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lalicsiren In reply to bsdinnan [2016-03-24 16:54:52 +0000 UTC]

I guess it reflects her darker nature. Magic was always assumed to be dark in real life, it would make sense that the greeks thought of her as of a dark character. I'm not saying that that's who/what she is, I am stating my theory. 

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Arbetta In reply to TheseAreTheWords [2013-10-29 18:56:08 +0000 UTC]

Well, I have many Greek mythology books in my home, since my dad always read me those when I was little. This is the book I always read though: www.abebooks.com/Gods-Heroes-C… (but in Spanish

When I have to write something here about the gods I know I usually check Wikipedia in Spanish, English and French (sometimes in Italian, too) and also this web: www.theoi.com/Encyc_A.html

Hope this helps It's great to find more mythology fans!

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TheseAreTheWords In reply to Arbetta [2013-10-29 19:03:07 +0000 UTC]

Thank you so much for the tips, very grateful! And thanks for the beautiful art of yours!!

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Arbetta In reply to TheseAreTheWords [2013-10-29 18:51:23 +0000 UTC]

She may be his only weakness, yes... (I love this couple so much! )

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Arbetta In reply to MrsLovett22 [2013-10-29 19:00:35 +0000 UTC]

Hecate can be depicted as a young woman with twin torches (and like an ancient witch) or as a "three-formed" being. Many drawings and paintings show her with three bodies and three faces, like in this picture: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia…

Thank you for your comment!

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MrsLovett22 In reply to Arbetta [2013-10-30 19:50:31 +0000 UTC]

Wow, that's interesting! Thank you and keep up your great work!

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Arbetta In reply to isaacsflower [2013-10-29 19:05:28 +0000 UTC]

Thank YOU for writing this comment, it cheered me up! I'm also sad sometimes when people think Hades is like the devil or something. Movies like the Percy Jackson one (I know it's not like the books) or the Disney one... or the Wrath of the Titans one... all make Hades the bad guy. And it was not like that. Death was not regarded as evil in Ancient Greece. Hades was not loved, he was feared, but he was somewhat apathetic and a drop-out, that was all
I also like those versions of the story when Persephone eats the fruit because she wanted to, I mean... she decided to be a woman and not a girl forever. I think it's a dark story, but also very interesting and romantic in a way.
So thank you again

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Cthonic-Princess In reply to cherrypie04 [2017-07-18 01:04:04 +0000 UTC]

According to a book on funerary practices in the ancient world, in the Orphic Mysteries Plouton and Hades were worshipped as being two different beings, whereas the Eleusian Mysteries stated that they were the same god. It also states that the Orphics believed that Hades and Zeus were the same god and that Pluton was his own god (According to the Orphics Pluton was the saviour and judger of souls 'Zeus Chthonios', whereas they believed that 'Kronion Zeus' had an extension as ruler of the Underworld through Hades. This explains why 'Zeus' abducted Persephone and fathered her son Dionysus-Zagreus in the Orphic Mysteries.

The book mentions that the name Zeus is a title for a deity who happens to be a King, in other words the Orphics weren't talking about Zeus Olympios at all when they were talking about 'Zeus Chthonios' or 'Kronion Zeus', they were talking about Hades in his dual deity aspect.

This also helps explain the whole "Zeus disguised himself as Plouton" debacle surrounding Melinoe as the Orphics believed Plouton was the god of fertility, the a judger of souls and Persephone's husband, whereas Zeus-Hades was the ruler of the dead and Persephone's lover as they both represented the endless cycle of life and death.

This is the explanation to narcissusandthepomegranate's presentation of the hymn to Melinoe as being the daughter of Hades and Persephone and therefore the daughter of life and death as both deities represented the cycle and importance of life and death. This is a copy of the hymns from the photograph on her tumblr account. The first five lines are a unique expansion of the above hymn as the second half of the hymn is an exact copy of the hymn above it. Both call Melinoe's father Hades:

(I call saffron-veiled Melinoe, Daughter of Persephone and the Mystic Hades,

Where flows the mournful river Cocytus, he beguiled the daughter of the earth

So Thy limbs are partly black and partly white,

Night's daughter and the Daughter of the Light,

Thy specter, now veiled in shadow,

Now shimmering silver, inspires mortal fear,

Terrestrial Queen, expel from our hearts, the soul's mad fears wherever found,

And with holy aspect bless this incense, and Thy mystics, and this divine rite.)

