Ancient Greek gods. The meaning of the word hades in the dictionary-reference book of who's who in the ancient world Life on Olympus

supreme deity in ancient Greek mythology is the son of the titans Rhea and Kronos - Zeus. This almighty father of the gods of Ancient Greece commands the wind and clouds, he is able to cause a hurricane and a storm with a blow of a scepter.

If desired, Zeus calms the raging one and clears the sky of clouds. Three brothers - the gods of ancient Greece, Zeus, Hades and Poseidon divided among themselves all the power. Zeus became the lord of the sky, Poseidon - the lord of the sea, Hades got the kingdom of the dead.

In the most ancient times, Zeus was the lord of the dungeons. Later, only the bright side of life is associated with his name. During the patriarchy, Zeus becomes the absolute ruler of Mount Olympus.

According to legend, Gaia, who rebelled against Zeus, sent her offspring, nicknamed Typhon, to fight him. Struck by the fire lightning of the Heavenly Sovereign, this being was defeated. But the fight didn't end there. The new children of Gaia, the giants, laid the foundation for the development of gigantomachy (in translation from Greek - “battle of the giants”). According to Apollodorus, typhonia appeared later, which makes it possible to assert that Typhon, in comparison with the giants, was a more formidable monster.

Hades - ruler of the underworld

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Lord of the dark underworld, where he never looked Sunshine, the son of Rhea and Kronos rules, the brother of Zeus is Hades. In the dungeon, the souls of the dead are transported across the Acheron River. The river Styx flows there, and the source of Leta breaks out of the bowels of the earth. He grants oblivion to everything earthly. Over the gloomy fields of Hades, overgrown with wild tulips, the shadows of the dead sweep.

The entrance to the entrance is guarded by the ferocious three-headed dog Kerber, on whose neck hissing snakes move. Everyone can enter, but no one was allowed to leave the dark kingdom.

And sadness does not reach here. The gods of ancient Greece sit on a golden throne - Hades and his wife Persephone. Judges Rhadamanthus and Minos are at the throne, nearby you can see the black-winged god of death - Tanat. Serve Hades Erinia - the goddess of vengeance.

Hephaestus - lord of fire and metal

Hephaestus (the son of the gods of Ancient Greece) Zeus and Hera is considered the god of fire and metal, the patron of blacksmithing. He was born lame and frail. Terrible in her anger, Hera threw the unfortunate man into the ocean, but the sea goddesses of ancient Greece, Eurynome and Thetis, saved him and left. The young man proved capable of arts and crafts. Blacksmithing was especially to his liking.

Later legends say that Hephaestus was thrown from Olympus by his father, Zeus, which is why the boy remained lame for life. Hephaestus fell on the island of Lemnos, so he was sheltered by the locals. Later, in Athens, in honor of the god of ancient Greece, holidays were held - hephaestias.

Hephaestus grew up to be a mighty hero and worked in the forge from early morning until late at night. Despite his limp, he possesses gigantic strength and a high level of skill. The gods of ancient Greece used the copper palaces built by Hephaestus on Olympus. In addition, a skilled craftsman made two slaves who could talk from gold, forged the armor of Achilles, the scepter and aegis of Zeus, the chariot of Helios, Pandora's box, etc. Thanks to Hephaestus, jewelry arose. The first jewelry made from precious stones, were presented to their intended mothers, who saved him from death to the goddesses Eurynome and Thetis. However, he harbored a deep resentment towards his own mother Hera for her cruel act and wanted to take revenge on her.

Hypnos - the god who owns the secrets of sleep

Hypnos is the god of sleep, born of Nikto. He lives with his brother - a twin in Tartarus. Unlike his brother, he is benevolent and good-natured. Hypnos allows people to forget about all the troubles and misfortunes, and gives them. At night, the god of sleep sweeps over the earth and pours a sleepy drink from his horn. Hypnos carefully touches people's eyes with a wand, closes the eyelids and plunges into a deep sleep. Subject to its lulling power and the gods of ancient Greece .

