Hades

Hades was god of the dead. He was the son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. Hades was also the brother of Zeus and Poseidon. The three brothers divided up the universe after the death of Cronus. Hades was given the underworld. He and his queen ruled the kingdom of the dead. Hades was known also as Pluto, lord of riches, because both crops and precious metals were believed to come from his kingdom below ground.

The underworld itself was often called Hades. The underworld was divided into two regions. Erebus was where the dead pass as soon as they died. Tartarus was the deeper region, where the Titans had been imprisoned. Tartarus was inhabited shadows and guarded by Cerberus, the three-headed, dragon-tailed dog. Sinister rivers separated the underworld from the world above, and the aged boatman Charon ferried the souls of the dead across these waters.

In The Odyssey, Erebus was accessed after sailing to the northern oceans wherupon Odysseus and men dig a well shaft and fill it with sweet milk, honey, sweet wine, clear water, and handfulls of barley. This sacrifice is used to attract the dead. On the Island of Erebus, Odysseus meets a many of the "unnumbered dead" (X 560). Among them are Achilles and Agamemnon from the prequel The Iliad, Odysseus' mother Antiklea, and Elpenor - one of his young sailors that died needlessly after breaking his neck from falling off of Circe's roof.

Works Cited:

Lindemans,Micha. "Hades." Encyclopedia Mythica. 03 March 1997.MMVI Encyclopedia Mythica. 17 June 2006. <http://www.pantheon.org/articles/h/hades.html>

"Hades in Greek Mythology." Mythograghy. 1997. Loggia.com. 17 June 2006 <http://www.loggia.com/myth/hades.html>