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014 - Third Dynasty Sea Divinities- Aides and Plutus · Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome

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  Speaker 1: Section thirteen of Myths and Legends. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Myths
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  Speaker 1: and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome by E. M.
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  Speaker 1: Barons eighties Pluto eighties. Adunus or Hades was the son
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  Speaker 1: of Cronus and Rhea, and the youngest brother of Zeus
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  Speaker 1: and Poseidon. He was the ruler of that subterranean region
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  Speaker 1: called Erebus, which was inhabited by the shades or spirits
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  Speaker 1: of the dead, and also by those dethroned and exiled
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  Speaker 1: deities who had been vanquished by Zeus and his allies. Eighties,
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  Speaker 1: the grim and gloomy monarch of this lower world, was
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  Speaker 1: the successor of Erebus, that ancient primeval divinity after whom
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  Speaker 1: these realms were called see Footnote one thirty one. The
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  Speaker 1: early Greeks regarded eighties in the light of their greatest foe,
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  Speaker 1: and Homer tells us that he was, of all the gods,
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  Speaker 1: the most detested being in their eyes, the grim robber,
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  Speaker 1: who stole from them their nearest and dearest and eventually
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  Speaker 1: deprived each of them of their share in terrestrial existence.
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  Speaker 1: His name was so feared that it was never mentioned
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  Speaker 1: by mortals, who, when they invoked him, struck the earth
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  Speaker 1: with their hands, and, in sacrificing to him, turned away
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  Speaker 1: their faces. The belief of the people with regard to
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  Speaker 1: a future state was, in the Homeric age, a sad
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  Speaker 1: and cheerless one. It was supposed that when a mortal
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  Speaker 1: ceased to exist, his spirit tenanted the shadowy outline of
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  Speaker 1: the human form it had quitted. These shadows, or shades,
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  Speaker 1: as they were called, were driven by eighties into his dominions,
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  Speaker 1: where they passed their time, some in brooding over the
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  Speaker 1: vicissitudes of fortune which they had experienced on earth, others
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  Speaker 1: in regretting the lost pleasures they had enjoyed in life,
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  Speaker 1: but all in a condition of semi consciousness, from which
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  Speaker 1: the intellect could only be roused to full activity by
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  Speaker 1: shrinking of the blood of the sacrifices offered to their
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  Speaker 1: shades by living friends, which for time endowed them with
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  Speaker 1: their former mental vigor. The only beings supposed to enjoy
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  Speaker 1: any happiness in a future state were the heroes, whose
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  Speaker 1: acts of daring and deeds of prowess had during their
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  Speaker 1: life reflected honor on the land of their birth, and
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  Speaker 1: even these, according to Homer, pined after their career of
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  Speaker 1: earthly activity. He tells us that when Odysseus visited the
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  Speaker 1: lower world at the command of Circe and held communion
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  Speaker 1: with the shades of the heroes of the Trojan War,
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  Speaker 1: Achilles assured him that he would rather be the poorest
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  Speaker 1: day laborer on earth than reign supreme over the realm
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  Speaker 1: of shades. The early Greek poets offer but scanty allusions
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  Speaker 1: to Erebus. Homer appears purposely to envelop these realms in
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  Speaker 1: vagueness and mystery, in order probably to heighten the sensation
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  Speaker 1: of awe inseparably connected with the lower world see footnote
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  Speaker 1: one thirty two. In the Odyssey, he described the entrance
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  Speaker 1: to Erabis as being beyond the furthermost edge of Oceanus
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  Speaker 1: in the far west, where dwelt. This Sumerians enveloped in
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  Speaker 1: eternal mysts and darkness. In later times, however, in consequence
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  Speaker 1: of extended intercourse with foreign nations, new ideas became gradually introduced,
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  Speaker 1: and we find Egyptian theories with regard to a future
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  Speaker 1: state taking root in Greece, which become eventually the religious
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  Speaker 1: belief of the whole nation. It is now that the
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  Speaker 1: poets and philosophers, and more especially the teachers of the
