Listed 49 sub titles with search on: Mythology for destination: "ADES Mythical lands ANCIENT GREEK WORLD".
Eurynomus, said by the delphian guides to be one of the demons in Hades, who eats off all the flesh of the corpses, leaving only their bones.
also called Erinyes (Erinues), and by the Romans Furiae or Dirae.
Originally a personification of curses pronounced upon a guilty criminal. The
name Erinys, which is the more ancient one, was derived by the Greeks from the
verb erino or ereunao, "I hunt down," or "persecute," or from
the Arcadian word erinuo, "I am angry"; so that the Erinyes were either
the angry goddesses, or the goddesses who hunt or search for the criminal. The
name Eumenides, which signifies "the well-meaning," or "soothed
goddesses," is a mere euphemism, because people dreaded to call these fearful
goddesses by their real name; and it was said to have been first given them after
the acquittal of Orestes by the court of the Areopagus, when the anger of the
Erinyes had become soothed. It was by a similar euphemism that at Athens the Erinyes
were called semnai theai, or the Revered Goddesses.
In the sense of "curse" or "curses," the
word Erinys or Erinyes is often used in the Homeric poems, and Aeschylus calls
the Eumenides Arai, that is, curses. According to the Homeric notion, the Erinyes,
whom the poet conceives as distinct beings, are reckoned among those who inhabit
Erebus, where they rest until some curse pronounced upon a criminal calls them
to life and activity. The crimes which they punish are disobedience towards parents,
violation of the respect due to old age, perjury, murder, violation of the laws
of hospitality, and improper conduct towards suppliants. The notion which is the
foundation of the belief in the Eumenides seems to be that a parent's curse takes
from him upon whom it is pronounced all peace of mind, destroys the happiness
of his family, and prevents his being blessed with children. As the Eumenides
not only punished crimes after death, but during life on earth, they were regarded
also as goddesses of fate, who, together with Zeus and the Moerae or Parcae, led
such men as were doomed to suffer into misery and misfortunes. In the same capacity
they also prevented man from obtaining too much knowledge of the future. Homer
does not mention any particular names for the Erinyes, nor does he seem to know
of any definite number. Hesiod, who is likewise silent upon these points, calls
the Erinyes the daughters of Gaea, who conceived them in the drops of blood that
fell upon her from the body of Uranus. Epimenides called them the daughters of
Cronos and Euonyme, and sisters of the Moerae; Aeschylus calls them the daughters
of Night; and Sophocles, of Scotos (Darkness) and Gaea. In the Greek tragedians,
with whom (e. g. in the Eumenides of Aeschylus) the number of these goddesses
is not limited to a few, no particular name of any one Erinys is yet mentioned,
but they appear in the same capacity, and as the avengers of the same crimes,
as before. They are sometimes identified with the Poenae, though their sphere
of action is wider than that of the Poenae. From their hunting down and persecuting
the accursed criminal, Aeschylus calls them kunes or kunegetides. No prayer, no
sacrifice, and no tears can move them, or pro [p. 633] tect the object of their
persecution; and when they fear lest the criminal should escape them, they call
in the assistance of Dike, with whom they are closely connected, the maintenance
of strict justice being their only object. The Erinyes were more ancient divinities
than the Olympian gods, and were therefore not under the rule of Zeus, though
they honoured and esteemed him; and they dwelt in the deep darkness of Tartarus,
dreaded by gods and men. Their appearance is described by Aeschylus as Gorgo-like,
their bodies covered with black, serpents twined in their hair, and blood dripping
from their eyes; Euripides and other later poets describe them as winged beings.
The appearance they have in Aeschylus was more or less retained by the poets of
later times; but they gradually assumed the character of goddesses who punished
crimes after death, and seldom appeared on earth. On the stage, however, and in
works of art, their fearful appearance was greatly softened down, for they were
represented as maidens of a grave and solemn mien, in the richly adorned attire
of huntresses, with a band of serpents around their heads, and serpents or torches
in their hands. With later writers, though not always, the number of Eumenides
is limited to three, and their names are Tisiphone, Alecto, and Megaera. At Athens
there were statues of only two. The sacrifices which were offered to them consisted
of black sheep and nephalia--i. e. a drink of honey mixed with water. Among the
objects sacred to them we hear of white turtledoves and the narcissus. They were
worshipped at Athens, where they had a sanctuary and a grotto near the Areopagus;
their statues, however, had nothing formidable, and a festival, Eumenidia, was
there celebrated in their honour. Another sanctuary, with a grove which no one
was allowed to enter, existed at Colonus. Under the name of Maniai, they were
worshipped at Megalopolis.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Eumenides: Perseus Project
Erebos, a son of Chaos, begot Aether and Heinera by Nyx, his sister. (Hesiod. Theog. 123.) Hyginus (Fab.) and Cicero (de Nat. Deor. iii. 17) enumerate many personifications of abstract notions as the offspring of Erebos. The name signifies darkness, and is therefore applied also to the dark and gloomy space under the earth, through which the shades pass into Hades. (Hom. Il. viii.)
