126-396: Hades ( / ˈ h eɪ d iː z / ; Ancient Greek : ᾍδης , romanized : Hā́idēs , Attic Greek : [háːi̯dεːs] , later [háːdεːs] ), in the ancient Greek religion and mythology , is the god of the dead and the king of the underworld , with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea , although this also made him
252-500: A bident and wearing his helm with Cerberus , the three-headed guard-dog of the underworld, standing at his side. Roman-era mythographers eventually equated the Etruscan god Aita and the Roman gods Dis Pater and Orcus with Hades and merged all these figures into Pluto , a Latinisation of Plouton ( Ancient Greek : Πλούτων , romanized : Ploútōn ), itself
378-537: A pitch accent . In Modern Greek, all vowels and consonants are short. Many vowels and diphthongs once pronounced distinctly are pronounced as /i/ ( iotacism ). Some of the stops and glides in diphthongs have become fricatives , and the pitch accent has changed to a stress accent . Many of the changes took place in the Koine Greek period. The writing system of Modern Greek, however, does not reflect all pronunciation changes. The examples below represent Attic Greek in
504-484: A "cover name" for the underworld Dionysus. He suggests that this dual identity may have been familiar to those who came into contact with the Mysteries . Dionysus also shared several epithets with Hades such as Chthonios ("the subterranean"), Eubouleus ("Good Counselor"), and Euclius ("glorious" or "renowned") . Evidence for a cult connection is quite extensive, particularly in southern Italy, especially when considering
630-501: A belief that there was a hope for life after death for those who were initiated. Such a belief was cultivated from the introduction ceremony in which the hopeful initiates were shown a number of things including the seed of life in a stalk of grain. The central myth of the Mysteries was Demeter's quest for her lost daughter (Kore the Maiden, or Persephone ) who had been abducted by Hades . It
756-473: A boulder up a hill in the underworld; but every time he reached the top, the boulder would roll down again and again. In another version, it is Persephone who lets him out. Heracles 's final labour was to capture Cerberus. First, Heracles went to Eleusis to be initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries . He did this to absolve himself of guilt for killing the centaurs and to learn how to enter and exit
882-405: A compromise, to which all parties had agreed: of the year, Persephone would spend one third with her husband. It is during this time, when Persephone is down in the underworld with her husband, that winter falls upon the earth, "an aspect of sadness and mourning." The hero Orpheus once descended into the underworld in search of his late wife Eurydice , who died when a snake bit her. So lovely
1008-472: A daughter of Oceanus . Hades fell in love with her and abducted her to the underworld. She lived out the span of her life in his realm, and when she died, the god sought consolation by creating a suitable memorial of their love: in the Elysian Fields where the pious spend their afterlife, he brought a white tree into existence. It was this tree with which Heracles crowned himself to celebrate his return from
1134-524: A divine tripartite deity with Zeus. The Orphics in particular believed that Zeus and Hades were the same deity and portrayed them as such. This nature and aspect of Hades and Zeus displayed in the Orphic stories is the explanation for why both Hades and Zeus are considered to be the father of Orphic Dionysus-Zagreus. Orphics also described Zagreus as the son of Hades, while also regarding Zagreus as an aspect of Dionysus. The role of unifying Hades, Zeus and Dionysus as
1260-518: A dream forbade me to describe. Under the Romans Eleusis enjoyed great prosperity, as initiation into its mysteries became fashionable among the Roman nobles. Hadrian was initiated into the Mysteries in about 125 and raised embankments in the plain of the river in consequence of a flood which occurred while he was spending the winter at Athens. To the same emperor most likely Eleusis was indebted for
1386-454: A euphemistic title (meaning "the rich one") often given to Hades. The origin of Hades's name is uncertain but has generally been seen as meaning "the unseen one" since antiquity . An extensive section of Plato 's dialogue Cratylus is devoted to the etymology of the god's name, in which Socrates is arguing for a folk etymology not from "unseen" but from "his knowledge ( eidenai ) of all noble things". Modern linguists have proposed
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#17328455432191512-472: A lack of contemporaneous evidence. Several theories exist about what Hellenic dialect groups may have existed between the divergence of early Greek-like speech from the common Proto-Indo-European language and the Classical period. They have the same general outline but differ in some of the detail. The only attested dialect from this period is Mycenaean Greek , but its relationship to the historical dialects and
1638-452: A late romance, Psyche . None of them were pleased with what they witnessed in the realm of the dead. In particular, the Greek war hero Achilles , whom Odysseus conjured with a blood libation , said: O shining Odysseus, never try to console me for dying. I would rather follow the plow as thrall to another man, one with no land allotted to him and not much to live on, than be a king over all
1764-419: A lesser degree. Pamphylian Greek , spoken in a small area on the southwestern coast of Anatolia and little preserved in inscriptions, may be either a fifth major dialect group, or it is Mycenaean Greek overlaid by Doric, with a non-Greek native influence. Regarding the speech of the ancient Macedonians diverse theories have been put forward, but the epigraphic activity and the archaeological discoveries in
1890-553: A name that was unsafe to pronounce, which evolved into epithets . He spent most of the time in his dark realm. Formidable in battle, he proved his ferocity in the famous Titanomachy , the battle of the Olympians versus the Titans , which established the rule of Zeus. Feared and loathed, Hades embodied the inexorable finality of death: "Why do we loathe Hades more than any god, if not because he
2016-495: A prefix /e-/, called the augment . This was probably originally a separate word, meaning something like "then", added because tenses in PIE had primarily aspectual meaning. The augment is added to the indicative of the aorist, imperfect, and pluperfect, but not to any of the other forms of the aorist (no other forms of the imperfect and pluperfect exist). The two kinds of augment in Greek are syllabic and quantitative. The syllabic augment
2142-665: A privilege possessed by no other town in Attica, except Athens. The history of Eleusis is part of the history of Athens. Once a year the great Eleusinian procession travelled from Athens to Eleusis, along the Sacred Way . Eleusis was the site of the Eleusinian Mysteries , or the Mysteries of Demeter and Kore , which became popular in the Greek-speaking world as early as 600 BC, and attracted initiates during Roman Empire before declining mid-late 4th century AD. These Mysteries revolved around
