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HADES, GOD OF THE UNDERWORLD
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Hades (also known as Aides) is Zeus' brother and ruler of the Underworld and the dead. He was also called Pluto - God of Wealth - because the precious metals buried deep in the earth were in his kingdom.

Another reason that the people called him Pluto is because they did not like to pronounce the dreaded name of Hades or Aides.

The name Pluto was used by both the Greeks and the Romans, and it translates into Latin as Dis - "Rich". The Romans also substituted Orcus and Tartarus as synonymous to Pluto.

Although he was an Olympian, he spent most of the time in his dark castle in the Underworld. This Lord of Hell, who was formidable in battle, proved his ferociousness in the famous battle of the Olympians versus the Titans, which established the rule of Zeus.

Because of his dark and morbid personality he was not especially liked by neither the gods nor the mortals. His character is described as "fierce and inexorable", and by far of all the gods he was most hated by mortals. He was not however an evil god, for although he was stern, cruel and unpitying, still he was just.

Hades ruled the Underworld and therefore most often associated with death and was feared by men, but he was not Death itself - The actual embodiment of Death was another god, Thanatos
.

(Thanatos was the Greek personification of death who dwells in the lower world. In Homer's Iliad he appears as the brother of Hypnos ("sleep"). The Greek writer Hesiod makes these two spirits the sons of Nyx, but they had no father. In the theater Thanatos was sometimes introduced as a character. His attributes are an inversed torch, wreath, or butterfly.)

(Hypnos is the personification of sleep in Greek mythology. He is the son of Nyx and Erebus, and the twin of Thanatos ("death"). Both he and his brother live in the underworld. He gave Endymion the power of sleeping with open eyes so he could see his beloved, the moon goddess Selene. Hypnos is portrayed as a naked young man with wings attached to his temples, or as a bearded man with wings attached to his shoulders.)

Hades ruled the dead, assisted by demons over whom he had complete authority. He strictly forbade his subjects to leave his domain and would become quite enraged when anyone tried to leave, or if someone tried to steal his prey from him.

Very few people ever visited the Underworld and were permitted to leave - In Homer's Iliad, we are told that Heracles (Hercules) was forbidden by Hades to enter his kingdom, but the great Greek hero wounded Hades with an arrow and attained victory.


Besides Heracles, a warrior named Er, Achilles, Odysseus, Aeneas, and Theseus are among those who descended to Hades while they were still living. None of them was especially pleased with what they witnessed in the realm of the dead. In particular the Trojan War hero Achilles, whom Odysseus met in Hades (although some believe that Achilles dwells in the Isles of the Blest), said:

"Do not speak soothingly to me of death, glorious Odysseus. I should choose to serve as the hireling of another, rather than to be lord over the dead that have perished."

(Achilles' soul to Odysseus, Homer, Odyssey)

The wife of Hades, and queen of the Underworld, was Persephone, daughter of Zeus and Demeter (She was also called Kore, Greek for 'daughter'). Persephone did not marry Hades willingly, but was abducted by him one day while picking flowers with her friends. Even Zeus was powerless to get her out of the Underworld when her mother Demeter asked him to act on her behalf.

Eventually a deal was made, with the messenger god Hermes acting as the mediator - Persephone would spend half the year with her mother, the goddess of the harvest. The Greeks believed that while Persephone was with Hades, her mother missed her so much that she withdrew her gifts from the world and winter came. In the spring, when Persephone rejoined her mother, Demeter would make things grow again.


According to some, Persephone eventually became as cruel as her husband.

Hades' weapon was a two-pronged fork, which he used to shatter anything that was in his way or not to his liking, much like Poseidon did with his trident. This ensign of his power was a staff with which he drove the shades of the dead into the lower world.

Like his brother Zeus and other ancient gods, Hades wasn't the most faithful of husbands. He pursued and loved the nymph Mintho and to punish her for this, his jealous wife Persephone turned Mintho into the plant called mint. Likewise, the nymph Leuce, who was also ravished by him, was metamorphosed by Hades into a white poplar tree after her death.

In works of art, Hades resembles his brothers, Zeus and Poseidon, except that his hair falls over his forehead, and his appearance is portrayed as dark and gloomy. The god of the Underworld, whose name mortals dared not utter, was one scary dude!

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