounds more like a grave misunderstanding of Hades to me, though…I think he’s more a neutral god than Light or Dark.

Weekly Deity: Mantus and Mania

Etruscan deity of the dead and the underworld.  Later assimilated into Roman mythology and related to Pluto.  Married to Mania, a goddess of the underworld as well.  If Mantus was a well-known figure in the ancient world, then very little information has survived to tell us anything about him.  In fact, it seems there is more information about his wife Mania than there is about Mantus.

Attributes

Considering that Mantus and Mania are always paired together, then in artwork and statues the two would appear together as well.  Unfortunately, I was unable to find any pictures to tell me what either one looks like.

Mythology and Worship

According to one source, Mania was known to the Greeks as “Daughter of Night” and was the source of moonsickness (insanity).  The same source suggested that children were sacrificed to her, but I have some doubts about the truth of Greeks sacrificing children to any god–and if they did do so, it was not a common practice.  Since it’s unlikely the Greeks practiced this, it’s possible that it could have been an Etruscan tradition.  The Greeks related Mania to the “evil” nymph Lara, who was the mother of the Manes (the souls of the dead), and was so talkative that Zeus cut out her tongue.  This is something of a far cry from her role in Etruscan myth, in which she was a goddess of the underworld and consort of Mantus, and possibly nothing more.  One source called the pair “guardians” of the underworld.  After the ancient period of history passed, Mania, at least, survived in literature and folklore in the Tuscany area as a figure who brought nightmares.

Light and Dark Sides

Considering the relatively scant information available about this duo, pinning down their Light and Dark sides is somewhat difficult.  Mania would seem to be a figure who causes madness and nightmares and accepts the sacrifices of children.  While both are listed as guardians of the underworld, only Mania seems to have the bad reputation of being a Dark deity.  Mantus, unfortunately, seems to fade in comparison to his wife.  On the positive side, it seems that Mantus is a guardian, so he protects the underworld and the spirits therein.  As for Mania, she also begins as a guardian of the underworld in the Etruscan myths, but is turned into something darker when she is assimilated into Greek culture.  Likely the part about her accepting the souls of slain children is an Etruscan tradition, and possibly is meant to mean that she accepts the souls of those children into her care, which is a positive attribute.  The Greeks turned her into a mother, the mother of the souls of the underworld (the Manes), which is a positive attribute as well.  However, in the later literature she is said to be the cause of madness and nightmares, which is more of a negative trait than positive.

Weekly Deity: Sedna

Since the Native American deities seem to be popular in these posts, I’ve chosen another one.  Sedna, Inuit goddess of the sea and queen of the underworld Adlivun.  Sedna is known by other names in other native tribes, so while Sedna is unique to the Inuit, her overall character is present in other cultures where she is called other names: Arnakuagsak or Arnarquagssaq (Greenland) and Nerrivik (northern Greenland) or Nuliajuk (District of Keewatin, Northwest Territories).

Attributes

Sedna is generally a hag, one-eyed and wrinkled.  She has no fingers and her body is bloated.  Sometimes she is compared to a walrus.  Sedna was a beautiful maiden before she was sacrificed to the sea and became the crone.

Mythology

Sedna rules over all Arctic sea life.  Her story is tragic.  When young, she was a beautiful girl who vowed to stay single in order to look after her aging father.  One day a handsome stranger came to visit her village and asked her to marry him, offering her riches and abundance in the form of furs, blubber, fish oil, etc.  She went with the man as his wife.  But the marriage was unhappy, and soon Sedna realized her husband was not the man she married.  She tried to leave when her frantic father finally tracked her down and rowed her home.  But on the way home across the waters, Sedna’s husband, who was actually a bad bird-spirit, flew into a rage and whipped up the seas.  Sedna’s father, fearing for his own life in the choppy sea, chucked Sedna out of the canoe.

She hung on to the sides of the canoe, but her father chopped off her fingers, and she fell to the bottom of the ocean as the waves calmed and her husband left appeased.  Her fingers wriggled onto an ice floe and became the first sea creatures.  Sedna stayed at the bottom of the ocean for good.  Thus she is the goddess of the sea life and the people who hunt in the waters.  She is also the goddess of the underworld Adlivun, which she rules from her unreachable ice palace.

Another myth of Sedna is that she is the daughter of the creator-god Anguta.  When she gnawed off one of her father’s arms as he slept he was so angry that he threw her over his kayak and chopped off her fingers one by one until she let go.  According to another version, she married a dog as her husband.

Regardless of the myth, it seems that there are two constants: she is thrown forcibly into the sea by someone/thing, and her fingers are cut off by her father.

Her sacred animals are the seals and also, I believe, the walrus.

