Hades

Hades Europe
In Greek mythology, one of the world-ruling sons of Kronos; the brother of Zeus; and the husband of Persephone. At the division of the universe after the overthrow of Kronos, Zeus took the sky, Poseidon the sea, and Hades the underworld; the earth was to be shared between them. ‘The house of Hades’ was the habitation of the shades, the dead. Its ruler had the name Polydegmon, ‘receiver of many guests’, on account of the multitudes who streamed through its portals. Hades was a subterranean Zeus—chthonios, of the dark realm, as opposed to the cult of the sky god, hypsistos. So fierce and inexorable was the god of death that his worshippers used to avert their eyes when making a sacrifice. They called him Pluto, ‘the giver of wealth’, because no one wished to pronounce the dreaded name of Hades. This title refers of course to the blessings of the earth: crops, minerals, and clear water from springs. Hades as a place for the...

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