HADES  -  GOD OF THE UNDERWORLD

HADES, in Greek mythology, is the god of the dead. He was the son of the Titans
Cronus and Rhea and the brother of Zeus and Poseidon. When the three brothers
divided up the universe after they had deposed their father, Cronus, Hades was
awarded the underworld. There, with his queen, Persephone, whom he had abducted
from the world above, he ruled the kingdom of the dead. Although he was a grim
and pitiless god, unappeased by either prayer or sacrifice, he was not evil. In
fact, he was known as lord of riches, because both crops and precious metals
were believed to come from his kingdom below ground.

The underworld itself was often called Hades. It was divided into two regions:
Erebus, where the dead pass as soon as they die, and Tartarus, the deeper
region, where the Titans had been imprisoned. It was a dim and unhappy place,
inhabited by vague forms and shadows and guarded by Cerberus, the three-headed,
dragon-tailed dog. Sinister rivers separated the underworld from the world
above, and the aged boatman Charon ferried the souls of the dead across these
waters.

Somewhere in the darkness of the underworld Hades' palace was located. It was
represented as a many-gated, dark and gloomy place, thronged with guests, and
set in the midst of shadowy fields and an apparition-haunted landscape. In later
legends the underworld is described as the place where the good are rewarded and
the wicked punished.