Erebus: Various WebPages
Lethe, the personification of oblivion, is called by Hesiod (Theog. 227) a daughter of Eris. A river in the lower world likewise bore the name of Lethe.
Perseus Project index.
Wife of Orion, rivals Hera in beauty and is cast by her into Hades.
Son of Acheron and Gorgyra, because bore witness against her, Demeter laid a heavy rock on him in Hades.
Sisyphus is punished in Hades by rolling a stone with his hands and head in the effort to heave it over the top; but push it as he will, it rebounds backward. This punishment he endures for the sake of Aegina, daughter of Asopus; for when Zeus had secretly carried her off, Sisyphus is said to have betrayed the secret to Asopus, who was looking for her.
Having made a compact with Pirithous that they would marry daughters of Zeus, Theseus, with the help of Pirithous, carried off Helen from Sparta for himself, when she was twelve years old, and in the endeavor to win Persephone as a bride for Pirithous he went down to Hades.
Having (Dionysos) brought up his mother (Semele) from Hades and named her Thyone, he ascended up with her to heaven.
Tantalus is punished in Hades by having a stone impending over him, by being perpetually in a lake and seeing at his shoulders on either side trees with fruit growing beside the lake. (Perseus Project)
Of the Greeks the first to land from his ship was Protesilaus, and having slain not a few of the barbarians, he fell by the hand of Hector. His wife Laodamia loved him even after his death, and she made an image of him and consorted with it. The gods had pity on her, and Hermes brought up Protesilaus from Hades. On seeing him, Laodamia thought it was himself returned from Troy, and she was glad; but when he was carried back to Hades, she stabbed herself to death.
Odysseus/Ulysses & Hades: Perseus Project index
Thamyris paid the penalty in Hades for his boast against the Muses
Amphion is punished in Hades for being among those who made a mock of Leto and her children. For more information about Amphion, see Ancient Thebes, Homeric world, Kings
Homer in the Odyssey represents Teiresias as the only one in Hades endowed with intelligence.
Near Pylus, towards the east, is a mountain named after Minthe, who, according to myth, became the concubine of Hades, was trampled under foot by Core, and was transformed into garden mint, the plant which some call Hedyosmos.
Heracles rescues Alcestis from Hades
Perseus Project
Hypnos: Various WebPages
Perseus Project
Perseus Project
This lake was feigned by the poet for the gates of hell, by which AEneas made his descent, and where he sacrificed to Pluto and the Manes.
Plouton. In Greek mythology, the king of the underworld, identical with Hades.
Pluto: Perseus Encyclopedia
Pluto, Pluton, Plouto, Plouton: Perseus Project index
Son of Ceuthonymus, herdsman of Hades, reports to Geryon the theft of the cattle by Herakles, wrestles with Herakles in Hades. (Perseus Encyclopedia)
Perseus Project index
Aeacus was the most pious of men. Therefore, when Greece suffered from infertility on account of Pelops, because in a war with Stymphalus, king of the Arcadians, being unable to conquer Arcadia, he slew the king under a pretence of friendship, and scattered his mangled limbs, oracles of the gods declared that Greece would be rid of its present calamities if Aeacus would offer prayers on its behalf. So Aeacus did offer prayers, and Greece was delivered from the dearth.12 Even after his death Aeacus is honored in the abode of Pluto, and keeps the keys of Hades.
Aeacus: Perseus Project index
Judge of the Underworld
Perseus Encyclopedia
A dog with three heads and a dragon's tail who guarded the entrance to the underworld, Hades. He kindly let anyone pass but let no one leave with the exceptions of Orpheus and Hercules, who managed to bring the beast to the daylight.
This text is cited Sept 2003 from the In2Greece URL below.
Cerberus, Kerberus, Kerberos, Hound of hell: Perseus Project index
Taurians are a part of the Scythians, who murder strangers and throw them into the sacred fire, which was in the precinct, being wafted up from Hades through a certain rock.
Orthros was the son of Typhon and Echidna and thus the brother of Cerberus, the three headed hound who guarded Hades
Nycteus is one of the four horses of Pluto
Perseus Encyclopedia
The ferryman who would take the dead across the river Styx to the entrance of the underworld, Hades. To make sure he would take them, the living used to put a coin in the dead's mouth to pay him. Otherwise the spirit had to wait by the river for 100 years on the beach called Acheron. For this reason, the ancient Greeks also viewed the funeral as a holy and utmost important ritual.
This text is cited Sept 2003 from the In2Greece URL below.
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