The Kingdom of gloomy Hades
Deep underground reigns the implacable, gloomy brother of Zeus, Aid. His kingdom is full of darkness and horrors. The joyful rays of the bright sun never penetrate there. Bottomless abysses lead from the surface of the earth to the dark and terrible, and the afterlife is a misfortune.
No wonder the shadow of Achilles, summoned by Odysseus from the underworld, says: It is better to be the last farmhand on earth than a king in the kingdom of Hades!
The kingdom of Hades is sad. Gloomy rivers flow in it. There flows an all-chilling sacred river Styx, whose waters the gods themselves swear by.
In the middle sit Hades and Persephone, to the right below - judges Triptolemus, Aeacus and Minos, above them - Res and Myrtilus, under the judges - three Danaids, to the left of them - the goddess on the monster and Hercules, binding Kerber.
To the left of Hercules - Hermes and Sisyphus with a stone, above the stone - Erinia.
Above Erinia - Dioscuri and Orpheus with lyre, above them - Heraclides and Megara.
two shadows of the dead stand in front of him;
above them are winged figures of the souls of the dead.
In this kingdom, to which neither the light, nor the joy, nor the sorrows of earthly life reach, the brother of Zeus, Hades, rules. He sits on a golden throne with his wife Persephone. He is served by relentless goddesses of vengeance Erinii. Menacing, with whips and snakes, they pursue the criminal; they do not give him a moment's peace and torment him with remorse; you cannot hide from them anywhere, they find their victim everywhere. At the throne of Hades sit the judges of the kingdom of the dead - Minos and Rhadamanthus. Here, at the throne, the god of death Tanat with a sword in his hands, in a black cloak, with huge black wings. These wings blow with a grave chill when Tanat arrives at the bed of a dying man to cut off a lock of hair from his head with his sword and expel his soul. Near Thanatos and gloomy Kery. On their wings they rush, frantic, across the battlefield. The Kers rejoice when they see how the slain heroes fall one by one; with their blood-red lips they cling to the wounds, greedily drink the hot blood of the slain and tear their souls out of the body.
Here, at the throne of Hades, and the beautiful, young god of sleep Hypnos. He silently flies on his wings above the ground with poppy heads in his hands and pours a sleeping drink from the horn. He gently touches people's eyes with his wonderful wand, quietly closes his eyelids and plunges mortals into a sweet sleep. The god Hypnos is mighty, neither mortals, nor gods, nor even the thunderer Zeus himself can resist him: and Hypnos closes his terrible eyes and plunges him into a deep sleep.
The gods of dreams are also running around in the gloomy realm of Hades. There are gods among them who give prophetic and joyful dreams, but there are also gods of terrible, oppressive dreams that frighten and torment people. There are gods and false dreams, they mislead a person and often lead him to death.
The kingdom of the implacable Hades is full of darkness and horrors. There's a terrible ghost wandering in the dark Empusa with donkey legs; it, having lured people into a secluded place in the night darkness by cunning, drinks all the blood and devours their still trembling bodies. The monstrous also wanders thereLamia; she sneaks into the bedroom of happy mothers at night and steals their children to drink their blood. The great goddess rules over all ghosts and monsters Hecate. She has three bodies and three heads. On a moonless night, she wanders in deep darkness along the roads and at the graves with all her terrible retinue, surrounded by Stygian dogs. It sends horrors and heavy dreams to the earth and destroys people. Hecate is called upon as an assistant in witchcraft, but she is also the only assistant against witchcraft for those who honor her and bring her at the crossroads where three roads diverge, as a sacrifice of dogs.The kingdom of Hades is terrible, and it is hateful to people.