Hades
Hades was the god of the dead. He was the son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea and the brother of Zeus and Poseidon. When the three brothers divided up the universe after they had deposed their father, Cronus, Hades was awarded the underworld. The underworld itself was often called Hades. It was divided into two regions: Erebus, where the dead pass as soon as they die, and the Tartarus, the deeper region, where the Titans had been imprisoned. It was represented as a many-gated dark and gloomy place, set in the midst of shadowy fields and an apparition-haunted landscape.
In later legends the underworld is described as the place where the good are rewarded, and the wicked punished. Hades lived in a dark & gloomy palace with his ice-cold queen Persephone. She had not come to rule the joyless underworld of her own free will. She had been kidnapped by Hades.
The dead were conducted to Hades by the god Hermes. The word hell comes from an Anglo-Saxon root meaning " concealed ", and it suggests a place hidden in the hot regions at the earth's center. It was a dwelling place for heroes on whom the gods had conferred immortality. Eventually it came to mean the abode for all the blessed dead as opposed to Hades.
When you go to the underworld you're not supposed to eat anything. Hades' wife, Persephone, ate something. Because of that, she had to go to the "upper" world for six months, and she can come back to Hades. Also Hades is immortal. The real reason why Persophone went to the "upper" world is because Hermes persuaded ( Hermes is really good with persuadeing people ) Hades to let her go.
by Mack Makowski
Source Book: Compton's Encyclopedia
Volume 10
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