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Ades was the Greek god of deads, lord of the underground world where the Greek placed their reign.
He was considered son of CRONOS and REA.

Swallowed by his father (who feared to be dethroned by one of his sons because of a prediction), like all his brothers after his birth, was then vomited thanks to a trick organized by Zeus, the only Cronos' son that Rea reached in saving from being swallowed.

Zeus, in fact, with the help of the nynph Metides, made him drink a potion that caused him the vomit of all his sons.

Then, a terrible war burst among Cronos and Titans by one side and Zeus and his 5 brothers that lasted 10 years.
Ades took part to this war with a helmet that made invisible who wore it, given him by the Cyclopes.

After Zeus victory, Zeus had the reign of sky, Poseidon that of sea and Ades got the reign of deads, and of the whole underground.
Here, he reigned as an inflexible king, not allowing to anyone to come back on the Earth and holding under his control a "staff" of many demons and monsters.

When he decided to get married he had clear ideas; he kidnapped Persefones, daughter of Zeus and Demetra, while she was picking flowers in the Sicilian meadows and married her also against Zeus will.
Demetra, the goddess of crops and soil fertility, protested strongly and convinced Zeus to intervene for the release of Persefones, also because Demetra, to make pressure for this, left the Earth without harvests, totally sterile for years, causing great damage to mankind.
At the end, a compromise was reached; Persefones, every year, could spend 8 months on the Earth, with Demetra and 4 in the Ades, with his dark husband Ades.
This explains because the Earth appears like dead and sterile in winter and green and full of fruits and crops in summer, spring and autumn.

Another legend tells that Ades tried to prevent Heracles to get into the reign of deads, but he was wounded at his shoulder, or by another version, knocked over by Heracles with an enormous rock, so that he had to be carried to the Olympus to receive the best cures.

It's curious that the ancient Greeks avoided to mention him for not causing his rage and liked better to use other names, like that of Pluto (= the Rich), referring to the richness of the soil and of the underground (minerals, water).

For extension, his name was lately used, in the Greek-Roman world, to name the whole of the deads world (to go in the Ades).

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