2268-671: A separate historical stage, though its earliest form closely resembles Attic Greek , and its latest form approaches Medieval Greek , and Koine may be classified as Ancient Greek in a wider sense. There were several regional dialects of Ancient Greek; Attic Greek developed into Koine. Ancient Greek was a pluricentric language , divided into many dialects. The main dialect groups are Attic and Ionic , Aeolic , Arcadocypriot , and Doric , many of them with several subdivisions. Some dialects are found in standardized literary forms in literature , while others are attested only in inscriptions. There are also several historical forms. Homeric Greek
2394-462: A single tripartite god was used to represent the birth, death and resurrection of a deity and to unify the 'shining' realm of Zeus and the dark realm of Hades that lay beneath the Earth. Among the other appellations under which Hades or Pluto is generally known, are the following: In Greek: In Latin or Etruscan: In Egypt: Hades was depicted infrequently in artwork, as well as mythology, because
2520-609: A standard subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance . This article primarily contains information about the Epic and Classical periods of the language, which are the best-attested periods and considered most typical of Ancient Greek. From the Hellenistic period ( c. 300 BC ), Ancient Greek was followed by Koine Greek , which is regarded as
2646-551: A supply of good water by means of the aqueduct, completed in about 160 AD. Apart from satisfying the need for drinking water, it also enabled the construction of public fountains and baths. It was fed by springs in Mount Parnitha and used mainly underground tunnels. It crossed the Thriasian Plain and turned abruptly towards the south at the outskirts of Eleusis. The best visible remains are on the east side of Dimitros Street. It
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#17328455432192772-510: A vowel or /n s r/ ; final stops were lost, as in γάλα "milk", compared with γάλακτος "of milk" (genitive). Ancient Greek of the classical period also differed in both the inventory and distribution of original PIE phonemes due to numerous sound changes, notably the following: The pronunciation of Ancient Greek was very different from that of Modern Greek . Ancient Greek had long and short vowels ; many diphthongs ; double and single consonants; voiced, voiceless, and aspirated stops ; and
2898-459: A wonder for gods and mortal men. And now tell me how he rapt you away to the realm of darkness and gloom, and by what trick did the strong Host of Many beguile you? Persephone does admit that she ate the food of the dead, as she tells Demeter that Hades gave her a pomegranate seed and forced her to eat it. Persephone's eating the pomegranate seed binds her to Hades and the underworld, much to the dismay of Demeter. Zeus, however, had previously proposed
3024-556: Is a literary form of Archaic Greek (derived primarily from Ionic and Aeolic) used in the epic poems , the Iliad and the Odyssey , and in later poems by other authors. Homeric Greek had significant differences in grammar and pronunciation from Classical Attic and other Classical-era dialects. The origins, early form and development of the Hellenic language family are not well understood because of
3150-587: Is a suburban city and municipality in Athens metropolitan area. It belongs to West Attica regional unit of Greece . It is located in the Thriasio Plain , at the northernmost end of the Saronic Gulf . North of Elefsina are Mandra and Magoula , while Aspropyrgos is to the northeast. It is the site of the Eleusinian Mysteries and the birthplace of Aeschylus . Today, Elefsina is a major industrial centre, with
3276-418: Is added to stems beginning with consonants, and simply prefixes e (stems beginning with r , however, add er ). The quantitative augment is added to stems beginning with vowels, and involves lengthening the vowel: Some verbs augment irregularly; the most common variation is e → ei . The irregularity can be explained diachronically by the loss of s between vowels, or that of the letter w , which affected
3402-588: Is also mentioned in the Homeric Hymn to Artemis ; it appears to have been in the neighbourhood of the city; but its site cannot be determined. It appears to have derived its name from the supposed advent (ἔλευσις) of Demeter, though some traced its name from an eponymous hero Eleusis. It was one of the 12 independent states into which Attica was said to have been originally divided. "When Athens had only just become Athens, it went to war with another city built thirteen miles away: Eleusis," Roberto Calasso wrote of
3528-644: Is called 'East Greek'. Arcadocypriot apparently descended more closely from the Mycenaean Greek of the Bronze Age. Boeotian Greek had come under a strong Northwest Greek influence, and can in some respects be considered a transitional dialect, as exemplified in the poems of the Boeotian poet Pindar who wrote in Doric with a small Aeolic admixture. Thessalian likewise had come under Northwest Greek influence, though to
3654-448: Is considered by some linguists to have been closely related to Greek . Among Indo-European branches with living descendants, Greek is often argued to have the closest genetic ties with Armenian (see also Graeco-Armenian ) and Indo-Iranian languages (see Graeco-Aryan ). Ancient Greek differs from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) and other Indo-European languages in certain ways. In phonotactics , ancient Greek words could end only in
3780-534: Is considered the master of the goddesses of Fate , not his brother Zeus and the god who designates the end and origin of all things and orders the alternation of birth and destruction, the arbiter of life and death. This relationship is very clear in Roman epics like Statius 's Thebaid , where they are mentioned taking souls to be judged by Hades and inflicting severe punishments or in Claudian 's De raptu Proserpinae where they appear begging their master not to release
3906-597: Is distant from the sky." Greek mythographers were not perfectly consistent about the geography of the afterlife . A contrasting myth of the afterlife concerns the Garden of the Hesperides , often identified with the Isles of the Blessed , where the blessed heroes may dwell. Ancient Greek language Ancient Greek ( Ἑλληνῐκή , Hellēnikḗ ; [hellɛːnikɛ́ː] ) includes
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4032-558: Is in Statius 's Thebaid , when Hades orders Tisiphone to punish humans for having invaded the underworld . He is said to hate Alecto , even though she is one of his children. In contrast to many of his other classical representations the satirical author Lucian of Samosata presents Hades in a more positive and even comic way. In his Dialogues of the Dead , he is represented trying to solve problems of some famous mythological figures and one of