Light and Dark Side

The myths given here don’t show much of Sedna’s personality.  Her Light and Dark sides are difficult to perceive because of this.  In the one myth where she is a beautiful maiden, she seems naive, young, a tragic figure forced by circumstances into becoming the harsh crone of the dead.  In another myth she seems like a mindless monster of sorts, consumed by her hungers which then land her in the sea from her father’s anger.  I suppose her personality would be determined by which myth you would choose to follow.  As a goddess of the sea, in Inuit culture she would be a vital deity to keep in mind because most of the food available for the people came from the sea.  She does not seem cruel, however, but rather she is changeable, like the sea that she rules, and she can be either Light and give food or Dark and take it away.

For more information, here are my sources, since I don’t know much about this particular deity.  Mythology article: here.  Wiki article: here.

I couldn’t find a good picture of Sedna, if anyone can find one of her, let me know!

Weekly Deity: Hekate

I promise I will eventually get to some of the more unusual and less well-known deities.  But I’m doing Hekate right now because I have to do a report on her for my Classics Greek Religion class.  So, here we go:

Hekate (also spelled Hecate but pronounced as “heh-kuh-tee” and not “heh-kayt) is a lesser goddess of the Greek pantheon.  She has changed a great deal over time, from a fertility and earth goddess, protector of the young, and a luck goddess, to a deity of the night, of magic and witchcraft and the underworld.  In later historical periods (the ages of Christendom) she became something of a reviled deity, the goddess of witches and other bad things.  She transformed from a light divinity to a dark divinity.

Attributes

In the few portrayals of this goddess she is gowned in the usual Greek fashion.  The only thing that really distinguishes her from other young female figures is the fact that normally she is shown carrying two torches in her hands.

Myths and History

Hekate really has no myths of her own.  Instead, she shows up in various other myths, such as the rape of Persephone and in Hesiod’s Theogony.  In the oldest version of the rape of Persephone, Hekate aids Demeter in finding her daughter.  Hekate also lights the way with her torches back from the Underworld for Hermes and Persephone.

In Hesiod’s Theogony, more about Hekate is made known.  Hesiod wrote this oldest written account of the mythological structure of the pantheon very early in Greek’s written history.  Thus it can be assumed that this version of the goddess is the oldest version that we know of, and the oldest version of her worship as well.

Hekate is supposed to be a descendant of the Titans, but her background doesn’t dissuade Zeus from treating her kindly.  In fact, Hekate is beloved above all others by Zeus, and given special honors, including a piece of the earth to call her own and a section of the starry heavens that is her own purview.  Honors like these were given to few gods unless they were truly beloved of the king.  Hekate was worshiped as a goddess of luck, able to assist in correct judgments, in victorious battle, in gathering food and animals and livestock for sale or consumption.  She was somewhat whimsical in handing out her luck, though–Hesiod says that she gave these favors only as her heart desired, and only to those who gave her proper worship.  Her worship included nothing more fancy that offerings left at crossroads.  Nowhere in this earliest account of the goddess is she portrayed as an underworld or demonic figure.  In fact, she seems quite benign, if whimsical.

It was only until later on that Hekate became a goddess to fear.  In the myth of Jason and Medea, which was written originally just after Hesiod wrote the Theogony, Hekate is transformed into a goddess of witchcraft.  Medea is supposed to be an enchantress or a priestess of Hekate, and is often said to be a witch by more recent scholars.  In any case, Medea calls on Hekate to aid her in her magic, which she then casts against her ex-husband Jason.  This version of the goddess is the one that has been used through history to describe the goddess, and slowly she became a figure of the night, of the Underworld, and of witches.

More recently, if anyone has watched the movie “Practical Magic,” pay attention to the scene where the sisters are trying to revive Jimmy from the dead.  Their spell includes the line, “Black as night, Mighty Hecate make it right.”  Even now Hekate is seen as the dark goddess of the dead and of witches.

Light Side

Her light side comes more from her earlier depiction as a goddess of luck.  She handed out the favors to those who gave her offerings and whom she felt deserved the good will she would bestow upon them.  There was little of the darkness about her then.  A goddess of light magic, so to speak, of the kind that creates and brings into being the better things in life.

Dark Side

Even as a goddess of the Underworld her image has been so distorted by propaganda and misunderstanding that it is harder to see how her dark side is not so dark.  As a goddess of the Underworld, she is more like the torch-bearer in the rape of Persephone than she is a goddess of death and destruction.  Her aid to Medea was probably misconstrued as well by later readers, as on her Light Side she is a giver of good fortune.  She could have been aiding Medea not by strengthening her magic or granting her magic, but by granting the woman what she desired because she sacrified to the goddess.  Gods are fickle like that.  That whimsical nature to her could also be a part of her Dark Side as well–that she has no real constant yardstick for her gift giving, but is entirely based on her heart’s desire.