Once Hera decided to kill Hercules, who was returning from Troy. She was able to persuade Hypnos to put the Lord of the Sky to sleep so that he would not interfere with her. Awakened in anger, Zeus was terrible. He wanted to severely punish Hypnos, but his mother Nikta stood up for the god of sleep. Zeus decided not to quarrel with the powerful goddess. But Hypnos did not draw any conclusions from this story. The next time, Hera again persuaded him to put Zeus to sleep, promising to marry one of the Charites Pasithea.

The constant attributes of the god of sleep were: a horn filled with hypnotic juices, a poppy and a wand for lulling. According to Homer, the habitat of Hypnos is the island of Lemnos, according to Ovid, he lives in a cave located in the country of the Cimmerians. The spring of oblivion flows out of the cave, while the god himself, surrounded by beautiful dreams, lies down on a wonderful bed.

Zeus was considered the main deity of the ancient Greek pantheon. He "managed" not only thunder and lightning, but also the entire Olympus and the human world.

Birth

Zeus' parents were Kronos and Rhea. The father knew about the prophecy that one of his sons would overthrow him. Kronos was very afraid of this. He himself at one time destroyed his father Uranus - the very first god. The myth of Zeus says that Kronos ordered Rhea to bring him newborn children, whom he swallowed without any pity. This fate has already befallen Hestia, Poseidon, Demeter, Hades and Hera.

Rhea, afraid for her younger son, decided to give birth to him in a cave on the island of Crete. She gave Kronos a stone wrapped in diapers, which he swallowed, unaware of the trick.

The myth of the birth of Zeus also tells about the Kurets, the mysterious companions of Rhea. It was they who guarded the child while he was growing up in Crete. The guards clanged loudly with armor and shields if the baby began to cry. This was done so that Kronos would not hear these cries. The myth of the birth of Zeus was later adopted from the Greeks by the Romans. They called this

Childhood in a cave

Zeus ate honey from local bees, which they themselves brought to him from hives on Mount Dikti. One of the caves at its foot is still considered the "cave of Zeus". When archaeologists conducted the first excavations here, they found a huge number of altars and figurines dedicated to the Thunderer. The myth of Zeus was known to every inhabitant of Hellas. The baby was also fed on the milk of the goat Amalthea. This animal was brought to the cave by two nymphs: Adrastea and Idea. When Amalthea died, her horn was turned into and the skin was used by Zeus in making a shield with which he went to war against the Titans.

War with the titans

When Zeus grew up and matured, he openly opposed his father, who was unaware of the existence of his son. He forced Kronos to bring back the children that he had swallowed many years ago. Then they started a war against their father for power over the whole world. The myth of Zeus says that the altar on which they swore to fight Kronos was turned into a constellation.

The war with the titans lasted nine years. At first, she did not reveal the winners due to the equality of the forces of the opponents. The children of Kronos made their residence from where they led the war. In addition to Kronos, there were other titans in the second generation of gods, and some of them went over to the side of Zeus. Chief among them was the Ocean, which could control the seas and rivers.

Cyclopes and Hekatoncheirs

Finally, Zeus decided on an extreme measure and resorted to the help of the Cyclopes. They were the children of Uranus and Gaia. From birth, they ended up in Tartarus, where they languished until the Olympians freed them. These one-eyed giants forged lightning bolts for Zeus, which the Thunderer threw at his enemies during battles. They gave Hades a helmet, Poseidon a trident. Athena and Hephaestus learned crafts from the Cyclopes.

The myth of Zeus also mentions the hekatoncheirs. These were giants with 50 heads and a hundred hands, enclosed in the bowels of the earth. They also became allies of Zeus. These giants tore off whole pieces from the mountains and threw them directly at the titans who tried to take Olympus by storm. The colossal battle shook the whole world, even the underground Tartarus.

The Union of Olympians has borne fruit. They defeated the titans and cast them straight into Tartarus, where they were chained. The Hekatoncheirs began to guard the prisoners so that they could never be freed. From that moment on, the Olympian gods began to rule the world. The war with the titans became known as the Titanomachy. According to myths, it took place many centuries before the appearance of the human race.