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  Speaker 1: Eleusinian mysteries, begin to inculcate the doctrine of the future
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  Speaker 1: reward and punishment of good and bad deeds. Eighties, who
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  Speaker 1: had hitherto been regarded as the dread enemy of mankind,
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  Speaker 1: who delights in his grim office and keeps the shades
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  Speaker 1: imprisoned in his dominions, after withdrawing them from the joys
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  Speaker 1: of existence, now receives them with hospitality and friendship, and
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  Speaker 1: Hermes replaces him as conductor of shades to hades. Under
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  Speaker 1: this new aspect, Eighties whusurps the functions of of a
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  Speaker 1: totally different divinity called Plutus, the god of riches, and
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  Speaker 1: is henceforth regarded as the giver of wealth demand kind
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  Speaker 1: in the shape of those precious metals which lie concealed
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  Speaker 1: in the bowels of the earth. The later poets mentioned
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  Speaker 1: various entrances to Erebis, which were for the most part
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  Speaker 1: caves and fissures. There is one in the mountain of Tanorum,
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  Speaker 1: another in Thesprotia, and a third the most celebrated of
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  Speaker 1: all in Italy, near the prestiferous lake Avernus, over which
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  Speaker 1: it is said no bird could fly, so noxious were
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  Speaker 1: its exhalations. In the dominions of eighties, there were four
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  Speaker 1: great rivers, three of which had to be crossed by
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  Speaker 1: all the shades. These three were Archeron sorrow, Kocitis lamentation,
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  Speaker 1: and Styx intense darkness, the sacred stream which flowed nine
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  Speaker 1: times round these realms. The shades were ferried over the
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  Speaker 1: Styx by the grim, unshaven old boatman Charon, who however,
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  Speaker 1: only took those whose bodies had received funeral rites on Earth,
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  Speaker 1: and who had brought with them his indispensable toll, which
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  Speaker 1: was a small coin or obulus, usually placed under the
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  Speaker 1: tongue of a dead person for this purpose see footnote
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  Speaker 1: one thirty three. If these conditions had not been fulfilled,
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  Speaker 1: the unhappy shades were left behind to wander up and
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  Speaker 1: down the banks for a hundred years as restless spirits.
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  Speaker 1: On the opposite bank of the Styx was the Tribunal
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  Speaker 1: of Minos, the supreme judge before whom all shades had
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  Speaker 1: to appear, and who, after hearing full confession of their actions,
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  Speaker 1: whilst on earth pronounced the sentence of happiness or misery
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  Speaker 1: to which their deeds had entitled them. This tribunal was
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  Speaker 1: guarded by the terrible triple headed dog Cerebus, who, with
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  Speaker 1: his three necks bristling with snakes, lay at full length
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  Speaker 1: on the ground, a formidable sentinel, who permitted all shades
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  Speaker 1: to enter, but none to return. The happy spirits, destined
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  Speaker 1: to enjoy the delights of Elysium, passed out on the
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  Speaker 1: right and proceeded to the Golden Palace, where eighties and
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  Speaker 1: persiphone held their royal court, from whom they received a
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  Speaker 1: kindly greeting. Ere they set out for the illssit fields
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  Speaker 1: which lay beyond see footnote forty seven. This blissful region
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  Speaker 1: was replete with all that could charm the senses or
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  Speaker 1: please the imagination. The air was balmy and fragrant. Rippling
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  Speaker 1: brooks flowed peacefully through the smiling meadows, which glowed with
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  Speaker 1: the varied hues of a thousand flowers, whilst the groves
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  Speaker 1: resounded with the joyous songs of birds. The occupations and
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  Speaker 1: amusements of the happy shades were of the same nature
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  Speaker 1: as those which they had delighted in whilst on earth.
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  Speaker 1: Here the warrior found his horses, chariots and arms, the
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  Speaker 1: musician his lyre, and the hunter his quiver and bow.
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  Speaker 1: In a secluded bale of Elysium, there flowed a gentle,
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  Speaker 1: silent stream called leith Oblivion, whose waters had the effect
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  Speaker 1: of dispelling care and producing utter forgetfulness of former events.