4158-641: Is no direct evidence of such a turn. The blood from all chthonic sacrifices including those to propitiate Hades dripped into a pit or cleft in the ground. The person who offered the sacrifice had to avert his face. One ancient source says that he possessed the Cap of invisibility . His chariot, drawn by four black horses, made for a fearsome and impressive sight. These beasts were variously named as, according to Claudian : Orphnaeus , Aethon , Nycteus and Alastor while other authors listed also: Nonius, Ametheus, Abastor, Abetor and Metheus. His other ordinary attributes were
4284-562: Is organized in honor of Aeschylus , who was born in Eleusis, from whom it derives its name. It includes stage productions, art exhibitions and installations, concerts, and dance events. Elefsina has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate ( Csa ), bordering on a hot semi-arid climate ( BSh ) for the 1958-2010 period, according to the meteorological station operated by the Hellenic National Meteorological Service . Elefsina
4410-464: Is particularly hot during the summer, with an average July maximum of 33.2 °C (91.8 °F). According to Kassomenos and Katsoulis (2006), based on 12 years of data (1990–2001), the industrialization of west Attica , where at least 40% of the industrial activity of the country is concentrated, could be the cause of the warm climate of the zone. On June 4, 2024 the WMO station in the port of Elefsina broke
4536-494: Is so adamantine and unyielding?" The rhetorical question is Agamemnon 's. Hades was not, however, an evil god, for although he was stern, cruel, and unpitying, he was still just. Hades ruled the underworld and was therefore most often associated with death and feared by men, but he was not Death itself — it is Thanatos , son of Nyx and Erebus , who is the actual personification of death, although Euripides's play " Alkestis " states fairly clearly that Thanatos and Hades were one and
4662-476: Is sometimes swollen to such an extent as to spread itself over a large part of the plain. Demosthenes (384 – 322 BC) alludes to inundations at Eleusis; Pausanias ( c. 110 – c. 180 AD ) has left us only a very brief description of Eleusis; The Eleusinians have a temple of Triptolemus , another of Artemis Propylaea, and a third of Poseidon the Father, and a well called Callichorum, where
4788-426: The Homeric Hymn to Demeter , which is the oldest story of the abduction, most likely dating back to the beginning of the 6th century BC. Helios told the grieving Demeter that Hades was not an unworthy groom or son-in-law given his status among the gods, as her own brother and king on his own right: But, Goddess, give up your strong grief; let go of your infinite anger. Hades isn't an unsuitable son-in-law among
4914-716: The Eleusinian icon Ploutos, and from this he also received a priestess, which was not previously practiced in Greece. More elaborate names of the same genre were Ploutodótēs ( Πλουτοδότης , [pluː.toˈdo.tεːs] ) or Ploutodotḗr ( Πλουτοδοτήρ , [pluː.to.doˈtεːr] ), meaning "giver of wealth". Epithets of Hades include Agesander ( Ἀγήσανδρος , [aˈgεː.san.dros] ) and Agesilaos ( Ἀγεσίλαος , [a.geˈsi.la.os] ), both from ágō ( ἄγω , "lead", "carry" or "fetch") and anḗr ( ἀνήρ , "man") or laos ( λαός , "men" or "people"), describing Hades as
5040-745: The Greek region of Macedonia during the last decades has brought to light documents, among which the first texts written in Macedonian , such as the Pella curse tablet , as Hatzopoulos and other scholars note. Based on the conclusions drawn by several studies and findings such as Pella curse tablet , Emilio Crespo and other scholars suggest that ancient Macedonian was a Northwest Doric dialect , which shares isoglosses with its neighboring Thessalian dialects spoken in northeastern Thessaly . Some have also suggested an Aeolic Greek classification. The Lesbian dialect
5166-511: The Proto-Greek form * Awides ("unseen"). The earliest attested form is Aḯdēs ( Ἀΐδης ), which lacks the proposed digamma . Martin Litchfield West argues instead for an original meaning of "the one who presides over meeting up" from the universality of death. In Homeric and Ionic Greek , he was known as Áïdēs . Other poetic variations of the name include Aïdōneús ( Ἀϊδωνεύς ) and
Hades - Misplaced Pages Continue
5292-640: The Titans and saying everything they do is for him, after Hades threatens Zeus to release the Titans against him if he does not give him a wife. Hades is considered the father of the Furies in some versions, but the mother's identity varies. in Virgil 's Aeneid their mother is the night goddess Nyx and in the Orphic Hymns their mother is Persephone by Hades. One of the rare occasions when he appears interacting with them
5418-529: The hubris directed toward her daughter, Demeter trampled Minthe and turned her into mint. Theophile was a girl who claimed that Hades loved her and that she was better than Persephone. Once, when a plague hit Aonia , a region in Boeotia , the people consulted an oracle, and the god replied to them that they needed to make an appeal to the gods of the Underworld and sacrifice two willing young maidens to appease
5544-501: The present , future , and imperfect are imperfective in aspect; the aorist , present perfect , pluperfect and future perfect are perfective in aspect. Most tenses display all four moods and three voices, although there is no future subjunctive or imperative. Also, there is no imperfect subjunctive, optative or imperative. The infinitives and participles correspond to the finite combinations of tense, aspect, and voice. The indicative of past tenses adds (conceptually, at least)
5670-457: The 5th century BC, the Greeks started referring to Hades as Plouton ( Πλούτων , Ploútōn , [ˈpluː.tɔːn] ), with a root meaning "wealthy", considering that from the abode below (i.e., the soil) come riches (e.g., fertile crops, metals and so on). Plouton became the Roman god who both rules the underworld and distributed riches from below. This deity was a mixture of the Greek god Hades and
5796-1031: The 5th century BC. Ancient pronunciation cannot be reconstructed with certainty, but Greek from the period is well documented, and there is little disagreement among linguists as to the general nature of the sounds that the letters represent. /oː/ raised to [uː] , probably by the 4th century BC. Greek, like all of the older Indo-European languages , is highly inflected. It is highly archaic in its preservation of Proto-Indo-European forms. In ancient Greek, nouns (including proper nouns) have five cases ( nominative , genitive , dative , accusative , and vocative ), three genders ( masculine , feminine , and neuter ), and three numbers (singular, dual , and plural ). Verbs have four moods ( indicative , imperative , subjunctive , and optative ) and three voices (active, middle, and passive ), as well as three persons (first, second, and third) and various other forms. Verbs are conjugated through seven combinations of tenses and aspect (generally simply called "tenses"):
