in Greek mythology Hades reigned over
the dead as the ruler of the underworld
though one of the major Olympian gods he
is somewhat separated from the rest of
them because of his unique position
rather than reside on Mount Olympus with
Zeus and others Hades is forced to hold
over the underworld the land of the dead
were those who have passed away become
his subjects throughout Greek mythology
Hades has been firmly planted in the
roll of death this wasn't necessarily
always the case though in fact with a
little better luck he could have had a
pretty sweet gig ruling over the sky sea
or land after overtaking the previously
ruling Titans Hades and his brothers
Zeus and Poseidon decided to divide
control of the cosmos into three parts
the sky and heavens the sea in the
underworld all three along with the
other gods and goddesses would share
dominion over the land and those who
lived upon it to make things fair the
brothers drew lots to see who would
command which best pick got the heavens
second got the sea in the worst draw
which nobody really wanted was the
underworld Zeus had got the heavens
Poseidon won the sea in Hades literally
got to live in a hellhole
comparing the underworld which is often
also called Hades to the modern vision
of Hell is not totally accurate for most
major modern religions the concept of
Hell is usually a fiery land of fear and
agony where the wicked go to spend the
rest of eternity paying for their
earthly sins
in Greek mythology Hades the underworld
not the God was a place where human
souls would go often regardless of what
they had done in their Corporal
lifetimes the only real alternative was
to be made an immortal by the gods where
one would get to live in Zeus's realm as
lesser than the gods but higher than
living humans being given immortality
was incredibly rare and only the great
heroes of Greek mythology could even
sniff at this possibility
nobody could count on it happening as a
guarantee that said the underworld
wasn't exactly the place to be the other
gods greatly preferred living on any of
the other plains of the cosmos leaving
Hades on his own for the most part all
alone and unable to find a mate among
the goddesses he petitioned his brother
Zeus to give him a bride to live in the
underworld with him Zeus knew that none
of the goddesses would want to live in
the underworld so he devised a plan to
kidnap his own daughter the spring got
us Persephone and force her to become
the queen of the underworld the news of
her daughter's forced marriage did not
please Demeter the goddess of harvests
who threatened to ruin all the crops of
the earth if her daughter was not
returned
this left Zeus with a difficult decision
he could not deny his brother a wife but
at the same time he could not let all of
humanity starve to death
so he came up with a compromise every
year in the spring season Persephone was
allowed to leave the underworld and
return to the earth where she would
Herald the end of winter in the growth
of new plants when winter began again
Persephone would return to the
underworld causing plant life to die off
until her return one of the lesser-known
aspects among the myth of Hades was that
the god of death was also considered the
god of riches in Greek mythology Hades
ruled over the buried wealth of the
earth including gold silver and other
minerals as well as the rich fertile
soil that helped grow harvests it was
said that this king of the afterlife was
exceptionally concerned with the loyalty
of his subjects
most of whom were the dead who lived
with him in the underworld he employed
the three-headed dog Cerberus to guard
the gates in the front and ensure the
living could not enter and the dead
could never leave
