() or PLUTON ( or poetically Ἀΐδης, Ἀἵδωνεύς
and Πλουτεν́ς), the god of the lower world. Plato (Cratyl. p. 403) observes that people preferred calling him Pluton (the giver
of wealth) to pronouncing the dreaded name of Hades or Aides. Hence we find that in ordinary
life and in the mysteries the name Pluton became generally established, while the poets
preferred the ancient name Aides or the form Pluteus. The etymology of Hades is uncertain:
some derive it from α-ιδεῖν, whence it would signify "the
god who makes invisible," and others from ἅδω or
χάδω; so that Hades would mean "the allembracer," or "
all-receiver." The Roman poets use the names Dis, Orcus, and Tartarus as synonymous with
Pluton, for the god of the lower world.
Hades is a son of Cronus and Rhea, and a brother of Zeus and Poseidon. He was married to
Persephone, the daughter of Demeter. In the division of the world among the three brothers,
Hades obtained " the darkness of night," the abode of the shades, over which he rules.
(Apollod. i. ]. § 5, 2.1.) Hence he is called the infernal Zeus (Ζεὺς καταχθόνιος), or the king of the shades (ἂναε ἐνέρων, Hom. Il. 9.457,
20.61. 15.187, &c.). As, however, the earth and Olympus
belonged to the three brothers in common, he might ascend Olympus, as he did at the time when
he was wounded by Heracles. (Il. 5.395; comp. Paus. 6.25.3; Apollod. 2.7.3; ind.
Ol. 9.31.) But when Hades was in his own kingdom, he was quite unaware
of what was going on either on earth or in Olympus (Il. 20.61,
&c.), and it was only the oaths and curses of men that reached his ears, as they reached
those of the Erinnyes. He possessed a helmet which rendered the wearer invisible (Il. 5.845), and later traditions stated that this helmet was given
him as a present by the Cyclopes after their delivery from Tartarus. (Apollod. 1.2.1.) Ancient story mentions both gods and men who were honoured by Hades
with the temporary use of this helmet. (Apollod. 1.6.2, 2.4.2.) His character is described as fierce and inexorable, whence
of all the gods he was most hated by mortals. (Il. 9.158.) He
kept the gates of the lower world closed (whence he is called Πυλάρτης, Il. 8.367; comp. Paus. 5.20.1.; Orph. Hymn. 17. 4), that no shade
might be able to escape or return to the region of light. When mortals invoked him, they
struck the earth with their hands (Il. 9.567), and the
sacrifices which were offered to him and Persephone consisted of black male and female sheep,
and the person who offered the sacrifice had to turn away his face. (Od. 10.527; Serv. ad Virg. Georg. 2.380.)
The ensign of his power was a staff, with which, like Hermes, he drove the shades into the
lower world (Pind. O. 9.35), where he had his palace and shared
his throne with his consort Persephone. When he carried off Persephone from the upper world,
he rode in a golden chariot drawn by four black immortal horses. (Orph. Argon. 1192, Hymn. 17. 14; Ov. Met.
5.404; Hom. Hymn. in Cer. 19; Claudian, Rapt.
Proserp. i. in fin.) Besides these horses he was also believed to have herds of oxen in
the lower world and in the island of Erytheia, which were attended to by Menoetius. (Apollod. 2.5. §§ 10, 12.) Like the other gods, he was not a
faithful husband; the Furies are called his daughters (Serv. ad
Aen. 1.86); the nymph Mintho, whom he loved, was metamorphosed by Persephone into the
plant called mint (Strab. viii. p.344; Ov. Met. 10.728), and the nymph Leuce, with whom he was likewise
in love, was changed by him after her death into a white poplar, and transferred to Elysium.
(Serv. ad Virg. Eclog. 7.61.) Being the king of the lower world, Pluton
is the giver of all the blessings that come from the earth: he is the possessor and giver of
all the metals contained in the earth, and hence his name Pluton. (Hes. Op. et
Dies, 435; Aeschyl. Prom. 805; Strab.
iii. p.147; Lucian, Tim. 21.) He bears several surnames referring
to his ultimately assembling all mortals in his kingdom, and bringing them to rest and peace;
such as Polydegmon, Polydectes, Clymenus, Παγκοίτης,
&c. (Hom. Hymn. in Cer. 9; Aeschyl. Prom. 153 ;
Soph. Antig. 811; Paus. 2.35.7.) Hades was
worshipped throughout Greece and Italy. In Elis he had a sacred enclosure and a temple, which
was opened only once in every year (Paus. 6.25.3) ; and we
further know that he had temples at Pylos Triphyliacus, near Mount Menthe, between Tralles
and Nysa, at Athens in the grove of the Erinnyes, and at Olympia. (Strab. iii. p.344, xiv. p. 649 Paus. 1.28.6, 5.20.1.) We possess few representations of this divinity, but in
those which still exist, he resembles his brothers Zeus and Poseidon, except that his hair
falls down his forehead, and that the majesty of his appearance is dark and gloomy. His
ordinary attributes are the key of Hades and Cerberus. (Hirt, Mythol.
Bilderb. i. p. 72, &c.)
In Homer Aides is invariably the name of the god; but in later times it was transferred to
his house, his abode or kingdom, so that it became a name for the lower world itself. We
cannot enter here into a description of the conceptions which the ancients formed of the lower
world, for this discussion belongs to mythical geography.