armor

Helm of Darkness

By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.

Description

Cap of Hades

Apollodorus lists the cap of darkness among the Cyclopes' gifts in the war against the Titans, Hades' share beside Zeus's bolt and Poseidon's trident. In Iliad 5 Athena puts on the cap of Hades to hide from Ares. Perseus borrows a helm of invisibility from the nymphs (Apollodorus) to escape Medusa's sisters. It is a kuneē, a cap or helmet of gloom, not a modern cloak. Hades has few temples; the helm is a loan in hero-myth and a disguise for gods, not a cult statue you could visit.

Primary Sources

“Athena put on the cap of Hades, that mighty Ares might not see her.”
Homer, Iliad 5.844–845(c. 8th century BCE)

“The nymphs gave Perseus the cap of Hades, the winged sandals, and the kibisis.”
Apollodorus, Library 2.4(c. 1st–2nd century CE)

Powers & Abilities

InvisibilityFear AuraShadow Walking