New order

Power over the world was divided among the three brothers. Zeus gained dominion over the sky. Poseidon became the ruler of the sea. Hades got the realm of the dead. The land was recognized as common property. At the same time, Zeus was called the eldest of the gods. He ruled over the entire human world.

However, not everyone was happy with the new order of things. Gaia didn't like the way the Olympians treated her Titan children. A brief myth about Zeus, which includes this conflict, tells that the goddess of the Earth entered into marriage with the terrible Tartarus. From this connection, Typhon, a mighty giant, was born. He personified all the fiery forces of the earth. The new god tried to overthrow Zeus.

From one approach of Typhon, the seas boiled, and many Olympian gods waited in horror for his invasion. All this is told by the myth of Zeus. Summary of this new war is in some ancient Greek sources, for example, in Theogony. Zeus again took up the lightning, with which he struck Typhon. The giant was defeated and thrown back into Tartarus. However, there he still worries the earthly world. From his connection with Echidna, many monsters appeared, for example, the three-headed dog Cerberus, hydras and Chimera.

Life on Olympus

Zeus reigned at the top of Mount Olympus, where he was constantly surrounded by a host of younger gods. The gates to his halls are shrouded in a cloud ruled by the Ores. These goddesses of the seasons allowed visitors to Olympus and opened the entrance for the gods who descended to earth.

In the kingdom of Zeus reigns eternal summer- there is no snow, rain and natural disasters. The son of the Thunderer Hephaestus built magnificent halls in which the gods feasted and spent their free time from worries. The myth of Zeus (5th graders study this topic) also mentions his wife Hera. She became the patroness of human marriage and bore her husband many children. The most famous of them was the daughter of Hebe, who became the goddess of youth and cupbearer on Olympus.

Zeus belongs to the third generation of gods - the Olympians, who overthrew the second generation - the titans. supreme god Olympus Zeus (aka Jupiter; tetragramaton - the Lord; Jehovah, the demiurge; Atum, all of the above refer to the structure of the mind, that is, they are creators and rulers already in the space that was created even before their appearance, in which they create the world, therefore they are said to be “Knowing and managing the world”) - first of all, the lord of lightning and thunder. Zeus is the chief of the Olympian gods, the third son of the titan Kronos and Rhea (according to Homer, the eldest son). Brother of Hades, Hestia, Demeter, Hera and Poseidon. Zeus' wife is the goddess Hera. The attributes of Zeus were: a shield and a double ax (labrys), sometimes an eagle; Olympus was considered the seat.

Zeus is changeable, like the sky that he rules, every minute he appears in a new guise. This is a truly powerful god. If you fasten a rope of gold to the top of the sky and at the same time all the deities pull on it, they would not have a single chance to throw Zeus off Olympus. But if Zeus himself then pulled the rope, then the sea, the earth and all the gods would be lifted up and tied to the Olympic mountain. So, at least, he boasted.

Because he ruled from Olympus - a high and distant mountain, whose rocky peak is often hidden in the clouds. (When the brothers (Zeus, Poseidon and Hades) divided the world, Zeus got the sky by lot, Poseidon the sea, and Hades the underworld.) Although the earth and Mount Olympus were jointly owned, it is still easier for Zeus to follow from the sky what is happening below, therefore, in fact, he also rules the earth.

The sky is very different from the sea and the underworld, as are the characters of the gods who control these spheres. In order to go to the heavenly heights, it is necessary to leave the earth - to lose touch with the familiar and reliable firmament in order to gain a broader perception of the world - a vision. But from a transcendental height we see the forest, and at the same time we do not distinguish between individual trees on the ground, as if losing direct contact with it, and the "earthly inhabitants" do not know what is happening in heaven.

