#hadesdeity

the flowers everywhere are so beautiful and they’re not dying yet. color permeates every sidewalk and every patch of land. still, crisp brown leaves dot the color like a reminder.

there is a small bog forming in the ditch. things both grow and die there. wish dandelions reach towards the sky, shriveled but whole, braving the cold and relishing in today’s outbreak of sunshine.

a dead deer sits on the side of the highway, out of the road but visible enough that tears choked in my throat. someone was kind enough to drag it into the grass so that it may return to the earth. I still don’t know how to feel.

visiting our very small, very old cemetery feels like a gift today. we brought coins and coffee to offer; rags and tools to clean the headstones and scrape the moss from the engravings. what seems like an endless stretch of unplotted land lays behind us, but no one has been buried in this cemetery for decades. most of the graves display the 1800s, and every coin from our last visit remains unmoved.

three children ride their bicycles and tricycles past us as we work. two of them streak out in front, pedaling fearlessly towards construction. mom hangs back with the third, slow and careful on their bike, feet unsteady on the pedals. the child can’t stop themself from looking at us, looking at the cemetery, wonder and curiosity like flames in their eyes. we are old, most of these graves much older, and they are so young and so brightly curious and have so much to learn. so do we. no one else passing by has paid any attention to the two darkly clothed strangers cleaning the cemetery mid-day.

the tree at the center of the cemetery is massive and intimidating and mighty. in a conspicuous display of absolute life, wasps swarm every angle of the tree, spiderwebs create a barrier around it, and in a strikingly out of place smattering, purple flowers run through the grass towards the base of the tree. this tree is undoubtedly much older than these graves, and certainly older than the name of our town. it buzzes with energy all its own.

I've used this for ages now and other Hellenic blogs have recommended it as well, but if it's not accurate...

Theoi.com is one of my favorite sites, and I use it often. The quotes it has are very accurate, though you could argue against translations used but that’s an individual thing. I personally do recommend against trusting it’s overarching summaries, as they tend to be blends of multiple myths without care for lining them up with their associated beliefs, but in general it’s helpful and can include some fun historical facts! Like this one!

Haides was usually regarded as an infertile god, for a god of the dead should, by his very nature, be incapable of siring children. (Theoi.com)

Even the site itself confirms that Haides is generally viewed as an interfile God. Death cannot beget life. Now, like most things there are those that view it differently, but I’m one who does ascribe to him being an infertile God.

I discussed the individual children of his not being his HERE

Now, this is something some will debate on. Angie (good friend of mine, also HelPol) views Makaria as Haides’ child, but myself and Izzy decided after our analysis of the lines and the context around them that she was only his child in a figurative “child of the Underworld by being a Goddess of the Underworld” fashion. I mention it in the post I linked. 

Now I know I cover Haides being called Father in the post, but to reiterate. Haides is not called Father as the one who has a hand in the children’s birth, but as the Husband of Persephone, and as the King of the Underworld. One who is King, is in their own form the “Father” of those in their Kingdom. It’s notable that Zeus is called Father by even Hestia, as a display of this. So the different Gods of the Underworld would be recognized as Haides’ “children”, not in a literal sense but a figurative one.

Zeus Khthonios specifically to me is something based in the fact that... Haides is the King of the Underworld. He rules it completely, he handles the upkeep and care of it and it’s people. He is the “supreme God” of the Underworld. He is literally the Zeus (who rules Olympus and the Gods) but of the Underworld, and it doesn’t have to do with him having literal children.

Exactly!! And the absolute irony that the vast majority of mythology retellings are meant to be feminist retellings yet the most feminist myth the ancients ever gave us got the feminism written out of it the more it was retold in the modern age.

I’ve noticed that there aren’t many posts concerning epithets for Hades, and certainly no comprehensive ones, so I thought I’d make one. This is Hellenism focused, so all will be applied to Hades, even though the Latin ones would traditionally be for Pluto. Latin epithets are marked as (L). I translated some of these into more concise titles that convey their implications, and notes are made as necessary. Sources are at the bottom but are not linked so that this will still show in tags. I hope this helps everyone!

