16
votes
What kind of dog breed would Cerberus be?
Cerberus was the son of Echidna, a half-woman half-snake, and Typhon, a huge serpentine horror. That's a hell of a pedigree for a dog.
More seriously, I imagine Cerberus had to be at least loosely ...
- 2,287
11
votes
Accepted
Who was the first Satan like deity/creature/person in mythology?
This is a complex question, and entire books have been written on it. The modern conception of Satan is a mixture of qualities arising from paganism (horns, etc.) but the conception of Satan as evil ...
- 14.1k
10
votes
Accepted
Stories of living people that journeyed into the underworld and back?
When a hero takes a trip into the underworld, it's referred to as katabasis. I've included immortals in the listing. The following are but five of many such stories in Greek myth.
The god Dionysus ...
10
votes
Was Hermes originally mortal?
Probably not.
According to Apollodorus,
[VI. ZEUS CONFIRMS THE DIVINE PRIVILEGES OF HERMES.]
And Zeus made Hermes his personal herald and messenger of the gods beneath the earth."
It says that ...
- 6,719
7
votes
Accepted
After Triptolemus being added to Hades' jury, is Minos the most important judge?
From Plato's Gorgias, page 524:
οὗτοι οὖν ἐπειδὰν τελευτήσωσι, δικάσουσιν ἐν τῷ λειμῶνι, ἐν τῇ τριόδῳ
ἐξ ἧς φέρετον τὼ ὁδώ, ἡ μὲν εἰς μακάρων νήσους, ἡ δ᾽ εἰς Τάρταρον. καὶ
τοὺς μὲν ἐκ τῆς ...
- 5,354
6
votes
What is the inspiration behind the dark forest in Dante?
The metaphor was (probably) inspired partly by Medieval literature (courtly or theological) and partly by Virgil's works, for example the "Georgics" that, in part, discusses the myth of Orpheus, who ...
- 161
6
votes
Accepted
What is the name of the lake in Frogs?
It's probably Lake Lerna, a real (former) lake in the Argive plain. You might also know this lake from the Lernaean Hydra, the killing of which was one of Heracles' tasks.
The lake has disappeared ...
- 7,157
6
votes
Hades, in Greek Mythology, was he really a bad guy, or just a hard to understand God?
Hades main story involved the abduction of his niece, the Kore (aka Persephone), and subsequent forced marriage. So, from a modern perspective, we could say he is a bad guy. But, it's important to ...
- 14.1k
6
votes
Accepted
What is the source of the story of Hades trapping Pirithous and Theseus in the Chairs of Forgetfulness?
Apollodorus' Epitome 1.24:
Theseus, arriving in the realm of Haides [Hades] with Peirithous
[Pirithous], was thoroughly deceived, for Haides on the pretense of
hospitality had them sit first ...
- 9,772
6
votes
Accepted
How did Hades get Kerberos?
In 1828 the Danish sculptor Albert Bertel Thorvaldsen made this piece (above), entitled Cupid Leading Cerberus. On his website the Greek Mythology Link, Carlos Parada has labelled this picture: "Cupid ...
- 9,772
6
votes
What kind of dog breed would Cerberus be?
Cerberus was known as the hound of Hades. This three headed dog was the offspring of Echidna and Typhon. He had three heads, a serpent tail, and snakes coming out of some of his body parts.
The ...
- 247
6
votes
Who was the first Satan like deity/creature/person in mythology?
As @Codosaur Pointed out, Satan is a character that rises up against the supreme deity of the mythology. I would add that in the Christian religion, he comes by many names I'll start a list here and ...
6
votes
Accepted
Why was the Aztec god Xolotl associated with Venus?
Xolotl and Quetzalcoatl
Xolotl was the twin brother of Quetzalcoatl, and where both associated with the twin phases of Venus as evening and morning star.
In their roles as evening and morning star ...
- 4,051
5
votes
Accepted
How would a body be prepared for the Greek afterlife?
The Greeks believed that at the moment of death the psyche, or spirit of the dead, left the body as a little breath or puff of wind. The deceased was then prepared for burial according to the time-...
- 415
5
votes
Accepted
Who was the ruler of the Japanese Yomi?
As I understand it, Izanagi is the original ruler of Yomi, however, when Susanoo was banished there, he became ruler.
Texts on Yomi are very scarce, and finding out exactly how he became ruler, and ...
- 168
5
votes
Accepted
How did Hades get to know Persephone?
Most Greek accounts - even the otherwise extraordinarily comprehensive mention in the Hymn to Demeter - don't mention the cause of Hades' infatuation with Persephone. I would tempted to snarkily write ...
- 7,075
5
votes
How did Hades get Kerberos?
In Hesiod's Theogony Cerberus was the offspring of Echidna and Typhon (on the other hand, Hesiod did call him fifty-headed, so). To back this story up, note that Euphorion of Chalcis described him as ...
- 589
5
votes
Was there a hell or place of suffering after death in Norse mythology?
Hel... is the most general name for the underworld where many of the dead dwell.
That said, there were other realms for the dead (Valhalla, Folkvang, etc.).
... apart from the fact that Hel and Hell ...
4
votes
Why are Kore and Persephone interchangeable in the myth regarding Hades wife?
As Piper notes, κόρη (kore-ay) is the Greek word for girl. The linked lexical entry lists usage as girl, bride, and daughter. All three usages are central to the Persephone myth in that, unlike her ...
- 14.1k
4
votes
Accepted
Why was Adonis allowed to leave the Underworld?
https://www.greekmythology.com/Other_Gods/Minor_Gods/Adonis/adonis.html
...However, Persephone later refused to give Adonis back to Aphrodite;
this led to a dispute that was solved by Zeus. As a ...
- 709
4
votes
What kind of dog breed would Cerberus be?
In Henrique C. Agrippa's "occult philosophy" book 2, in his commentary in chapter 18 on Cerberus he focuses on the elements air, water and earth (about the 3 heads) symbology, nothing of the breed is ...
- 415
4
votes
Was there a hell or place of suffering after death in Norse mythology?
Helheimr was where the common people went.
Not a place of torture, unlike the Christian Hell, but more akin to the Greek Hades and other, neutral, pagan underworlds. (In Hades, for instance, the ...
- 14.1k
4
votes
Who was the first Satan like deity/creature/person in mythology?
I think "background" is going to exclude many mythologies with creatures having more or less the same role, if we include the notion of "rising up against the supreme deity of the mythology". Satan ...
- 5,354
4
votes
Accepted
What places were actually in the underworld?
The concept of Hades and the realms therein evolved according to the texts that survived. There was probably never a "Hellenic Unified Theory" of the underworld and the location of its ...
- 5,354
4
votes
Accepted
Can gods swear on the Styx
According to Hesiod, one of the important changes the Olympians made after defeating the Titans was the ability to make oaths. The oath-making and keeping was guarded by the goddess Styx, daughter of ...
- 5,354
3
votes
Accepted
Why did Hades let Heracles rescue Theseus?
According to Diodorus Siculus, it was Herakles favour of Theseus that persuaded Hades to release him:
Peirithoos now decided to seek the hand of Persephone in marriage, and when he asked Theseus to ...
- 17k
3
votes
Accepted
When and why did necromancy became a bad thing?
When and why did necromancy became a bad thing?
Probably since it was first practiced. However, there are no sources that ancient that have survived to our day. Some people would have been against it ...
- 2,842
3
votes
What items are necessary for a mortal to travel safely in the underworld?
I don't know about specific items or how you could fit this in your performance, but the first step for a mortal to prepare for a roundtrip journey to Hades should be to initiate themselves in the ...
- 17k
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