5922-490: The Archaic period of ancient Greek (see Homeric Greek for more details): Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί' Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε' ἔθηκε, πολλὰς δ' ἰφθίμους ψυχὰς Ἄϊδι προΐαψεν ἡρώων, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν οἰωνοῖσί τε πᾶσι· Διὸς δ' ἐτελείετο βουλή· ἐξ οὗ δὴ τὰ πρῶτα διαστήτην ἐρίσαντε Ἀτρεΐδης τε ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν καὶ δῖος Ἀχιλλεύς. The beginning of Apology by Plato exemplifies Attic Greek from
6048-624: The Classical period of ancient Greek. (The second line is the IPA , the third is transliterated into the Latin alphabet using a modern version of the Erasmian scheme .) Ὅτι [hóti Hóti μὲν men mèn ὑμεῖς, hyːmêːs hūmeîs, Eleusis Elefsina ( Greek : Ελευσίνα , romanized : Elefsína ) or Eleusis ( / ɪ ˈ l j uː s ɪ s / ih- LEW -siss ; Ancient Greek : Ἐλευσίς , romanized : Eleusís )
6174-560: The Eleusinian women first instituted a dance and sang in honour of the goddess. They say that the Rharian plain was the first place in which corn was sown and first produced a harvest, and that hence barley from this plain is employed for making sacrificial cakes. There the so-called threshing-floor and altar of Triptolemus are shown. The things within the wall of the Hierum [i.e., the temple of Demeter]
6300-502: The Grecian mysteries down to the fall of paganism. Eleusis stood upon a height at a short distance from the sea, and opposite the island of Salamis . Its situation possessed three natural advantages. It was on the road from Athens to the Isthmus of Corinth ; it was in a very fertile plain; and it was at the head of an extensive bay, formed on three sides by the coast of Attica, and shut in on
6426-454: The Greeks were so afraid of him. His artistic representations, which are generally found in Archaic pottery, are not even concretely thought of as the deity; however at this point in time it is heavily believed that the figures illustrated are indeed Hades. He was later presented in the classical arts in the depictions of the Rape of Persephone . Within these illustrations, Hades was often young, yet he
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#17328455432196552-570: The Hellenistic and mainly Roman eras the road was used for the exhibition of wealth and social power, with costly burial monuments being erected all along it. The road was in use until at least the 6th century AD. It is indicative that writers of the Byzantine era refer to it as a "small village", and shortly before the Ottoman domination the area was deserted by wars, raids and captives. During this period
6678-609: The Thriassio General Hospital, located 3.9 km north of the city centre. Elefsina hosts the multi-sport club Panelefsiniakos with successful sections in football and basketball. Another historical club of Elefsina is Iraklis Eleusis , founded in 1928. Elefsina is twinned with: [REDACTED] This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Smith, William , ed. (1854–1857). "Eleusis". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography . London: John Murray. *Not included
6804-515: The ancient Sacred Way over the Kephissus river is visible about 1 km from the Sanctuary of Demeter. The bridge is in very good condition and is an outstanding example of ancient bridge building. It consists of a central 30 m-long main bridge with 4 arches and 10 m-long sloping access on either side. The Sacred Way was the main road from Athens and led to Demeter's sanctuary, and was also the road used by
6930-491: The ancient provenance of the relationship between temple-city and the Attic seat of power. "It was a war usually described as mythical, since it has no date. And it was a theological war, since Athens belonged to Athena and Eleusis to Poseidon . Eumolpus and Erechtheus , the founding kings of the two cities, both died in it." It is related that in the reign of Eumolpus , king of Eleusis, and Erechtheus , king of Athens, there
7056-416: The anger of Hades and Persephone. The girls that were chosen were Menippe and Metioche , the daughters of Orion , who solemnly offered their lives in order to save their countrymen. After invoking the chthonic deities three times, they took their own lives with the shuttles of their looms. Hades and Persephone then took pity in both of them, and transformed their corpses into comets . In some versions Hades
7182-430: The annual Aeschylia Festival is held in honor of the great tragic poet Aeschylus. Elefsis Shipyards is located here. There is a military airport a few kilometers east of Elefsina. Elefsina Airfield played a crucial role in the final British evacuation during the 1941 Battle of Greece , as recounted by Roald Dahl in his autobiography Going Solo . Elefsina is home to the football club Panelefsiniakos F.C. , and
7308-550: The aorist. Following Homer 's practice, the augment is sometimes not made in poetry , especially epic poetry. The augment sometimes substitutes for reduplication; see below. Almost all forms of the perfect, pluperfect, and future perfect reduplicate the initial syllable of the verb stem. (A few irregular forms of perfect do not reduplicate, whereas a handful of irregular aorists reduplicate.) The three types of reduplication are: Irregular duplication can be understood diachronically. For example, lambanō (root lab ) has
7434-419: The augment when it was word-initial. In verbs with a preposition as a prefix, the augment is placed not at the start of the word, but between the preposition and the original verb. For example, προσ(-)βάλλω (I attack) goes to προσ έ βαλoν in the aorist. However compound verbs consisting of a prefix that is not a preposition retain the augment at the start of the word: αὐτο(-)μολῶ goes to ηὐ τομόλησα in
7560-591: The basketball club Panelefsiniakos B.C. Established in 1975, the Aeschylia Festival in Eleusis in Western Attica is the currently the longest standing cultural event organized by an Attica Municipality . It is held annually at Palaio Elaiourgeio, a former soap factory by the seafront that functions as an open theatre. The festival usually is running at the end of August and during all of the September. The event
7686-438: The center of Greek scholarship, this division of people and language is quite similar to the results of modern archaeological-linguistic investigation. One standard formulation for the dialects is: West vs. non-West Greek is the strongest-marked and earliest division, with non-West in subsets of Ionic-Attic (or Attic-Ionic) and Aeolic vs. Arcadocypriot, or Aeolic and Arcado-Cypriot vs. Ionic-Attic. Often non-West
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#17328455432197812-451: The dark-clouded son of Cronos and be honored by all the deathless gods; but if you have tasted food, you must go back again beneath the secret places of the earth, there to dwell a third part of the seasons every year: yet for the two parts you shall be with me and the other deathless gods. But when the earth shall bloom with the fragrant flowers of spring in every kind, then from the realm of darkness and gloom thou shalt come up once more to be
7938-452: The dead by fighting and defeating Hades. In other versions, like Euripides 's play Alcestis , Heracles fought Thanatos instead. At another time, Heracles sieged the town of Pylos and during the fight he wounded Hades, who had sided with the Pylians. In great pain, Hades went to Olympus to be healed by the physician of the gods, Paean . Leuce was the most beautiful of the nymphs and