Related to his role as ruler of the underworld:

Hades Chthonius - Hades of the Underworld

Hades Polyxenos/Polydegmon/Polysêmantôr Aidonius - Hades, Ruler/Host of Many

Hades Pasiánax - Hades, the Universal King

Hades Adesius - Hades of the Grave

Hades Zefs Khthonios - Hades, Zeus of the Underworld

Hades Larthy Tytiral (Etrurian) - Hades, Sovereign of Tartarus

Hades Ánax - Hades, the King

Hades Polydegmenos - Hades, He Who Welcomes All

Summanus/Manus/Mantus (L) - Hades, Prince of the Dead

Niger Deus (L) - Hades, the Black God || Hades of the Infernal Regions

“Zeus of the Departed”

“The Other Zeus”

Related to his roles concerning death:

Hades Nekrodegmôn - Hades, Receiver of the Dead

Hades Agesilaos - Hades, Who Calls Man To The Underworld

Hades Nekrôn Sôtêr - Hades, Saviour of the Dead

Hades Hesperos Theos - Hades, God of Death and Darkness (for those who believe he and Thanatos are the same deity)

Related to his role as controller of the earth and its resources:

Hades Ploutos - Hades of Wealth

Hades Khamaizilos Dios - Hades of the Earth (“where he likes to be” is implied)

Hades Theôn Khthonios - Hades, the Terrestrial God

Tellumo (L) - Hades, Who Provides to the Creative (denotes creative power of the earth’s resources)

Tellus (L) - Hades, Who Provides for the Productive (denotes productive power of the earth’s resources)

Altor (L) - Hades, Who Nourishes

Other:

Hades Hagesilaos - Hades, Leader of the People

Hades Eubuleus - Hades of Good Counsel || Hades, the Consoler (supposedly references death as the end of sorrows)

Hades Adámastos - Hades, the Unconquerable

Hades Aidis - Hades, the Unseen

Hades Aïdonefs/Aidoneus - Hades, the Singer || Hades of Nightingales || Hades of Sleep || Hades of Light || Hades of Poets || Hades of a Girl

Hades Amenthes (Egyptian) - Hades, Who Gives and Receives

Hades Axiocersus - Hades the Shorn (he was depicted without hair where this was used)

Hades Clymenus - Hades, the Renowned

Hades Euclius/Eucles - Hades of Good Report/the Famous/of Good Fame

Hades Agetes/Hegates - Hades, the Conductor

Hades Moiragetes - Hades, Guide of the Fates

Hades Orkos/Orcus - Hades of Oaths, Hades, the Avenger of the Perjured

Hades Opheius - Hades, the Blind || Hades of Prophecy (as the blind augers of Messenia we’re dedicated to him)

Euchaites - The Beautiful-haired One

Rusor (L) - Hades, to Whom All Things Return

Salutaris Divus (L) - Hades, Restorer of the Dead

Saturnius (L) - Hades, Son of Kronos

Uragus (L) - Hades of Fire

Urgus (L) - Hades, Who Impels

Operatus (L) - Hades, the Concealed

Februus (L) - Hades, To Whom Purification and Sacrifice Is Offered

Hades, the Good and Prudent (not historical, but reflects how he was seen)

Negative (but everything can be twisted sometimes):

Hades Agesander - Hades, Who Carries All Away (this references the Persephone myth; included because it exists but I’m not sure you’d want to use it)

Hades Clotonius - Hades, the Infernal

Hades Stygius - Hades the Hateful

Feralis Deus (L) - Hades, the Cruel God

Hades Agelastus - Hades of Melancholy Countenance

“Hades, the Tearless”

“Hades, the Implacable and Adamant”

Given by Poets:

The Grisly God (Homer)

Ruthless King (Homer)

Infernal [Zeus] (Vergil, he said Jove)

Stygian [Zeus] (Vergil, same as above)

Sources:

Hellenic Gods (dot Org)

Brown, Robert (1844). “The Religion of Zoroaster Considered In Connection With Archaic Monotheism” (also known as Wikipedia citation)