Therefore, Zeus appears (to the inhabitants) as a god of thunder, his symbol is lightning. And until today, when a person decides to go against any patriarchal prohibition, he is "afraid that thunder and lightning will fall on his head," and if this does not happen, he sighs with relief, because a mortal cannot see what is happening behind the clouds ( in a transcendental peak), because for this you need to rise, first of all, above yourself, above your ego. But still, being the giver of rain, Zeus provides the "earthly inhabitants" (plants) with conditions for growth. Whether it is about punishment or about any creative activity, the power of Zeus is usually exercised from above and from afar.

The ideas of the Greeks about Zeus changed with the development of the Greek civilization. When they were still semi-barbarians, they valued in him, first of all, his power and unpredictable destructive power. Over time, he was decorated with more and more ideal virtues of mind and heart, until perfect image the highest deity, whose wise power is subject to all spheres of life. Full name Zeus is not pronounceable like the tetragramaton, but the manifestation of his qualities as a ruler, a person feels on himself under different names. For example, under the name Gorky, he acts as the patron of laws from the height of his throne, on the steps of which the goddess of Justice sits, protects the sanctity of the oath that people take, raising their hands and eyes to heaven and calling his name.

As Xenius, he guards the immutable law of hospitality, takes care of strangers who ask for help and shelter, ambassadors and messengers are under his patronage, his name protects even the most unfortunate beggar from contempt: he just needs to touch the edge of the hearth and from that moment on Not a single hair will fall from his head. Zeus gives a person feelings of goodness, respect, and mercy. He sees to it that people are beneficent and kind to one another. Zeus stood guard over a single society and at the same time demanded that the gods and people adhere to the laws of morality. Kind and affectionate, Zeus surrounds all human labor with care. On golden scales he places the fates of mortals and, in accordance with what these scales show, sends happiness or misfortune, good or evil. Each settlement has its own Zeus, nicknamed Herkey (protector of the fence), who protects the law of property and the safety of the clan or community. And finally, Zeus as Hellenius was a deity whose purpose was to unite disparate tribes into a single whole, which would obey a single law and protect from the influence of neighboring tribes, which were still ruled by the gods of the second generation.

brother of Zeus and Poseidon

. (Hades) in Greek mythology, the god of the underworld, the son of Kronos and Rhea, the brother of Demeter, Hestia, Hera, Poseidon and Zeus (mythical)

. (Hades) in Greek mythology - the underworld, where the soul goes after death

In ancient Greek mythology, the god of the underworld and the realm of the dead

Lord of the realm of shadows of the dead in ancient Greek mythology

Olympian god, paternal uncle of Hermes

The underworld where Orpheus descended for Eurydice (mythical)

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Olympian God

First son of Kronos and Rhea

The entrance to it is guarded by Cerberus

The name of this ancient Greek god in translation most likely means "invisible", and in fact, rarely any of the earthly inhabitants managed to see him

From the name of this underworld came Russian word hell

The name of this ancient Greek god is translated as “invisible”, “formless”, “terrible”

Husband of Persephone

Destination for the souls of the ancient Greeks

Hell for the Greeks

In Greek mythology - the son of the titan Kronos and Rhea, the god of the underworld of the dead

Lord of the realm of shadows of the dead in Greek mythology

The realm of the dead in ancient Greek mythology

Realm of the Dead (mythical)

Pluto is different

Husband of Persephone

Kingdom of Pluto

Zeus Underground at Homer

Same as Hades

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realm of the dead

Greek Gehenna

Cerberus Guard Object

Orpheus descended there

god of the underworld

Underworld

god of the underworld

olympic god

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Hades, Pluto

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Realm of the Dead (myth.)

Pluto (myth.)

God from Olympus

Orpheus was there looking for Eurydice

Location of the River Styx

Destination for the souls of Hellenes

Greek underworld boss

There flows the river Styx

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ancient greek hell

Ancient kingdom of shadows

Greek god of the underworld

Enemy of Hercules

In Greek mythology, the god of the underworld and the realm of the dead

In ancient Greek mythology, the god of the underworld of the dead, the brother of Zeus

realm of the dead