Editing Hades (section)

===Visitors in the underworld===
The hero [[Orpheus]] once descended into the underworld in search of his late wife [[Eurydice]], who died when a snake bit her. So lovely was the music he played that it charmed even Hades (as well as his wife Persephone), who allowed him to take Eurydice to the land of the living, as long as he did not look back at her on his way out.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://ovid.lib.virginia.edu/trans/Metamorph10.htm#484521418 10.1-85]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apolldorus]], [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.3.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022 1.3.2]; Hyginus, ''[[De astronomia]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.7.1 2.7.1]; [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''[[Hercules (Seneca)|Hercules Furens]]'' [[s:Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/156|569]]; [[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/StatiusThebaidVIII.php#anchor_Toc342643142 8.63].</ref>

In another story, [[Theseus]] and [[Pirithous]] pledged to kidnap and marry daughters of [[Zeus]]. Theseus chose [[Helen of Troy|Helen]] and together they kidnapped her and decided to hold onto her until she was old enough to marry. Pirithous chose [[Persephone]].<ref>[[Pseudo-Apollodorus]], ''Epitome'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+Epit.+E.1.23&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022 1.23]</ref> They left Helen with Theseus's mother, [[Aethra (Greek mythology)#Mother of Theseus|Aethra]], and traveled to the underworld. Hades knew of their plan to capture his wife, so he pretended to offer them hospitality and set a feast; as soon as the pair sat down, snakes coiled around their feet and held them there. Theseus was eventually rescued by [[Heracles]] but Pirithous was either trapped as punishment for daring to seek the wife of a god for his own or killed by Cerberus, depending on the version of the story.<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Epitome]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DEpitome%3Abook%3DE%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D24 1.24]</ref><ref name="plutarchtheseus">Plutarch, Theseus 31 [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0067%3Achapter%3D31]</ref>

[[File:Allard Pierson Museum Hades and Persephone 7768.jpg|thumb|left|Hades abducts Persephone, pot made and found in [[Taranto]], 350-325 BC]]
[[Sisyphus]] was a mortal king from [[Corinth]] who was punished in [[Tartarus]] for revealing to the [[River gods (Greek mythology)|river god]] [[Asopus]] the whereabouts of his daughter [[Aegina (mythology)|Aegina]] after [[Zeus]] abducted her,<ref>Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.9.3&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022 1.9.3]</ref> and for trying to cheat [[death]] as well. Zeus, angry at Sisyphus for revealing the secret, sent [[Thanatos]] to Sisyphus, but he cleverly cast Death into his own bonds, and as a result no one could die until [[Ares]] freed Thanatos and delivered Sisyphus to him. But still, Sisyphus ordered his wife [[Merope (Pleiad)|Merope]] not to perform any funeral rites for him and what else was accustomed as tribute to the [[Greek underworld|underworld]] gods before he was brought to Hades. After some time that Merope had not offered proper honours, Hades learnt of this, and allowed Sisyphus to return to the world of the living so that he could punish his wife, with the understanding that he would return afterwards. Sisyphus, however, never returned as promised until years later, when he died of old age. Hades punished Sisyphus by making him roll a boulder up a hill in the underworld; but every time he reached the top, the boulder would roll down again and again.<ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=-9EIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA249 6.153]</ref><ref>Morford, Mark P. O.; Lenardon, Robert J. (1999). ''Classical Mythology''. Oxford University Press, pg [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecGXcMRAPXcC&pg=PA491 491]</ref> In another version, it is Persephone who lets him out.<ref>[[Theognis]], frags [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=1.11.2+699-718&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0479 699-718]</ref>

[[Heracles]]'s final labour was to capture Cerberus. First, Heracles went to [[Eleusina#Ancient Eleusina|Eleusis]] to be initiated into the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]]. He did this to absolve himself of guilt for killing the [[centaur]]s and to learn how to enter and exit the underworld alive. He found the entrance to the underworld at [[Taenarum]]. [[Athena]] and [[Hermes]] helped him through and back from Hades. Heracles asked Hades for permission to take Cerberus. Hades agreed as long as Heracles did not harm Cerberus. When Heracles dragged the dog out of Hades, he passed through the cavern [[Acherusia]].
In the myth of [[Admetus]] and [[Alcestis]], after Alcestis chose to die in place of her husband [[Admetus]] in order to save him, [[Heracles]] brought her back from the dead by fighting and defeating Hades.<ref>Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.9.15&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022 1.9.15]</ref> In other versions, like [[Euripides]]'s play ''[[Alcestis]]'', Heracles fought [[Thanatos]] instead.<ref>[[Euripides]], ''[[Alcestis (play)|Alcestis]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0088%3Acard%3D1118 1140]</ref> At another time, [[Heracles]] sieged the town of [[Pylos]] and during the fight he wounded Hades, who had sided with the Pylians.<ref>Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+2.7.3&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022 2.7.3]; [[Pindar]], ''Olympian Odes'' [[s:Odes of Pindar (Myers)/Olympian Odes/9|9.2]]; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+6.25.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 6.25.2]; [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''[[Hercules (Seneca)|Hercules Furens]]'' [[s:Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/155|559]]</ref> In great pain, Hades went to [[Mount Olympus|Olympus]] to be healed by the physician of the gods, [[Paean (god)|Paean]].<ref>[[Homer]], the ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/2#5.395 5.395-404]</ref>