Chapter 260: The Uniqueness of the Temple of Hades
When Davos bowed to the bust of Heracleides, all the people had bowed and wished that they would also receive such favour when they died.
It was already afternoon when the bust was carried into the temple. Although the people were a little tired, they were still in high spirits because of the unprecedented new ceremony.
And finally, the last and most important thing left to do is to enter the temple to look around and pray.
Under the command of Davos, the soldiers maintained the order and the people consciously abided and entered the temple orderly.
After experiencing the previous ceremony, Kanos’ perception of Hades was greatly improved, and at this moment, he was eager to enter the temple and find out what was inside.
Following the flow of people stepping on the entrance stairs and stepping on the base of the temple, they could see a statue on both sides of the main gate of the temple. On the left is a handsome young man holding a harp and playing it to his heart, on the right is a beautiful woman with her hand twirling her clothes and smiling as she looked tenderly at the youth.
The two cream-coloured marble statues were smooth and felt lifelike. The deep gaze between them created a beautiful atmosphere.
Kanos’ gaze wandered back and forth between the two statues until someone exclaimed, “Could this be the hero Orpheus and his beautiful wife Eurydice?!”
Immediately after getting reminded, Kanos looked at the statues carefully and found that he was right because their names were engraved on the base of the statue.
Orpheus is the son of Apollo, the sun god, and Calliope, a muse of literature and art. Orpheus’ wife, Eurydice, was bitten by a poisonous snake and died, and Orpheus, who loved her deeply, ventured into the underworld and impressed Hades and Persephone with his beautiful song, and was then allowed to take the soul of Eurydice. But before leaving the underworld, he could not look at Eurydice, otherwise, she would stay in the underworld forever. Orpheus kept his promise and trudged hard with his wife, and when he was about to leave the underworld, he accidentally took a glance at his wife, which led Eurydice to be taken back to the underworld, and Orpheus died of depression.
But at this moment, what the two statues were showing is not sadness and resentment, but happiness and warmth.
Under the influence of this emotion, Kanos entered the temple in a calm state of mind and was then greeted by the three stone steles that had been carried into the temple earlier.
Kanos saw the letters engraved on the eaves and learned that this was the Hall of Valor.
The Hall of Valor was just a side hall of the temple, it wasn’t too large and had colourful paintings on the wall. Kanos looked at them carefully and the main paintings on it were the humble beginnings of the former mercenaries, crossing the sea to save the people, fighting the barbarians, building a new city and the dramatic war that led to the establishment of the union…
Even Kanos, an outsider, couldn’t help but sigh about the hardship of the Theonians venture, however, he did not revere it as devoutly as the Theonians, and instead, he went to the brazier and bowed before it, then came out through the side door.
On the right side is another side hall, and it should be the Hall of Sages that was mentioned by the people just now, and it seems that many people stopped inside.
Kanos went straight ahead, crossed the middle entrance and entered the main hall of the temple.
This hall is more than 20 meters high, so as soon as the people enter inside, they will immediately become aware of one’s insignificance. In front of the hall stands a bronze statue over ten meters high, and the huge figure also gives the people a strong sense of oppression. Fortunately, this statue of Hades does not show the ferocious and fearsome face of legend, on the contrary, this statue of Hades has an expression of that of a kind and gentle image of an elderly. Beside him is another statue, the beautiful queen of the underworld, Persephone, who is holding her husband by the arm and smiling at everyone. The most feared of the Greek gods, the king of the underworld, Hades, and was also joined by the queen of the underworld in a way that makes one feel close to her.
Looking at the ground, a carefully selected patchwork of bright and colourful striped marble as smooth as a mirror, with the four walls being painted colourfully with dense forests, verdant green hills, turquoise grasslands and all sorts of rare and exotic animals, fairies and gods, and the humans are laughing and playing and enjoying themselves in perfect harmony…the sunlight from the skylight in the centre of the temple and the windows on both sides of the temple reflected the bright colours of the temple, which had made the hall more magnificent, and made them felt like they are in a fairyland, causing many Theonians to feel enchanted and murmured, “Elysium?! This is Elysium?!…” They fell to their knees in front of the sacred fire and are unwilling to get up.
To maintain order, the soldiers had no choice but to urge them again and again.
Seeing this situation, Kanos had to sigh. The bold and ingenious design of the Theonians had turned hell into paradise and evil into good! In such a warm place, there is no longer a need to worry about no one coming here to worship!
When Kanos walked out of the temple, he could not stop himself from savouring the beautiful scene in the temple.
“The temple on that side is frightening! Many people dared not go in!”
“No way?! It’s very wonderful inside! If the soldiers were not urging me, I would have stayed more!”
“Over there…that side is completely different from this side. If you don’t believe me, you can go and see it!”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
The voices of the people reached the ears of Kanos, which have taken him aback, ‘There is another temple? No, there’s already one here, could it be…it can’t be?!….’
