by Tim Harry

Created on: March 04, 2008   Last Updated: January 14, 2009

It is amazing how the names of Greek gods have lived on into present day, many hundreds of years after their worship had ceased. This fame has continued mainly due to the stroies told of their deeds, stories that have captured the imagination of countless generations. Most people know about Zeus, Poseidon and the other Olympian gods, and it is famed that is shared by the brother of Zeus, Hades. Hades was not an Olympian god, as his domain was in the underworld, a domain he was awarded after the Titanomachy, but as well as being one of the most feared Greek gods, he was also one of the most revered.

Hades was the son of the Titan's Cronus and Rhea, and as such is the brother of Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Poseidon and Zeus. Upon his birth Hades was swallowed by Cronus, in order to prevent the completion of a prophecy. Cronus was the ruler of the older Greek gods but was in fear that one of his children would take over the throne. Zeus would have followed Hades into the stomach of Cronus but Rhea substituted a stone wrapped in baby clothes for him. With Zeus safely hidden on the island of Crete, Rhea tricked Cronus into taking an invincibility' herb, that in fact made him regurgitate the other children; Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon.

A ten year war, known as the Titanomachy, ensued between the Titans and the siblings of Zeus. The three brothers, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, received weapons from the three Cyclopes to aid in the war. Zeus received the thunderbolt, Hades got the Helmet of Darkness and Poseidon got his Trident. By putting on his helmet, Hades became invisible and managed to slip in the camp of the Titan's and destroy their armaments.

Zeus and the younger gods were victorious over the Titans, and Zeus banished the majority of the Titans to Tartarus in the deepest reaches of the Underworld. The three brothers then drew lots to see which section of the cosmos they would rule. Zeus took the sky and upper world, Poseidon received the sea and Hades was left with the Underworld as his domain.

The Underworld was not hell as in the Christian connotation of the word. Hades' domain was initially shown as a land in the far west beyond the ocean; though over time it became a land under Greece itself. Whilst it was perceived as a misty and gloomy place, it was made up of several sections. The Elysian Fields, the Christian equivalent of Paradise or Heaven, were where the heroes resided after death. Tartarus, Christian Hell, was the deepest crevices of the Underworld,

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