8064-560: The death symbolism included in Dionysian worship; statues of Dionysus found in the Ploutonion at Eleusis gives further evidence as the statue bears a striking resemblance to the statue of Eubouleus also known as the youthful depiction of the Lord of the underworld. The statue of Eubouleus is described as being radiant but disclosing a strange inner darkness. Both Hades and Dionysus were associated with
8190-611: The dialect of Sparta ), and Northern Peloponnesus Doric (including Corinthian ). All the groups were represented by colonies beyond Greece proper as well, and these colonies generally developed local characteristics, often under the influence of settlers or neighbors speaking different Greek dialects. After the conquests of Alexander the Great in the late 4th century BC, a new international dialect known as Koine or Common Greek developed, largely based on Attic Greek , but with influence from other dialects. This dialect slowly replaced most of
8316-511: The famine to stop. Hermes obeys and goes down to Hades's realm, wherein he finds Hades seated upon a couch, Persephone seated next to him. Hermes relays Zeus's message, and Hades complies, saying, Go now, Persephone, to your dark-robed mother, go, and feel kindly in your heart towards me: be not so exceedingly cast down; for I shall be no unfitting husband for you among the deathless gods, that am own brother to father Zeus. And while you are here, you shall rule all that lives and moves and shall have
8442-400: The fire in order to endow him with immortality, until Metaneira found out and insulted her. Demeter arose insulted, and casting off her disguise, and, in all her glory, instructed Meteneira to build a temple to her. Keleos, informed the next morning by Metaneira, ordered the citizens to build a rich shrine to Demeter, where she sat in her temple until the lot of the world prayed to Zeus to make
8568-663: The forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek ( c. 1400–1200 BC ), Dark Ages ( c. 1200–800 BC ), the Archaic or Epic period ( c. 800–500 BC ), and the Classical period ( c. 500–300 BC ). Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers . It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been
8694-456: The god who carries away all. Nicander uses the form Hegesilaus ( Ἡγεσίλαος , [hεː.geˈsi.la.os] ). He was also referred to as Zeus katachthonios (Ζεὺς καταχθόνιος, [zdeu̯s ka.taˈkʰtʰo.ni.os] ), meaning "the Zeus of the underworld", by those avoiding his actual name, as he had complete control over the underworld. In Greek mythology , Hades, the god of the Greek underworld,
8820-491: The goddess has been waiting. Demeter and Persephone run towards each other and embrace one another, happy that they are reunited. Demeter, however, suspects that Persephone may have eaten food while down in the underworld , and so she questions Persephone, saying: My child, tell me, surely you have not tasted any food while you were below? Speak out and hide nothing, but let us both know. For if you have not, you shall come back from loathly Hades and live with me and your father ,
8946-495: The gods: Lord of the Many Dead, your own brother from the same seed. As for honor, he won the third share back when the division was made and now lives among those whom he was allotted to rule." Despite modern connotations of death as evil, Hades was actually more altruistically inclined in mythology. Hades was portrayed as passive and never portrayed negatively; his role was often maintaining relative balance. That said, he
9072-451: The greatest rights among the deathless gods: those who defraud you and do not appease your power with offerings, reverently performing rites and paying fit gifts, shall be punished for evermore. Afterwards, Hades readies his chariot, but not before he secretly gives Persephone a pomegranate seed to eat; Hermes takes the reins, and he and Persephone make their way to the Earth above, coming to a halt in front of Demeter's temple at Eleusis, where
9198-556: The historical Dorians . The invasion is known to have displaced population to the later Attic-Ionic regions, who regarded themselves as descendants of the population displaced by or contending with the Dorians. The Greeks of this period believed there were three major divisions of all Greek people – Dorians, Aeolians, and Ionians (including Athenians), each with their own defining and distinctive dialects. Allowing for their oversight of Arcadian, an obscure mountain dialect, and Cypriot, far from
9324-472: The historical circumstances of the times imply that the overall groups already existed in some form. Scholars assume that major Ancient Greek period dialect groups developed not later than 1120 BC, at the time of the Dorian invasions —and that their first appearances as precise alphabetic writing began in the 8th century BC. The invasion would not be "Dorian" unless the invaders had some cultural relationship to
9450-456: The industries in the region. Industrial activity, however, developed anarchically on the antiquities and next to the residential area. Environmental pollution has taken on large dimensions. During the 20th century, at the time of sustainable development, archaeological discoveries and industrial formation shaped the image of contemporary Eleusis. In 1962, a large house of priests from the Roman era
9576-436: The inflected forms Áïdos ( Ἄϊδος , gen .), Áïdi ( Ἄϊδι , dat. ), and Áïda ( Ἄϊδα , acc. ), whose reconstructed nominative case * Áïs ( * Ἄϊς ) is, however, not attested. The name as it came to be known in classical times was Háidēs ( Ἅιδης ). Later the iota became silent, then a subscript marking ( ᾍδης ), and finally omitted entirely ( Άδης ). Perhaps from fear of pronouncing his name, around
9702-497: The land and there was a great famine; though, one by one, the gods came to request she lift it, lest mankind perish and cause the gods to be deprived of their receiving gifts and sacrifices, Demeter asserted that the earth would remain barren until she saw her daughter again. Zeus then sends for his son, Hermes , and instructs him to go down to the underworld in hopes that he may be able to convince Hades to allow Persephone to return to Earth, so that Demeter might see Persephone and cause
9828-738: The largest oil refinery in Greece as well as the home of the Aeschylia Festival , the longest-lived arts event in the Attica Region. On 11 November 2016, Elefsina was named the European Capital of Culture for 2021, which became effective in 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic postponement. The word Eleusis first appears in the Orphic Hymn to Eleusinian Demeter : «Δήμητρος Ελευσινίας, θυμίαμα στύρακα ». Also Hesychius of Alexandria reports that
9954-413: The last son to be regurgitated by his father . He and his brothers, Zeus and Poseidon , defeated their father's generation of gods, the Titans , and claimed joint rulership over the cosmos . Hades received the underworld, Zeus the sky, and Poseidon the sea, with the solid earth (long the province of Gaia ) available to all three concurrently. In artistic depictions, Hades is typically portrayed holding
