in greek mythology hades was the king of the underworld, the god of death and the dead. he presided over funeral rites and defended the right of the dead to due burial. hades was also the god of the hidden wealth of the earth, from the fertile soil with nourished the seed-grain, to the mined wealth of gold, silver and other metals.
he was devoured by his father kronos as soon as he was born, along with four of his siblings. zeus later caused the titan to disgorge them, and together they drove the titan gods from heaven and locked them away in the pit of tartaros. when the three victorious brothers then drew lots for the division of the cosmos, hades received the third portion, the dark dismal realm of the underworld, as his domain.
hades desired a bride and petitioned his brother zeus to grant him one of his daughters. the god offered him persephone (proserpina for the romans), the daughter of demeter. however, knowing that the goddess would resist the marriage, he assented to the forceful abduction of the girl. when demeter learned of this, she was furious and caused a great dearth to fall upon the earth until her daughter was returned. zeus was forced to concede lest mankind perish, and the girl was fetched forth from the underworld, but since she had tasted of the pomegranate seed, she could return to him for a portion of each year.
hades was depicted as a dark-bearded, regal god. he was depicted as either aidoneus, enthroned in the underworld, holding a bird-tipped sceptre, or as plouton, the giver of wealth, pouring fertility from a cornucopia. the romans named him dis, or pluto, the latin form of his greek title plouton, “the lord of riches”. the only remarkable difference between pluto and hades is that pluto was seen as more warlike, honorable, and interested in the affairs of mortals, while hades was calmer and rarely interfered even in demigod affairs.
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