Appearance: Like Zeus, Hades is usually represented as a vigorous bearded man.
Symbols or Attributes: Scepter, Helm of Darkness, and horn of plenty.
Strengths: Rich with the wealth of the Earth, especially precious metals. Persistent and determined.
Weaknesses: Passionate over Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, whom Zeus promised to Hades as his bride. (Unfortunately, Zeus apparently neglected to mention it to either Demeter or Persephone.) Impulsive, favoring sudden, decisive actions. Can also be deceptive.
Birthplace: The most common story is that Hades was born to the Great Mother goddess Rhea and Kronos (Father Time) on the island of Crete, along with his brothers Zeus and Poseidon. He was swallowed by his father, who thought his children would overthrow him. Kronos later coughed him up along with Hestia, Demeter, Poseidon, and Hera.
Spouse: Persephone, who must stay with him part of each year because she ate a few pomegranate seeds in the Underworld.
Pets: Cerberus, a three-headed dog, black horses, and various other hounds.
Some Major Temple Sites: The spooky Nekromanteion on the River Styx along the west coast of mainland Greece, still visitable today.
Basic Myth: Hades springs out of the earth and captures Persephone, dragging her off to be his queen in the Underworld. Her mother Demeter searches for her and stops all foods from growing until Persephone is returned. Finally, a deal is worked out where Persephone stays one-third of the year with Hades, one-third of the year serving as a handmaiden to Zeus at Mount Olympus, and one-third with her mother; other stories skip Zeus's portion and divide Persephone's time between Hades and her mother.
Interesting Fact: Hades originally may have been all of the dark and underworld aspects of Zeus, eventually considered to be a separate deity. He is sometimes called "Zeus of the Departed". His name originally probably meant "invisible" or "unseen", as the dead go away and are seen no more.
Hades is God of:
King of the Underworld (Hades rules the Underworld realm which is sometimes called Hades after him)
God of Wealth (all the wealth that comes from the under the earth belongs to Hades)
Funeral Rites (for the dead that dwell in the Underworld, the realm of Hades)
Ghosts and Necromancy (as the god of the Underworld, which is land of the dead)
Curses and the Furies (the Furies are the daughters of Hades and avenge the divine laws broken by both dead and alive alike)
Dreams (Dream gods dwell in the Underworld, and Hades has charge of them)
Mining and Metals (that all these are found beneath the earth, where Hades rules)
Earth's Fertility (by Persephone goddess of spring ascending to Earth)
He has a three headed dog that you can see on Harry Potter chamber of secrets. Mother is Rhea.
Father is Cronus.
Wife is Persephone.
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