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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ruin Explorer" data-source="post: 7965703" data-attributes="member: 18">I mean, not quite re: Hades/Bident.If you actually look at classical depictions of Hades/Haides/Pluto, he almost always has a staff of authority. Various decorations can be at the top of that staff. But I can't think of any actual classical imagery (i.e. 400 AD or earlier) which shows Hades with a "bident". When I did classics stuff, I remember references to a "horned staff", but not a "bident". Hades is also typically depicted in repose - sitting back in a chair or the like, just hanging out. I can't think of any "action scenes" of him, unlike Poseidon who is always showing off and there have been spectacular action statues of (and other art), and is waving his giant trident around.If you look at renaissance or later imagery, though, this changes. Suddenly Hades/Pluto frequently does have a "bident" (rather than a staff or two-horned staff), which actually looks like a fishing spear, and not only that, he's using it in a very aggressive way and is in a lot of action poses the Greeks/Romans would not, I think, have thought made sense. He's basically just a Poseidon knock-off in some of these pieces.So I wouldn't say "traditional classical". It may well be mentioned somewhere in Greek myth (I don't think so - earliest record I can find of it is Seneca), but it's not a major feature, and just a general staff of office is as associated with him.There's a reason it's not even mentioned in his wikipedia article: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hades" target="_blank">Hades - Wikipedia</a>Pluto, specifically (not Hades) is associated with the bident, albeit weakly, because again he usually has a staff of office if anything at all. He's actually described as having a trident at times, and indeed this seems to be where the bident thing comes from, because these were not two totally distinct tools to the Romans at least.Sorry, I just found the topic interesting!</blockquote>

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