Hades
Overview
Hades (ˈheɪdiːz; from Greek
(older form Ἀϝίδης), Hadēs, originally , Haidēs or , Aidēs (Doric
Ἀΐδας Aidas), meaning "the unseen") was the ancient Greek
god of the underworld. The genitive
, Haidou, was an elision
to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades". Eventually, the nominative
came to designate the abode of the dead.
In Greek mythology
, Hades is the oldest male child of Cronus
and Rhea
.
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
(older form Ἀϝίδης), Hadēs, originally , Haidēs or , Aidēs (Doric
Doric Greek
Doric or Dorian was a dialect of ancient Greek. Its variants were spoken in the southern and eastern Peloponnese, Crete, Rhodes, some islands in the southern Aegean Sea, some cities on the coasts of Asia Minor, Southern Italy, Sicily, Epirus and Macedon. Together with Northwest Greek, it forms the...
Ἀΐδας Aidas), meaning "the unseen") was the ancient Greek
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
god of the underworld. The genitive
Genitive case
In grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun...
, Haidou, was an elision
Elision
Elision is the omission of one or more sounds in a word or phrase, producing a result that is easier for the speaker to pronounce...
to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades". Eventually, the nominative
Nominative case
The nominative case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or the predicate noun or predicate adjective, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments...
came to designate the abode of the dead.
In Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
, Hades is the oldest male child of Cronus
Cronus
In Greek mythology, Cronus or Kronos was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titans, divine descendants of Gaia, the earth, and Uranus, the sky...
and Rhea
Rhea (mythology)
Rhea was the Titaness daughter of Uranus, the sky, and Gaia, the earth, in Greek mythology. She was known as "the mother of gods". In earlier traditions, she was strongly associated with Gaia and Cybele, the Great Goddess, and was later seen by the classical Greeks as the mother of the Olympian...
.
