Hades
Greek mythology · deity · the underworld, the dead
Eldest brother of Zeus and lord of the underworld, which he received when the three brothers divided the cosmos. Feared but not evil, a stern warden of the dead rather than a devil figure.
Stories
The Titanomachy
For ten years the young gods war against Cronus and the Titans, until Zeus frees the hundred-handed giants and the Cyclopes forge his thunderbolt. The old order falls into Tartarus; Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades divide the cosmos by lot, and only Prometheus among the Titans stands with the victors.
The Abduction of Persephone
Gathering flowers, Persephone is swallowed by the opening earth and carried to the underworld by Hades. Demeter's grief starves the world until Zeus relents; but Persephone has eaten pomegranate seeds below, and Hecate's torches light her yearly passage between the dead and the spring.
Orpheus and Eurydice
Orpheus sings his way into the underworld, and Hades and Persephone, moved for the only time, release his dead wife on one condition: he must not look back before the light. In the last steps he turns, and loses her twice.
Sisyphus Cheats Death
Sisyphus chains Death himself so that no one can die, and when dragged to the underworld talks his way back into the light. Zeus and Hades get the last word: an eternity pushing a boulder uphill and watching it roll down from the summit, forever almost done.