10080-549: The main industrial centers of the Modern Greek state with concrete factory TITAN , Charilaou Soap Factory as well as the distilleries of Botrys and Kronos being established in the area. Arvanitika is still spoken in the village, with the locals qualifying their dialect more "noble" and "refined" than those of rural Arvanites. Many Greek families of Asia Minor settled in Elefsina after the 1922 Asia Minor Catastrophe and created
10206-618: The monstrous Typhon attacked the Olympian gods, Hades is said to have trembled in fear in the underworld while Zeus fought Typhon above. In one of Plato 's dialogues, Socrates talks about Hades as a figure capable of making everyone fall by his enchantments and that is why no one ever leaves the underworld, including the sirens. Hades, as the god of the dead, was a fearsome figure to those still living; in no hurry to meet him, they were reluctant to swear oaths in his name, and averted their faces when sacrificing to him. Since to many, simply to say
10332-499: The most outstanding dialogues is with Protesilaus , one of the Greek heroes killed in the Trojan War . In this conversation Protesilaus asks him to be reunited with his (still living) lover, and brings up as example that Hades did the same for Admetus and Alcestis , Orpheus and Eurydice , and that he himself also knows what being in love is like. Hades is skeptical, but Persephone manages to persuade him. According to Hesiod , when
10458-461: The municipal unit has an area of 18.455 km (7.126 sq mi). Eleusis was a deme of ancient Attica , belonging to the phyle Hippothoöntis . It owed its celebrity to its being the chief seat of the worship of Demeter and Persephone , and to the mysteries celebrated in honour of these goddesses, which were called the Eleusinia , and continued to be regarded as the most sacred of all
10584-564: The name 'Zeus', Zeus Olympios, the great king of the gods, noticeably differs from the Zeus Meilichios, a decidedly chthonian character, often portrayed as a snake, and as seen beforehand, they cannot be different manifestations of the same god, in fact whenever 'another Zeus' is mentioned, this always refers to Hades. Zeus Meilichios and Zeus Eubouleus are often referred to as being alternate names for Hades. The philosopher Heraclitus , unifying opposites, declared that Hades and Dionysus ,
10710-461: The narcissus and cypress plants, the Key of Hades and Cerberus, the three-headed dog. In certain portraits, snakes also appeared to be attributed to Hades as he was occasionally portrayed to be either holding them or accompanied by them. This is believed to hold significance as in certain classical sources Hades ravished Kore in the guise of a snake, who went on to give birth to Zagreus-Dionysus. While bearing
10836-446: The notion of referring to Hades as Plouton with these words: "the gloomy Hades enriches himself with our sighs and our tears." In addition, he was called Clymenus ( Κλύμενος , Klýmenos , ' infamous', [ˈkly.me.nos] ), Polydegmon ( Πολυδέγμων , Polydégmon , 'host of many', [po.lyˈdeg.mɔːn] ), and perhaps Eubuleus ( Εὐβουλεύς , Eubouleús , 'good counsel', [eu̯.buːˈleu̯s] ), all of them euphemisms for
10962-499: The older dialects, although the Doric dialect has survived in the Tsakonian language , which is spoken in the region of modern Sparta. Doric has also passed down its aorist terminations into most verbs of Demotic Greek . By about the 6th century AD, the Koine had slowly metamorphosed into Medieval Greek . Phrygian is an extinct Indo-European language of West and Central Anatolia , which
11088-463: The older name for Eleusis was Saesara (Σαισάρια). Saesara was the mythic daughter of Celeus (king of Eleusis when Demeter arrived for the first time) and granddaughter of Eleusinus, the first settler of Eleusis. The municipality of Elefsina was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following two former municipalities, that became municipal units: The municipality has an area of 36.589 km (14.127 sq mi), and
11214-551: The other gods, as he was disliked by them as well as humans. As Pluto , he was regarded in a more positive light. He holds a cornucopia , representing the gifts he bestows upon people as well as fertility, which he becomes connected to. In older Greek myths, the realm of Hades is the misty and gloomy abode of the dead (also called Erebus ) where all mortals go when they die. Very few mortals could leave Hades once they entered. The exceptions, Heracles and Theseus , are heroic. Even Odysseus in his Nekyia ( Odyssey , xi) calls up
11340-487: The perfect stem eilēpha (not * lelēpha ) because it was originally slambanō , with perfect seslēpha , becoming eilēpha through compensatory lengthening. Reduplication is also visible in the present tense stems of certain verbs. These stems add a syllable consisting of the root's initial consonant followed by i . A nasal stop appears after the reduplication in some verbs. The earliest extant examples of ancient Greek writing ( c. 1450 BC ) are in
11466-454: The perished dead. The consort of Hades was Persephone , daughter of Zeus and Demeter . Persephone did not submit to Hades willingly, but was abducted by him while picking flowers in the fields of Nysa (her father, Zeus, had previously given Persephone to Hades, to be his wife, as is stated in the first lines of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter ). In protest of his act, Demeter cast a curse on
11592-494: The procession every year of the celebration of the Great Mysteries escorting the sacred objects back to Eleusis. Its course is visible in some places and has been accurately traced by rescue excavations and ran parallel to its namesake in the modern city only a few metres to the south. Roadside cemeteries from different periods throughout antiquity are found next to it and prehistoric graves witness its existence by 1600 BC. During
11718-683: The record for the highest temperature ever recorded in Greece for the first 10 days of June from the National Observatory of Athens network. Until 2021, Elefsina was one of the areas in the Athens Metropolitan Area (the other one was Tatoi ) which held the record of the highest ever officially recorded temperature in Europe for 44 years with a reading of 48.0 °C (118.4 °F) on 10 July 1977. Elefsina has only one general hospital
11844-548: The right Persephone, clad in chiton and mantle and holding a torch, blesses Triptolemos with her right hand. The original marble relief was found at the sanctuary of Demeter, the site of the Eleusinian mysteries. A number of Roman copies also survive. During the Greco-Persian Wars , the ancient temple of Demeter was burnt down by the Persians in 484 BC; and it was not until the administration of Pericles that an attempt
11970-498: The same deity, and gives an interesting description of Hades as being dark-cloaked and winged; moreover, Hades was also referred to as Hesperos Theos ("god of death & darkness"). When the Greeks propitiated Hades, they banged their hands on the ground to be sure he would hear them. Black animals, such as sheep, were sacrificed to him. While some suggest the very vehemence of the rejection of human sacrifice expressed in myth might imply an unspoken memory of some distant past, there
