When Zeus won the great Titanomachy, he made all of his siblings rule on top of Mount Olympus as part of the 12 Olympians, all but Hades. Contrary to popular belief, Hades was never banished from Mount Olympus. He willingly went to the underworld after the brothers drew lots to see who would rule what. Zeus drew the lot to rule the skies, Poseidon drew the lot to rule to seas, and Hades drew the lot to rule the underworld.
Many seem to believe that Hades was banished into the underworld as he is the personification of evil. This is far from the truth as the God was simply given the underworld to rule when drawing lots with his brothers.
When the great Titanomachy ended after 10 years of war, the Olympian Gods emerged victorious over their Titan predecessors and decided to rule from Mount Olympus.
The problem here was the fact that the three brothers had to decide between ruling each realm. For the sake of fairness, the three Olympian brothers, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades drew lots instead of comparing their strength as Zeus far outclassed them both combined.
The result was that Zeus would rule the sky, while Poseidon and Hades would rule the sea and the underworld respectively. The underworld was eventually named Hades, as a tribute to its patron God. As ruler and a resident of Hades, Hades himself had little time nor opportunity to visit Olympus at all as it was believed that the underworld was far below the earth and even more so from Mount Olympus.
Since his duties as the Lord of the Dead require him to attend to the matter below the earth and rarely ever above it, Hades was almost never seen in Greek Mythology as well. Unlike his father, Cronus, Hades was never banished into Tartarus and never resided in Tartarus either though many confuse the underworld and Tartarus to be the same.
Truth is, Tartarus was sort of a special hell for monsters and godly beings. Tartarus was once a Primordial God but later on, was described as a whole different realm that was far beyond the land of the dead.
Cocytus was the river of wailing. Finally, the river Phlegethon was, according to Greek philosopher Plato, the river of fire that led the way to the depths of Tartarus.
A sixth river, the Oceanus, encircled the world and marked the east edge of the underworld as Erebus was to its west. Greek mythology had three minor deities [demi-gods] serving as the judges of the dead in the underworld — Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus.
Minos was the judge who made the final vote. Rhadamanthus was the judge of the men of Asia and the lord of the Elysium. Aeacus was the guardian of the keys of the underworld and the judge of the men of Europe. Those were the unburied. The gates of the underworld were guarded by the three-headed dog Cerberus. This section was called the Mourning Fields Lugentes Campi. He was the oldest son of the titan Cronus and Rhea and the brother of Zeus and Poseidon.
After Zeus, Poseidon and Hades overthrew Cronus and ended the reign of the Titans, they draw lots to divide the universe. The Greeks later named him Plouton and the Romans pluralized it to Pluto. Hades, in Ancient Greek, means invisible. According to accounts, Hades had a helmet that made him invisible. Hades requested his brother [Zeus] for a wife and the latter presented him with Persephone. However, as the god of the skies knew Demeter would never consent to the union, he allowed Hades to abduct Persephone.
So, Zeus sent Hermes to take her back to earth. Hades was said to be infertile as not being able to sire children should be part of his nature as the ruler over the dead. He did have children, however, birthed by Persephone. Other accounts said Zeus took the form of an earthly dragon when he came to the queen of the underworld.
Gods and men alike detested Hades. He was often pictured as stern, unyielding and shrouded in mystery. He was fair over the inhabitants of his kingdom, however, and only got angry when the souls of the dead tried to escape from his domain. His many-headed dog [Cerberus] was placed at the gates of the Underworld to keep these souls from leaving the Underworld.
Aside from his helmet of invisibility, Hades had a chariot drawn by four black horses, a throne that was made of black ebony and a bird-decorated scepter. Some of the symbols associated and were sacred to him were the Narcissus flower [which he used in his seduction and abduction of Persephone] and the Cypress tree. They took a shape of the former bodies and were transported to an entrance of the underworld. It was thought to be the subterranean region beneath the depths of the earth and waters.
There were many entrances to Hades such as rivers, chasms and bottoms of the lakes. Once reached the underworld, there were four main regions, where the souls could rest. The Tartarus was the lowest region, also referred as never a part of Hades itself.
It was a place far beneath the underworld, where the Titans were imprisoned. It is also said that Sisyphus was imprisoned there for cheating death. Above Tartarus, at the lowest region of the underworld, there was a place called Fields of Punishment , for the souls of those who committed crimes against gods. They were sentenced to eternal punishment which suited their crimes. Then there were Asphodel Meadows for souls of ordinary men who didn't commit any significant crime in their lives but also didn't achieve any greatness or recognition that would send them to a better place, also known as the Elysian fields.
This was a place for the righteous and significant people and also those who were closely related to the gods, such as Cadmus and Achilles. After taking his place in the underworld, Hades had desired a bride and asked his brother Zeus to grant him one of his daughters. Persephone was chosen despite the fact that he knew she would resist the marriage. Regardless of her wishes, Zeus let the vicious abduction come to pass. While playing with the daughters of Oceanus at the distant fields of Nysa, Persephone was guided into a trap by magical flowers.
The flowers had shown her the pathway to irresistable flower with hundred stems of fragrant blossom. When she reached out with both hands to pluck the flower, earth opened and Hades appeared with his golden chariot, abducting her before anyone could hear her screaming. However, two immortals, Helios and Hecate , were able to hear her plead for help. And upon Demeter's curse , which caused great drought on lands and consequently famine, it was Hecate who came to Demeter and told her about what she had heard.
Together they went to Helios who was able to see all deeds from both mortals and immortals. He told Demeter that Zeus and Hades were to blame. She was mad and had given ultimatum for the lands to stay barren until she was able to see her daughter again.
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