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  Speaker 1: According to the Pythagorean doctrine of the transmigration of souls,
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  Speaker 1: it was supposed that after the shades had inhabited Elysium
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  Speaker 1: for a thousand years, they were destined to animate other
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  Speaker 1: bodies on Earth, and before leaving Elysium, they drank of
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  Speaker 1: the river Leath in order that they might enter upon
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  Speaker 1: their new career without any remembrance of the past see
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  Speaker 1: footnote one thirty four. The guilty souls, after leaving the
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  Speaker 1: presence of Minos, were conducted to the Great Judgment Hall
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  Speaker 1: of Hades, whose massive walls of solid adamant were surrounded
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  Speaker 1: by the river Plegathon, the waves of which rolled flames
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  Speaker 1: of fire and lit up with their lurid glare. These
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  Speaker 1: awful realms. In the interior sat the dread judge Rhadamanthus,
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  Speaker 1: who declared to each comer the precise torments which awaited
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  Speaker 1: him in Tartarus. The wretched sinners were then seized by
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  Speaker 1: the furies, who scourged them with their whips and dragged
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  Speaker 1: them along to the Great Gate, which closed the opening
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  Speaker 1: to Tartarus, into whose awful depths they were hurled suffer
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  Speaker 1: endless torture. Tartarus was a vast and gloomy expanse as
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  Speaker 1: far below Hades as the Earth is distant from the skies.
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  Speaker 1: There the Titans, fallen from their high estate, dragged out
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  Speaker 1: a dreary and monotonous existence. There also were ODIs and Ephialtes,
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  Speaker 1: those giant sons of Poseidon, who with impious hands had
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  Speaker 1: attempted to scale Olympus and dethrone its mighty ruler Principle.
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  Speaker 1: Among the sufferers in this abode of gloom, where Titius, Tantalus, Sisyphus, Ixion,
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  Speaker 1: and the Danates. Titius, one of the earth born giants,
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  Speaker 1: had insulted Hera on her way to Pitho, for which
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  Speaker 1: offense Zeus flung him into Tartarus, where he suffered dreadful torture,
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  Speaker 1: inflicted by two vultures which perpetually gnawed his liver. Tantalus
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  Speaker 1: was a wise and wealthy king of Lydia, with whom
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  Speaker 1: the gods themselves condescended to associate. He was even permitted
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  Speaker 1: to sit at table with dz Zeus, who delighted in
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  Speaker 1: his conversation and listened with interest to the wisdom of
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  Speaker 1: his observations. Tantalus, however, elated at these distinguished marks of
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  Speaker 1: divine favor, presumed upon his position, and used unbecoming language
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  Speaker 1: to Zeus himself. He also stole nectar and ambrosia from
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  Speaker 1: the table of the gods, with which he regaled his friends.
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  Speaker 1: But his greatest crime consisted in killing his own son,
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  Speaker 1: Pelops and serving him up at one of the banquets
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  Speaker 1: to the gods in order to test their omniscience see
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  Speaker 1: footnote one thirty five. For these heinous offenses, he was
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  Speaker 1: condemned by Zeus to eternal punishment in Tartarus, where, tortured
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  Speaker 1: with an ever burning thirst, he was plunged up to
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  Speaker 1: the chin in water, which, as he stooped to drink,
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  Speaker 1: always receded from his parched lips. Tall trees with spreading
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  Speaker 1: branches laden with delicious fruits hung temptingly over his head,
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  Speaker 1: but no sooner did he raise himself to grasp them,
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  Speaker 1: than a wind arose and carried them beyond his reach.
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  Speaker 1: Sisyphus was a great tyrant who, according to some accounts,
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  Speaker 1: barbarously murdered all travelers who came into his dominions by
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  Speaker 1: hurling upon them enormous pieces of rock. In punishment for
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  Speaker 1: his crimes, he was condemned to roll incessantly a huge
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  Speaker 1: block of stone up a steep hill, which, as soon
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  Speaker 1: as it reached the summit, always rolled back again to
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  Speaker 1: the plain below. Ixion was a king of Thessaly, to
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  Speaker 1: whom Zeus accorded the privilege of joining the festive banquets
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  Speaker 1: of the gods. But, taking advantage of his exalted position,
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  Speaker 1: he presumed to aspire to the favor of Hera, which
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  Speaker 1: so greatly incensed Zeus that he struck him with his
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  Speaker 1: thunderbolts and commanded Hermes to throw him into Tartarus and
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  Speaker 1: bind him to an ever revolving wheel. The Dnates were
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  Speaker 1: the fifty daughters of Danus, king of Argos, who had
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  Speaker 1: married their fifty cousins, the son of Egyptus, by the
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  Speaker 1: command of their father, who had been warned by an
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  Speaker 1: oracle that his son in law would cause his death.