Many people were as shocked as Kanos. It’s normal to be surprised. After all, the temples of the ancient Greek city-states have been a temple dedicated to the main god since ancient times, even though the appearance of the statue of Persephone, the queen of the underworld, in this temple is a bold breakthrough, fortunately, the people regard the queen of the underworld as a subordinate god of Hades, which is not too surprising! But they never thought that the designers had a bolder way and had divided the temple into two parts – one temple and two gods! It was no wonder that the temple of Hades is twice the length of most temples!
Under the strong impetus of doubt and curiosity, Kanos quickly went to the other side of the temple by passing through the outer corridor of the temple, which was supported by a dozen huge Doric-type pillars.
Sure enough, there is another entrance to the temple, which was equally filled with people.
There are also two stone sculptures on both sides of the entrance, but they were painted black, they were the ferryman of the river Styx – Charon, and the one guarding the gate of the underworld, the multi-headed dog – Cerberus.
Entering the entrance is a side hall, which has the name “Prison of the Wicked” engraved on it, in the centre is the terrifying statue of the god of death – Thanatos, holding a sword, with sentences engraved in black letters, “Here will be the prison of the traitors! Here will be the prison of those who have murdered! Here will be the prison of those who have raped!!….”
At the end of each sentence, there is a bloody skull painted on it, which sends chills down to their spine. And the four walls are painted with all sorts of horrific images of ferocious demons tormenting souls, which further added chills.
Kanos staggered, as the terrible sight had made him hesitate to continue inside.
At this time, he saw a “Confessional Room” on the right side of the hall, next to which was a large and bold inscription, “If you correct one’s mistake, god will forgive it!”
Kanos calmed himself and continued as he crossed the confessional room and stepped into the main hall.
Here is a black world. Black marble floor, black walls, no skylight, no windows, so there is no sunlight, and only the burning brazier in front of the statue brought glimmers of light to the temple, but it does not add much to the warmth of the temple, but rather the bright and flickering flame stamped a gloom on everyone’s face.
There is no longer the beautiful and gentle queen of the underworld beside the dozen-meter high statue of Hades, and Hades was clad in a black robe and wielding a bident, with imposing face and threatening gaze that seems to be able to discern those who are good and those who are evil.
In front of him, are the three 3-meter tall statues of Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus, each with a cold expression. One holds a scroll, the other is questioning sternly and the one in the middle is holding a scale with a weight on one side and a bright red heart on the other. This is the only red colour in the whole temple, but it made all the believers in the temple look tense and sweaty because it was so eye-catch that it seems to ask, ‘How is your conscience?’
Kanos walked out of the temple in a trance, and even the fresh air couldn’t make him feel relaxed: It was a test of the soul!
Kanos walked down the hill and was unable to stop himself from looking back at the magnificent temple.
The people emerging from one side of the temple are smiling and are happy, while the people emerging from the other side looked grave and lost in their thoughts. Heaven and hell are polar opposites, yet perfectly contained in one temple. The genius idea of the Theonians had conceived this unusual temple and Kanos wondered what effect it would have on the Theonians in the future
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
At dusk, the hustle and bustle of Thurii have still not yet ended. The people in the streets are still talking about the celebration for the completion of the temple in the daytime with great interests, including the famous Cheiristoya’s Restaurant.
While munching bread and mutton soup, Kanos listened to their conversation.
Only then did he know that the unusual design of the Temple of Hades was originally proposed by the archon Davos, and even those unprecedented ceremonies in the celebration was also based on his arrangement, which made him more curious of what kind of person the archon of Theonia was.
At the celebration, Kanos had only seen Davos in front of the temple from afar, he looked very young but with extraordinary bearings. The thought of how he had yet to meet this Theonian authority had made Kanos feel a little dejected.
“May I sit here?” A man came across the wooden table and asked politely.
Kanos nodded.
“Give me a big plate of tripe!” The man yelled. Not long after he sat down, a steaming food was brought. He quickly scooped a large spoon of sauce in the earthenware pot on the table with a wooden spoon and put it on the plate. It was a sauce made from brewing shellfish. It tasted strange, which Kanos couldn’t still get used to, however, the man on the other side dipped the sauce with tripe and ate it with relish.
“Mmm, this is still delicious! I haven’t eaten it in months and I have been thinking about it every day, but I am still craving it!” The man looked enthralled, which caused Kanos to give a small smile.
The man looked at Kanos and said, “Do you know that when the Greek mercenaries were in Persia and Davos had just started as an ordinary soldier, it was this tripe that had made him conquer the mouths of the other soldiers and had attracted the attention of everyone, and later became the leader of the mercenaries!”
Author’s Note: The idea of two gods in one temple was not an original idea of Davos. Hundreds of years later, Caesar Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, one of the five great emperors of Rome, designed and presided over the construction of the Temple of Venus and Roma, which was dedicated to the goddess Venus on one side and to the goddess Roma* on the other side. And the ruins of the temple are just in front of the Colosseum in Rome. (that is, the deified personification of Rome)