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See also: The war of the gods and the Titans 26–27 ■ The abduction of
Persephone 50–51 ■ The quest of Odysseus 64–69 ■ The Sibyl of Cumae 108–09ANCIENT GREECE
Cerberus. Though loosely described
as a dog, this creature was born of
the union between the giant snake-
man, Typhon, and the man-eating
serpent-maiden, Echidna. Cerberus
turned this same ferocity on those
who attempted to escape.
Charon and Cerberus were not
the only nonhuman residents of
Hades. Nyx, the goddess of night,
lived there, as did Eurynomos,
a flesh-eating demon, and the
goddess Hecate. The Furies served
Hades as his torturers, while
Tartarus was both a deity and the
pit where Titans were punished.Hellish punishments
Some souls faced hideous torments
in Hades. The crimes of Tantalus,
a Phrygian ruler, were twofold: to
test the gods, he had cooked and
served up his son at a banquet he
was hosting for them; and, as a
guest at Zeus’s table, he had tried
to steal nectar and ambrosia, which
would make him immortal, to take
back with him to Earth. For this, he
was imprisoned in Hades, wracked
with thirst and hunger, surrounded
by a pool of water, and with fruit-laden branches that dangled inches
from his face. When he leaned over
to taste either the water or the fruit,
they withdrew from his reach,
driving him into a frenzy.
Sisyphus, King of Corinth, had
tricked Hades into thinking that
he had been taken to the
Underworld prematurely, and
managed to get himself returned
to Earth. As punishment, he was
sentenced to push an enormous
boulder up a hill. Each time he got
to the top, the stone rolled back
down to the bottom and he had
to start all over again—and again,
and again, for the rest of all time.The Greek afterlife
Hades was not the only realm for
the dead. According to the ancient
writers, fallen heroes and the most
virtuous were sent to the Elysian
Fields—paradisiacal islands where
they could live in bliss. Neither
Hades nor Elysium, however, were
representative of the ancient Greek
view of the afterlife. Stories about
Elysium, or the punishment of
Sisyphus, were isolated tales. There
is no sense that the ancient Greeks,
as a whole, believed in a systematic
judgment of the dead. ■Hecate
Despite Zeus’s victory over
Kronos and his Titans, and
his otherwise unchallenged
authority over the universe,
Hesiod’s Theogony tells us
that the goddess Hecate,
associated with darkness,
was honored “above all
others.” Darkness and death
were seen as powerful,
immutable elements.
Hecate was conventionally
depicted with three heads,
representing the full moon,
the crescent moon, and
the empty dead-black sky. She
was often identified with
crossroads, especially those
where three different paths
met. Associated with liminal
spaces and transitions, she
was often worshipped by
those wishing loved ones a
safe crossing into the realm of
the dead. Hecate was invited
to stay in the Underworld as a
companion to Hades’s wife,
Persephone, but was allowed
to come and go as she wished.
In myth, Persephone is often
seen as the maiden and
Demeter the mother; Hecate is
the crone to complete the trio.Once Death has caught
hold of a man, he never
lets him go.
TheogonyRound the pit from every
side the crowd thronged,
with strange cries,
and I turned
pale with fear.
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