12096-532: The settlement of Upper Elefsina, doubling its total population and enriching the region culturally and economically. During the Axis occupation of Greece (1941–1945), strong resistance developed within the city, the factories and the military airport, which once stationed Squadron 80, the squadron that Roald Dahl was assigned to in the RAF. After World War II , workers from all parts of Greece moved to Elefsina to work in
12222-459: The six younger gods, along with allies they managed to gather, challenged the elder gods for power in the Titanomachy , a divine war. The war lasted for ten years and ended with the victory of the younger gods. Following their victory, according to a single famous passage in the Iliad ( Book XV , ln.187–93), Hades and his two brothers, Poseidon and Zeus, drew lots for realms to rule. Zeus received
12348-447: The sky, Poseidon received the seas, and Hades received the underworld, the unseen realm to which the souls of the dead go upon leaving the world as well as any and all things beneath the earth. Hades obtained his wife and queen, Persephone , through abduction at the behest of Zeus. This myth is the most important one Hades takes part in; it also connected the Eleusinian Mysteries with the Olympian pantheon, particularly as represented in
12474-432: The south by the island of Salamis. The town itself dates from the most ancient times. The caves on the coast of Eleusis are home to a mythological place for the Greek world. There is a cave said to be the very spot where Persephone was abducted by Hades himself and the cave was considered a gateway to Tartarus. At the spot of this abduction was a sanctuary ( Ploutonion ) dedicated to Hades and Persephone. The Rharian plain
12600-464: The spirits of the departed, rather than descend to them. Later Greek philosophy introduced the idea that all mortals are judged after death and are either rewarded or cursed. There were several sections of the realm of Hades, including Elysium , the Asphodel Meadows , and Tartarus . The mythographer Apollodorus , describes Tartarus as "a gloomy place in Hades as far distant from Earth, as Earth
12726-517: The syllabic script Linear B . Beginning in the 8th century BC, however, the Greek alphabet became standard, albeit with some variation among dialects. Early texts are written in boustrophedon style, but left-to-right became standard during the classic period. Modern editions of ancient Greek texts are usually written with accents and breathing marks , interword spacing , modern punctuation , and sometimes mixed case , but these were all introduced later. The beginning of Homer 's Iliad exemplifies
12852-436: The temple underwent subsequent building phases. Much of that visible today is of the Classical era (5th century BC). Its portico of 12 columns was added in the time of Demetrius Phalereus , about 318 BC, by the architect Philo . When finished, it was considered one of the four finest examples of Grecian architecture in marble. Modifications were also carried out in Roman times (2nd c. AD). The Roman bridge that carried
12978-584: The underworld . Minthe was a nymph of the river Cocytus who became Hades's mistress. A jealous Persephone trampled the nymph under her foot, transforming her into garden mint in the process. According to a scholiast on Nicander , Hades turned his dead lover into the mint herb after Persephone tore her into pieces for sleeping with him. In another version, Hades had kept Minthe as his mistress before he married Persephone, and set her aside afterwards. Minthe boasted of being more beautiful than Persephone, and that Hades would soon take her back. In anger over
13104-492: The underworld alive. He found the entrance to the underworld at Taenarum . Athena and Hermes helped him through and back from Hades. Heracles asked Hades for permission to take Cerberus. Hades agreed as long as Heracles did not harm Cerberus. When Heracles dragged the dog out of Hades, he passed through the cavern Acherusia . In the myth of Admetus and Alcestis , after Alcestis chose to die in place of her husband Admetus in order to save him, Heracles brought her back from
13230-504: The underworld and acts as a reminder that the gates of the underworld were always locked so that souls could not leave. Even if the doors were open, Cerberus, the three-headed guard dog of the underworld, ensured that, while all souls were allowed to enter into the underworld freely, none could ever escape. Cerberus is a very integral symbol of Hades so much so that when Cerberus is depicted, the depiction very rarely portrays him without Hades. Sometimes, artists painted Hades as looking away from
13356-418: The underworld. Hades knew of their plan to capture his wife, so he pretended to offer them hospitality and set a feast; as soon as the pair sat down, snakes coiled around their feet and held them there. Theseus was eventually rescued by Heracles but Pirithous was either trapped as punishment for daring to seek the wife of a god for his own or killed by Cerberus, depending on the version of the story. Sisyphus
13482-520: The underworld. He cared little about what happened in the world above, as his primary attention was ensuring none of his subjects ever left his domain. He strictly forbade his subjects to leave his domain and would become quite enraged when anyone tried to leave, or if someone tried to steal the souls from his realm. His wrath was equally terrible for anyone who tried to cheat death or otherwise crossed him, as Sisyphus and Pirithous found out to their sorrow. While usually indifferent to his subjects, Hades
13608-567: The very essence of indestructible life ( zoë ) , are the same god. Among other evidence, Karl Kerényi notes in his book that the Homeric Hymn To Demeter, votive marble images and epithets all link Hades to being Dionysus. He also notes that the grieving goddess Demeter refused to drink wine, as she states that it would be against themis for her to drink wine, which is the gift of Dionysus, after Persephone's abduction, because of this association; indicating that Hades may in fact have been
13734-571: The word "Hades" was frightening, euphemisms were pressed into use. Since precious minerals come from under the earth (i.e., the "underworld" ruled by Hades), he was considered to have control of these as well, and as such the Greeks referred to him as Πλούτων (Greek Plouton ; Latin PLVTO, Pluto , "the rich one"). This title is derived from the word Ploutos ( Ancient Greek : Πλοῦτος , romanized : Ploútos , lit. 'wealth, riches', [ˈpluː.tos] ). Sophocles explained
13860-454: The world provide food again. The Great Eleusian relief which was famous in antiquity and was copied in the Roman period, is the largest and most important votive relief found and dates to 440-430 BC. It represents the Eleusinian deities in a scene depicting a mysterious ritual. On the left Demeter, clad in a peplos and holding a sceptre in her left hand, offers ears of wheat to Triptolemos, son of Eleusinian king Keleos, to bestow on mankind. On
