Miscellaneous Myths: Hades and Persephone



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You asked, I’ve answered! Today let’s discuss greek mythology’s most beloved AND most maligned relationship – but which reputation is truly deserved? You all know where *I* stand on the matter, but today I’ll do my best to justify my hot take that Hades And Persephone Is Romantic Actually.

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38 thoughts on “Miscellaneous Myths: Hades and Persephone”

  1. I think we have a kind of backwards view of ancient greek mythology vs religion; because our dominant monotheistic religions have sacred texts and are universal (addressed to all people), we think of mythology as some sort of scripture out of which religious practices arose. But it's actually the other way around: religion came first, as ritual and practice, and it was very much a communal affair, with each city/region/cult worshiping their own deities, having their particular observances, festivities and rituals. The myths arose out of these practices, stories told to justify and reinforce them, later adapted and embellished and split and fused together – there is no definitive version.

    In fact, the myth trope was later used by Plato, e.g., in Timaeus and the Republic, to illustrate and propagate philosophical, instead of religious, ideas. And you'll notice that Plato is pretty clear about just telling stories (or telling just-so stories, if you will) – the myth is in no way sacred or rigid, it's merely a vehicle for the ideas.

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  2. I've seen so many garbled versions of this myth- many of which didn't make sense, But I loved your version! Persephone and Hades are one of my favourite fictional couples. I really feel like you did them justice. Though, Hades did cheat once or twice; all Greek gods seemed to occasionally (apart for Hera).

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  3. Me as a child: Hades is a horrible god
    Me as a adult: Hades is a literally the absolute fairest god you could ask for, great husband to his wife and a brow beaten account of dead people and the least problematic and drama-free god

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  4. Hi! I'm just writting my thesis about the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. If you are looking for some information about the relation between Hades and Poseidon or other interesting stuffs, you can read: the Helen Foley's commentary to this hymn; "The Nature of Greek Myths" – G.S.Kirk; or maybe "Die Götter Griechenlands (the Greek gods)" – Walter Otto, where he talks about the relation between Poseidon and the underworld.
    Hope it can help! Sorry for my english. Love all your videos!
    Love, from Argentina.

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  5. I feel Rick Riordan only invented demigod children of hades just to serve the plot since hades never actually cheats on his wife in the mythos. And honestly, “a half blood of the eldest gods” doesn’t necessarily have to be of a male god or even an Olympian. There are plenty of minor gods that precede the olympians, especially any of the Mycenaean deities. Seems like a wasted opportunity

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  6. Hades is given the "This guy is baaaad" misinterpretation almost as much as poor old Chronos. Remember, folks: CRONUS is the dude who ate up his kids and had that big ol' sickle. CHRONOS is the primordial embodiment of time itself and is more of a neutral figure. And is also a winged snake.

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  7. Even in the disney movie the only bit of Hades that stuck with me is "Guy who is bitter about being the only one in his family who has to do any actual work" which like… seems to be agreed on or at least implied by some of the original stuff? not that i've done any actual research beyond casual readings and reading some of the sources presented by what pop culture retellings present. I dunno, tldr… great video,

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  8. Could another possibility of the origin of Hades be that he was originally an offshoot of Persephone created by dark age Greeks who personified the underworld/death as masculine before mostly adopting the Mycenaean gods?

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  9. Okay, I am going to take a guess here. I think that both the names of Hades and Persephone could also be names that describe, as it happened frequently among ancient Greeks (remember Plato). Hades names means "the unseen", so it is pretty self explanatory, since no one could see the realm of the dead. Persephone… well, I looked around and it could be meaning something along the lines of "the one that takes and kills" (sorry, I do not remember a lot of ancient greek). As Red states in the video, sources for stuff are somewhat… lost. So, that's my guess. On another note, some people in Greece are saying that some modern traditions survived from ancient rites. So, I find it strange that no one made a connection between the fire walking (Anastenaria) that still happens in parts of Greece and the Eleusinian Mysteries, since the story says that Demeter was burning away someones mortality. I'm not saying that there is a connection; I'm saying that I find it weird that no one did TRY to JUSTIFY a connection, especially since our nation state has tried so hard to create the feeling that Greek history has been uninfluenced and undistrupted for three millenia. Greetings from a Modern Greek; your channel is awesome and cool.

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  10. The Olympians: A gang of sex offenders and serial rapists that also happen to look really good in togas

    You know your pantheon has some serious issues when the god of Riches and the Dead is the nicest dude around

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