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  Speaker 1: They all killed their husbands in one night Hypermnestra alone excepted.
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  Speaker 1: Their punishment in the lower world was to fill with
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  Speaker 1: water a vessel full of holes, a never ending and
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  Speaker 1: useless task. Eighties is usually represented as a man of
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  Speaker 1: mature years and stern, majestic mien, bearing a striking resemblance
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  Speaker 1: to his brother's Zeus, but the gloomy and inexorable expression
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  Speaker 1: of the face contrasts forcibly with that peculiar beninity which
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  Speaker 1: so characterizes the countenance of the mighty ruler of Heaven.
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  Speaker 1: He is seated on a throne of ebony, with his
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  Speaker 1: queen the grave and sad persifone beside him, and wears
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  Speaker 1: a full beard and long flowing black hair which hangs
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  Speaker 1: straight down over his forehead see footnote one thirty six.
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  Speaker 1: In his hand he either bears a two pronged fork
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  Speaker 1: or the keys of the lower world, and at his
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  Speaker 1: feet sits Cerberus. He is sometimes seen in a chariot
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  Speaker 1: of gold, drawn by four black horses, and wearing on
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  Speaker 1: his head a helmet made for him by the Cyclops,
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  Speaker 1: which rendered the wearer invisible. This helmet he frequently lent
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  Speaker 1: to mortals and immortals, who was universally worshiped throughout Greece,
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  Speaker 1: had temples erected to his honour in Ellis, Olympia and
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  Speaker 1: also at Athens. His sacrifices, which took place at night,
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  Speaker 1: consisted of black sheep, and the blood, instead of being
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  Speaker 1: sprinkled on the altars or received in vessels as at
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  Speaker 1: other sacrifices, was permitted to run down into a trench dug.
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  Speaker 1: For this purpose, the officiating priests wore black robes and
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  Speaker 1: were crowned with Cyprus, the narcissus maiden hair and Cyprus
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  Speaker 1: were sacred to this divinity Pluto. Before the introduction into
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  Speaker 1: Rome of the religion and literature of Greece, the Romans
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  Speaker 1: had no belief in a realm of future happiness or
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  Speaker 1: misery corresponding to the Greek Hades. Hence they had no
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  Speaker 1: god of the lower world, identical with eighties. They supposed
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  Speaker 1: that there was in the center of the earth a vast,
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  Speaker 1: gloomy and impenetrably dark cavity called Orcus, which formed a
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  Speaker 1: place of eternal rest for the dead. But with the
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  Speaker 1: introduction of Greek mythology, the Roman Orcus became the Greek Hades.
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  Speaker 1: And all the Greek notions with regard to a future
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  Speaker 1: state now obtained with the Romans, who worshiped Eedes under
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  Speaker 1: the name of Pluto, his other appellations being dis from dives,
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  Speaker 1: rich and orcus from the dominions over which he ruled.
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  Speaker 1: In Rome, there were no temples erected to this divinity.
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  Speaker 1: Plutus Plutus, the son of Demeter and a mortal called Ayazion,
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  Speaker 1: was the god of wealth, and is represented as being
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  Speaker 1: lame when he makes his appearance and winged when he
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  Speaker 1: takes his departure. He was supposed to be both blind
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  Speaker 1: and foolish, because he bestows his gifts without discrimination and
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  Speaker 1: frequently upon the most unworthy objects. Plutus was believed to
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  Speaker 1: have his abode in the bowels of the earth, which
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  Speaker 1: was probably the reason why in later times Eedes became
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  Speaker 1: confounded with this divinity. End of section thirteen, recording by
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  Speaker 1: Anthony Wilson