Attached is a picture of Hades- god of the underworld. I notice in the picture what looks like a torso which would be above Hades who is sitting on the right. The head and arms are noticeably cut off along with the bottom half of the body below the waist. Also above Persephony on the left is what looks like 2 legs hanging from from the bottom of the roof of the structure. I am not sure if anyone has noticed. The website Theoi.com does not mention anything about the torso. Information is copied below from the website which explains the photo.

Detail from a painting of Orpheus in the Underworld. In the center Haides and Persephone sit enthroned on a couch. The god holds a bird-tipped staff, and the goddess a four-tipped Eleusinian torch. To their right stands Hekate, dressed as a huntress holding twin torches.

Also, Hades was a real person who was a historical figure. It looks like all of the people who are mentioned in Greek mythology were real people. Their life stories in greek myth might be partly made up or based on facts. I also know that Zeus was a historical person along with their mother Rhea also known as Demeter. My post here is mostly about the torso in the photo.

This post has been edited by tye: Aug 3 2008, 09:45 PM

you have to forgive me, i getting dumb. must be the water...

what is your point now???

Response to your question about what is the point, it is just strange that Hades and Persephony would just be sitting there while there is a torso displayed above Hades. The post might be more of interest to people who study ancient history.

Also, probably everyone reading this post will not know the true identity of Hades. In ancient history Hades ruled most of the ancient world, so he was a man of great importance.

This post has been edited by tye: Aug 3 2008, 11:20 PM

In greek mythology, Hades was considered a god of the underworld. His brothers Zues and Posiedon were also considered to be gods. The sisters of Hades were Hera and Hestia. Demeter was also considered as a daughter of Rhea- the mother of Hades except that Demeter is actually Rhea.

In actual history, the true historical figure known in greek mythology left records of his life as a great ruler. In the records he thanks another god for his power to become such a great and powerful leader. So does this mean that in mythology that Hades is only a god in myth?

Rhea the mother of Hades was considered to be a real goddess with temples. So were these people only humans or a level higher than humans except not real gods/goddesses? Were they only kings and queens who wanted to be known as god/goddesses? Or could be a mixture of earthly kings/queens also empowered as gods/goddess and also part human?

[attachment=188:Hades_2.jpg]

Attached are two pictures- one of Darius 1 and the other of Hades for comparison. Darius 1 was the real Hades- son of Rhea and Cronos.

Darius I 521-486 BCE

Darius 1 was the 2nd pharaoh of the 27th dynasty in Egypt.

Reference for Hades:

http://www.theoi.com/Khthonios/Haides.html

This post has been edited by tye: Aug 17 2008, 07:03 PM

Notice even the thrones in each picture of previous post - Darius 1 and Hades, is the same. Attached are 2 more pictures of Darius 1 on throne with foot stool.

This post has been edited by tye: Aug 17 2008, 07:23 PM

HADES & THE APPOINTMENT OF THE JUDGES OF THE DEAD

Plato, Gorgias 523a ff (trans. Lamb) (Greek philosopher C4th B.C.) :
"Sokrates : Give ear then, as they say, to a right fine story, which you will regard as a fable, I fancy, but I as an actual account; for what I am about to tell you I mean to offer as the truth. By Homer's account, Zeus, Poseidon, and Plouton [Haides] divided the sovereignty amongst them when they took it over from their father [Kronos]. Now in the time of Kronos there was a law concerning mankind, and it holds to this very day amongst the gods, that every man who has passed a just and holy life departs after his decease to the Isles of the Blest (Nesoi Makaron), and dwells in all happiness apart from ill; but whoever has lived unjustly and impiously goes to the dungeon of requital and penance which, you know, they call Tartaros. Of these men there were judges in Kronos' time, and still of late in the reign of Zeus--living men to judge the living upon the day when each was to breathe his last; and thus the cases were being decided amiss. So Plouton [Haides] and the overseers from the Isles of the Blest came before Zeus with the report that they found men passing over to either abode undeserving. Then spake Zeus : `Nay,' said he, `I will put a stop to these proceedings. The cases are now indeed judged ill and it is because they who are on trial are tried in their clothing, for they are tried alive. Now many,' said he, `who have wicked souls are clad in fair bodies and ancestry and wealth, and at their judgement appear many witnesses to testify that their lives have been just. Now, the judges are confounded not only by their evidence but at the same time by being clothed themselves while they sit in judgement, having their own soul muffled in the veil of eyes and ears and the whole body. Thus all these are a hindrance to them, their own habiliments no less than those of the judged. Well, first of all,' he said, `we must put a stop to their foreknowledge of their death; for this they at present foreknow. However, Prometheus has already been given the word to stop this in them. Next they must be stripped bare of all those things before they are tried; for they must stand their trial dead. Their judge also must be naked, dead, beholding with very soul the very soul of each immediately upon his death, bereft of all his kin and having left behind on earth all that fine array, to the end that the judgement may be just. Now I, knowing all this before you, have appointed sons of my own to be judges; two from Asia, Minos and Rhadamanthys, and one from Europe, Aiakos. These, when their life is ended, shall give judgement in the meadow at the dividing of the road, whence are the two ways leading, one to the Isles of the Blest (Nesoi Makaron), and the other to Tartaros. And those who come from Asia shall Rhadamanthys try, and those from Europe, Aiakos; and to Minos I will give the privilege of the final decision, if the other two be in any doubt; that the judgement upon this journey of mankind may be supremely just."