About Hades (Hell)
In Greek mythology, Hades was the god of the underworld, a brother of Zeus. Hades was also named Pluto. He abducted Persephone which caused winter. His realm was also named Hades (and was also called Tartarus). Hades was the dark land where the dead lived.
Odysseus entered that realm and fed the ghosts with blood to get directions back home (Homer’s Odyssey 4.834). Originally the Greeks thought of hades as simply the grave. It represented a shadowy, ghostlike existence for all who died, good and evil alike. Gradually Greeks and Romans came to see hades as a place of reward and punishment. Hades became an organized and guarded realm where the good were rewarded in the Elysian Fields. The evil were likewise punished (so described by the Roman poet Virgil, 70–19 BC).
All Scripture References (10)
Matthew (2)
And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day.
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
Luke (2)
And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades!
In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham from afar, with Lazarus by his side.
Acts (2)
Revelation (4)
the Living One. I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of Death and of Hades.
Then I looked and saw a pale green horse. Its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed close behind. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill by sword, by famine, by plague, and by the beasts of the earth.
The sea gave up its dead, and Death and Hades gave up their dead, and each one was judged according to his deeds.
Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire.