Hades is lord of the dead, ruler of the underworld to whom all the earth's subterranean treasures belong.*

Myth

Hades is best known for his marriage to Persephone. With the permission of her father Zeus (but with neither the permission nor the knowledge of her mother Demeter), he took her away to his kingdom under the earth. Demeter, in mourning for her lost daughter, made the earth barren until her daughter was returned; however, since Persephone had eaten several pomegranate seeds while in Hades' realm, from then on she spent part of each year with Hades and part with her mother.

Hades also appears in the story of the apportioning of the earth between his brothers and himself. Zeus received the earth, Poseidon the sea, and Hades the underworld--which displeased him until he learned that he would also receive all precious gems and metals under the earth, making him a god of wealth as well.

Many of Hades' other appearances in myth have to do with rare living mortals such as Orpheus visiting his realm.

References

• Burkert, Walter. Greek Religion. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1985.
• Gantz, Timothy. Early Greek Myth, Volumes 1 and 2. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1993.
• Kerenyi, Karl. The Gods of the Greeks. Thames and Hudson, London, 1951.