Greek god’s Hermes, Hades & Dionysus | Greek Mythology

Table of Contents

Hermes

I am the god of movement, traveling, through the air, over the land, on the water. I’m the god of thieves, thieving, through stealing, over bargaining, on poor deals. I’m the inventor of speech, sharing of ideas, through conversations, through dreams over prayers I’m the trickster, unpredictability, through my will, over my very own, on my whim.

In Ancient Greek religion, Hermes is that the winged herald and messenger of the Olympian gods. The patron of travelers and wayfarers, the divine trickster, the god of roads, flocks, commerce, and thieves. The conductor of dreams, shepherd of men, and leader of souls. he’s also called the inventor of speech, and thus, often related to interpretation or oratory.

Hermes was the son of Zeus and Maia, the eldest of the seven Pleiades. He was born during a subside mount Cyllene in arcadia. And on the primary day of his life, he was ready to invent the lyre and play a song, celebrating his own birth with it. to create the lyre, Hermes killed a tortoise and pulled the flesh out of its shell.

Then, giving honor to the Pleiades, he stretched seven strings of sheep-gut over the empty shell. Hermes is typically depicted as an athletically built, bare-chested youth, always wielding a broad-brimmed hat, winged sandals, and a herald’s wand. Hermes’ wand, maybe a short-winged staff, entangled by two identical serpents and had the facility to bring sleep upon people or wake them from it.

Hermes was the sole Olympian capable of crossing the boundary between the living and therefore the dead and carrying the souls of the dead within the underworld. He was referred to as “the conductor” or “the leader of souls and In every way, Hermes was loved by all of the gods, and mortal alike. He was very close together with his father, Zeus, acting as his wingman. The moon goddess, Artemis taught him the way to hunt, and therefore the nature god, pan the way to play the pipes.

Hermes was a particularly helpful god. to say but a couple of of his good deed, he was the one who guided Persephone back to her mother, Demeter, the one who beheaded the hundred-eyed giant, argus, and therefore the one who showed Athena, aphrodite, and Hera the thanks to mounting ida where Paris was to gauge which one among them was the fairest. He also led Perseus to the graeae, escorted pandora to Epimetheus, and guided Priam safely to Achilles’ tent. Although Hermes never married, he had a couple of consorts who bore him children. Aphrodite bore him hermaphrodites, Chione bore him Autolycus, and Penelopeia bore him pan.

Hades

Called plouton, giver of wealth, the wealth found below. Called hades, not just for invisbility, am i named, except for my wisdom, my knowing all noble things. Souls go before me, without their covering, no soul returns from my kingdom. The road to hades, is that the easiest to travel, the decent is that the same from every place. No man takes with him to my realm and all his exceeding wealth. i’m king of the dead. Hades, is my name. 

Hades is that the Ancient Greek god of the dead and therefore the underworld, an area where human souls follow death and are identified with the name, pluto, by the Romans. He was the ruler of the invisible world, the unseen one, the infernal Zeus. The host of the many, the attractor of men, the grisly god. He was also called the god of wealth or “the rich one” because he possessed the valuable metals of the world and Hades was the oldest son of titans, Cronus, and rhea. After being rescued by Zeus from the belly of their father, Cronus, hades joined him within the war against the titans. The Olympians defeated their father and his titan brethren to finish their reign, thereby claiming rulership over the universe.

Zeus ruled over the skies, hades, the underworld, and Poseidon, the seas. Hades is depicted as a stern and unyielding god, grim and ghastly, unmoved by prayer and sacrifice. He often wears a helmet, referred to as the helm of darkness or the cap of invisibility, which grants invisibility thereto wearer. Thus, this is often why he’s called the unseen one.

In his kingdom, hades sit on a throne made from ebony, and carry a scepter or more sometimes, the bident, which may be a two-pronged fork, modeled after Poseidon’s trident. He was unintrigued by human affairs and rarely left his kingdom, except on rare occasions, like when he traveled to the mortal world to abduct Persephone, the daughter of a goddess, Demeter, whom he had fallen crazy with. The narcissus, the pomegranate, and therefore the cypress are a number of his sacred symbols.

The realm of hades lies between secret places of the world, and to urge there, one must cross the oceans. The deceased entered underworld with the assistance of Charon, the ferryman of hades, whose duty was to hold dead souls across the r Acheron and Styx rivers, that divided the planet of the living from the planet of the dead.

The underworld had five magical rivers, each with a symbolic meaning. The Phlegethon river (represented fire), the Lethe river (represented oblivion), the Acheron river(represented sorrow, or grief), the Cocytus river (represented lamentation), and lastly, the Styx river (represented hate), and is that the principal river within the underworld, which formed the boundary between the upper and lower worlds. the greek gods swore upon the Styx. So sacred was their oath, that if any god was guilty of breaking this oath, he was bereft of nectar and ambrosia, the divine drink and food of the gods. Hades charged the fearsome three-headed dog, Cerberus, with guarding the doorway to the underworld, and therefore the beast is typically beside him. additionally, he was served by the furies, whom he gave the responsibility of torturing the guilty souls for eternity.

Dionysus

Born from the thigh, twice-born i’m called, these nymphs that follow, be not ye appalled. Come, and end up enthralled. Oh! these nymphs, sublime! not me, just my wine. In wine, there’s wildness, in wine, there’s madness. In wine, there’s love, so drink, ye beloved.

Dionysus, the olympian god of wine, the god of vegetation, and fertility, the god of delight, festivity, merriment, and wild frenzy. He who had a dual nature; who brought joy, and divine ecstasy on one hand; or wild and blinding rage on the opposite hand. The giver of wine, the master of the humanities of viticulture.

Dionysus was the son of Zeus, and therefore the mortal princess of Thebes, Semele. When the jealous queen of the gods, Hera, learned that the mortal princess was carrying Zeus’ child, she visited Semele in disguise and convinced her to ascertain who her lover really was, if he was good-looking, or ugly, if he was really a god or a monster. Semele did as she was told, unaware of what was close to befall her. Thus, when the oathbound Zeus appeared before her in his full glory, she was consumed by the warmth of his lightning bolts. Zeus rescued their unborn child from her body, stitched him up in his own thigh, till he was able to change state.

However, Hera, quickly acknowledged that baby Dionysus was still alive, and called upon the titans to kill him. The titans indeed ripped him to pieces; but the Titaness, the rhea, found his pieces, reassembled him, and brought him back to life.

Zeus then conferred immortality on the small god, and gave him to the mountain nymphs to be raised, faraway from the eyes of Hera. Dionysus grew up to become an effeminate, attractive, youthful god, always carrying a pine-cone-tipped staff, a Dixie cup, and a crown of ivy. And is typically amid a troop of satyrs and wild female devotees, called the marinades. Stories tell that he was also one among only a few deities, who were ready to bring a dead soul back from the underworld realm of hades. Dionysus would later wander the planet, spreading his worship, and temples, becoming one among the foremost loved gods, among men.

***

Originally posted 2020-08-25 11:29:00.