Hades
The Greek god Hades (also known as Haides, Aides, Plouton, and Aidoneus) was the king of the Underworld. He was the god of death or the dead. He presided over funerals and defended the rights of the dead to have a due burial. He was also the god of the hidden wealth of the earth. This included the fertile soil which nourished the seeds and the gold, silver, and other precious minerals and ores in the earth.
It is written that Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades were each given a portion of the universe. Zeus was given the sky, Poseidon was the god of the sea, of horses, and earthquakes. Poseidon was also a major civic god and was second in importance only to Athena. Hades was the god of the underworld. All of these gods were siblings.
All of the siblings but Zeus was swallowed by their father, Cronus, when they were born. Cronus was their father and Rhea was their mother. Other siblings that were born to this couple was Hera, Hestia, Demeter. Cronus had also swallowed them. Cronus had received word that one of his children would overthrow his throne so to prevent this he swallowed each child as it was born. Zeus was the last child to be born and in order to protect him, his mother, Rhea, and Gaea hid him in a cave. She then wrapped a rock in baby clothes and Cronus swallowed it believing it to be Zeus. Later Rhea gave Cronus an herb and told him it would make him invincible but instead it made him regurgitate the children and even the rock, with the rock coming up first, and the children in the order in which they were swallowed. Together these siblings drove Cronus and the other Titans out of Olympus and locked them away in the pit of Tartaros, which is located in the far depths of the Underworld.
Hades has been depicted as a dark bearded, regal god upon a throne in the underworld, holding a sceptre with a bird on the tip, or as a Plouton, a giver of wealth, showing a cornucopia with fertility pouring from it. The Romans named Hades, Dis or Pluto, which was the Latin form of his Greek title, Plouton, which meant the lord of riches.
Hades wanted a wife so he asked Zeus to petition him one. Zeus offered him one of his daughters, Persephone, the daughter of Demeter. Demeter was very irrate about this and caused a great drought to fall over the earth and demanded her daughter back. Zeus had to concede and the girl was returned to her mother but Persephone had been offered a sweet pomegrante seed and she tasted it. When she did this it forced her to return to Hades for one third of each year. It is written that this is when the earth is brown and in a drought. This is believed to be the winter months. In the spring when Demeter gets her daughter back, everything again turns green and thrives.
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