(I call upon saffron-veiled Melinoe,

Sprang from the Daughter of Demeter and the Son of Kronos,

Born from when blissful life and dreaded death mixt,

It was there, where flows the lamentful river of Cocytus,

Zeus Katachthonios seduced Kore Karpophoroi,

So Thy limbs are partly black and partly white,

Night's Daughter and Daughter of the light,

Thy fair spectre, now veiled in shadow,

Now shimmering silver, inspires mortal fear.

Terrestrial Queen, expel from our hearts,

The soul's mad fears wherever found,

And with holy aspect bless this incense,

And Thy mystics, and this divine rite.)

Besides Hades is also referred to as being 'Zeus Meilichios'. Explicitly inscribed votive reliefs show that Meilichios was figured in the form of a serpent, who might be invoked as a kind of Ploutos, bringer of wealth. Ironically 'Zeus' appeared as a snake in order to seduce Persephone in Nonnus' Dionysiaca, like kata-chthonia said on the topic of the father of Melinoe and Zagreus, the father is written in a code as being Hades rather than Zeus.

In several places like Locri, Eleusis, Corinth and Ephyra, Plouton (Hades) and Persephone were the chief deities, the ones responsible for the fertility of the earth, for the cycle of life and death. As a Father-Mother god pairing much like Zeus and Hera, they had children to rule over other aspects of their dominion.

But during the rise of the polis and the writing down of oral myth, Zeus became the chief dominant god in a fractious region united by a single pantheon ruled over by a single sky god. Chief deities of the sea became Poseidon in much the same way, and Hades was relegated from rulership over the earth with his wife to rulership over only the dead. To make the pantheon make sense and include all gods, there couldn't be two chief deities of the living world. Those writing down the myths also surmised that Hades, as the ruler of the dead, was infertile and could not have produced children like Melinoe and Zagreus.

Zeus Olympios tended to obscure the earlier figure he had supplanted. Interesting little tidbit of information especially since quite a few of the books I've read mention that Zeus feared Hades because he robbed Hades of the right to be King of the gods. An Athenian of the fifth century would likely have conceived Zeus Meilichios as Zeus-Hades, Zeus "in his chthonic aspect", aka Hades, God of the Underworld.

kata-chthonia.com/post/7150411…

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Arbetta In reply to shadowhuntersight [2013-10-29 19:00:41 +0000 UTC]

Thanks

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ArsenicalLady In reply to EyerahTheOwl [2013-10-05 20:01:55 +0000 UTC]

Actually, it's highly controversial whether or not Melinoe was Zeus or Hades's daughter. I myself believe she was the daughter of Hades, seeing as how she is the goddes of ghosts, but it depends on who you talk to.

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cherrypie04 In reply to ArsenicalLady [2013-10-20 14:49:38 +0000 UTC]

Or, some say, Zeus tricked Perspehone into believing he was Hades. When Hades found out, he was furious and beat Persephone while she was pregnant which is why Melinoe is the goddess of disturbed souls, or ghosts.

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ArsenicalLady In reply to cherrypie04 [2013-10-20 15:44:19 +0000 UTC]

Still though, it makes more sense when you think about it. I mean, Hades-God of Underworld, Melinoe-Goddess of ghosts. (Plus I ship Hades and Persephone)

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cherrypie04 In reply to ArsenicalLady [2013-10-20 15:51:10 +0000 UTC]

Haha, I suppose so. In the songs to Melinoe, its never really made clear, except for the fact that she had a violent beginning. I ship them too. So much it's unhealthy.

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ArsenicalLady In reply to cherrypie04 [2013-10-20 16:10:20 +0000 UTC]

You know you're a shipper when you ship the Greek gods.

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cherrypie04 In reply to ArsenicalLady [2013-10-20 16:20:52 +0000 UTC]

Yep. I also ship Melinoe & Moros (doom) and Marcia & Thanatos (:

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ArsenicalLady In reply to cherrypie04 [2013-10-20 23:04:48 +0000 UTC]

Cause the kids always grow up.

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cherrypie04 In reply to ArsenicalLady [2013-10-21 17:22:07 +0000 UTC]

Indeed (:

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