13986-475: Was Aeolic. For example, fragments of the works of the poet Sappho from the island of Lesbos are in Aeolian. Most of the dialect sub-groups listed above had further subdivisions, generally equivalent to a city-state and its surrounding territory, or to an island. Doric notably had several intermediate divisions as well, into Island Doric (including Cretan Doric ), Southern Peloponnesus Doric (including Laconian ,
14112-583: Was a mortal king from Corinth who was punished in Tartarus for revealing to the river god Asopus the whereabouts of his daughter Aegina after Zeus abducted her, and for trying to cheat death as well. Zeus, angry at Sisyphus for revealing the secret, sent Thanatos to Sisyphus, but he cleverly cast Death into his own bonds, and as a result no one could die until Ares freed Thanatos and delivered Sisyphus to him. But still, Sisyphus ordered his wife Merope not to perform any funeral rites for him and what else
14238-469: Was a war between the two states, in which the Eleusinians were defeated, whereupon they agreed to acknowledge the supremacy of Athens in everything except the celebration of the mysteries, of which they were to continue to have the management. Eleusis afterwards became an Attic deme, but in consequence of its sacred character it was allowed to retain the title of polis (πόλις) and to coin its own money,
14364-410: Was able to bring the dead back to life. Feeling cheated, Hades persuaded Zeus to kill him with a thunderbolt. After his death, Asclepius was brought to Olympus where he became a god. Hades was only depicted outside of the underworld once in myth, and even that is believed to have been an instance where he had just left the gates of the underworld , which was when Heracles shot him with an arrow as Hades
14490-445: Was accustomed as tribute to the underworld gods before he was brought to Hades. After some time that Merope had not offered proper honours, Hades learnt of this, and allowed Sisyphus to return to the world of the living so that he could punish his wife, with the understanding that he would return afterwards. Sisyphus, however, never returned as promised until years later, when he died of old age. Hades punished Sisyphus by making him roll
14616-404: Was also depicted as cold and stern, and he held all of his subjects equally accountable to his laws. Any other individual aspects of his personality are not given, as Greeks refrained from giving him much thought to avoid attracting his attention. Hades ruled the dead, assisted by others over whom he had complete authority. The House of Hades was described as full of "guests," though he rarely left
14742-422: Was also shown as varying ages in other works. Due to this lack of depictions, there were not very strict guidelines when representing the deity. On pottery, he has a dark beard and is presented as a stately figure on an "ebony throne." His attributes in art include a bident (less commonly, a scepter), a helm, cornucopias, roosters, and a key. They key plays a doubly symbolic role in that it represents his control over
14868-450: Was attempting to defend the city of Pylos. After he was shot, however, he traveled to Olympus to heal. Besides Heracles , the only other living people who ventured to the underworld were also heroes : Odysseus , Aeneas (accompanied by the Sibyl ), Orpheus , to whom Hades showed uncharacteristic mercy at Persephone's urging, who was moved by Orpheus's music, Theseus with Pirithous , and, in
14994-551: Was destroyed by Alaric I in 396 AD, and from that time disappears from history. The Telesterion , or temple of Demeter, was the largest in all Greece, and is described by Strabo as capable of containing as many persons as a theatre. The building was initially designed by Ictinus , the architect of the Parthenon at Athens; but it was many years before it was completed, and the names of several architects are preserved who were employed in building it. During its long history,
15120-452: Was discovered. Pollution thanks to citizens' struggles gradually has fallen. Today, the city has become a suburb of Athens , to which it is linked by the A6 motorway and Greek National Road 8 . Eleusis is nowadays a major industrial area, and the place where the majority of crude oil in Greece is imported and refined. The largest refinery is located on the west side of town, right beside where
15246-471: Was here that Demeter, disguised as an old lady who was abducted by pirates in Crete , came to an old well where the four daughters of the local king Keleos and his queen Metaneira ( Kallidike , Kleisidike , Demo and Kallithoe ) found her and took her to their palace to nurse the son of Keleos and Metaneira, Demophoon . Demeter raised Demophoon, anointing him with nectar and ambrosia and placing him at night in
15372-516: Was made to rebuild it. When the power of the Thirty Tyrants was overthrown after the Peloponnesian War , they retired to Eleusis, which they had secured beforehand, but where they maintained themselves for only a short time. The town of Eleusis and its immediate neighbourhood were exposed to inundations from the river Cephissus , which, though almost dry during the greater part of the year,
15498-514: Was settled by Arvanites . European travelers during the Ottoman domination described Eleusis as having few inhabitants and many ancient ruins. In 1829, after the Greek War of Independence , Elefsina was a small settlement of about 250 inhabitants. By the late 19th century Elefsina changed drastically as new buildings were erected by the new merchant settlers. Also during that period Eleusis became one of
15624-532: Was the first-born son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea . He had three older sisters, Hestia , Demeter , and Hera , as well as a younger brother, Poseidon , all of whom had been swallowed whole by their father as soon as they were born. Zeus was the youngest child and through the machinations of their mother, Rhea, he was the only one that had escaped this fate. Upon reaching adulthood, Zeus managed to force his father to disgorge his siblings. After their release,
15750-507: Was the music he played that it charmed even Hades (as well as his wife Persephone), who allowed him to take Eurydice to the land of the living, as long as he did not look back at her on his way out. In another story, Theseus and Pirithous pledged to kidnap and marry daughters of Zeus . Theseus chose Helen and together they kidnapped her and decided to hold onto her until she was old enough to marry. Pirithous chose Persephone . They left Helen with Theseus's mother, Aethra , and traveled to
15876-431: Was very focused on the punishment of these two people; particularly Pirithous , as he entered the underworld in an attempt to steal Persephone for himself, and consequently was forced onto the "Chair of Forgetfulness". Another myth is about the Greek god Asclepius who was originally a demigod, son of Apollo and Coronis , a Thessalian princess. During his lifetime, he became a famous and talented physician, who eventually
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