Hades was the god of the dead who ruled the underworld. The underworld, which is referred to as the domain of Hades, was the place people went after they died. Hades was a rather shadowy figure in more ways than one, spooky, and the Greeks preferred not to talk about him too much. Generally, people who had good intentions did not sacrifice to Hades either. When they did, instead of burning the fat and the bones so the smoke would go up to Heaven, they poured blood into pits or ditches dug into the ground. Hades was thought of as the brother of Zeus and Poseidon, and the brother of Demeter and Hera. Like Poseidon, Hades is not a central figure in very many Greek myths. The best-known of the myths where he appears are in Persephone and Orpheus.
People sacrificed to Hades when they wanted something bad to happen, for example, trying to get revenge on an enemy. He is the son of Cronus and Rhea. When the three sons of Cronus divided the world among each other, Hades was given the underworld, while his brothers Zeus and Poseidon took the upperworld and the sea. For a while Hades ruled the underworld together with Persephone, whom he had abducted from the upperworld, but Zeus ordered him to release Persephone back into the care of her mother Demeter. However, before she left he gave her a pomegranate and when she ate of it, it bound her to the underworld forever. Hades sits on a throne made of ebony, and carries a scepter. He also has a helmet, given to him by the Cyclopes, which can make him invisible. Hades rules the dead, assisted by various helpers, such as Thanatos and Hypnos, Charon, and Cerberus, the three-headed dog. Many heroes from Greek mythology have traveled into the underworld. Hades does not allow his captives to leave his underworld. Hades possesses the riches of the earth, and is referred to as 'the Rich One'. Of all the Greek gods, Hades is the one who is most closely compared to the Egyptian god Seth.
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