Hades
Lord of the dead, "strong Hades, pitiless in heart, who dwells under the earth", son of Cronus and Rhea. In the Iliad he won "the murky darkness" when the three brothers shook lots; the Cyclopes gave him his helmet. He carried off Persephone with Zeus's leave and kept her with a pomegranate seed; Cerberus guards his halls. Pausanias knew only one people, the Eleans, who worshipped him with a temple.
Why this wins its question: The usual page says "god of the underworld, not evil". This object gives the lot, the helmet, the halls, the seed and the single cult, each bound to its line, and separates Hesiod's two-line abduction from the Hymn's.
Key takeaways
- Brother of Zeus by birth, lord of the dead by lot (Homer), never by conquest.
- The phrase "by leave of Zeus" is the one the Hymn repeats — the abduction is a marriage arranged by the father.
- The pomegranate is Hades's own trick in the Hymn; Apollodorus adds the informer Ascalaphus.
- Homer's Hades bleeds (shot by Heracles) and is "most hated of all gods"; Pausanias found only Elis with a temple to him.
Claims
Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.
Hades is a son of Cronus and Rhea: "strong Hades, pitiless in heart, who dwells under the earth", swallowed at birth with his siblings (Theog. 453–459). Apollodorus, who calls him Pluto, has him swallowed after Hestia, Demeter and Hera (Apollod. 1.1.5).
The underworld came to him by lot: "Hades won the murky darkness" while Poseidon took the sea and Zeus the heaven, "but the earth and high Olympus remain yet common to us all" (Il. 15.187–193, spoken by Poseidon). Apollodorus adds that the Cyclopes "on Pluto ... bestowed a helmet" before the war with the Titans (Apollod. 1.2.1), the helmet Hermes later wears in the Gigantomachy (Apollod. 1.6.2).
Hesiod places his house at the edge of the world: "There, in front, stand the echoing halls of the god of the lower-world, strong Hades, and of awful Persephone. A fearful hound guards the house in front, pitiless", fawning on those who enter and devouring those who try to leave (Theog. 767–774).
The abduction: "the lord, Host of Many, with his immortal horses sprang out upon her — the Son of Cronos, He who has many names", carrying Persephone off "by leave of Zeus" (HH2 16–32); Helios tells Demeter that Hades is "no unfitting husband", being her own brother and holder of "that third share which he received when division was made at the first" (HH2 78–87). Hesiod gives the same in two lines, "Aidoneus carried off ... but wise Zeus gave her to him" (Theog. 913–914).
When Zeus ordered her return, Hades "smiled grimly and obeyed", but "secretly gave her sweet pomegranate seed to eat, taking care for himself that she might not remain continually" with Demeter (HH2 357–374). Apollodorus says the seed was Pluto's device and that Ascalaphus bore witness against her, so that she must spend a third of each year below (Apollod. 1.5.3).
Homer's Hades can be hurt and is hated: Heracles "smote him in Pylos amid the dead" with an arrow so that he went up to Olympus to be healed by Paeeon (Il. 5.395–402); Agamemnon says "Hades, I ween, is not to be soothed, neither overcome, wherefore he is most hated by mortals of all gods" (Il. 9.158–159).
Odysseus reaches his realm by sailing to "deep-flowing Oceanus, that bounds the Earth", to the land of the Cimmerians on whom the sun never looks, and there prays "to mighty Hades and dread Persephone" over a pit of blood (Od. 11.13–47); Heracles's shade recalls being sent "to fetch the hound of Hades" (Od. 11.620–626), the labour Apollodorus describes with the descent at Taenarum (Apollod. 2.5.12).
Pausanias on his cult: the Eleans open the sacred enclosure and temple of Hades once a year, only the priest entering, and "they are the only men we know of" to worship him; the reason given is that Hades fought for the Pylians against Heracles (Paus. 6.25.2).
Questions answered
- Who are the parents of Hades?
- Hades is a son of Cronus and Rhea: "strong Hades, pitiless in heart, who dwells under the earth", swallowed at birth with his siblings (Theog. 453–459). Apollodorus, who calls him Pluto, has him swallowed after Hestia, Demeter and Hera (Apollod. 1.1.5). source
- How did Hades become lord of the underworld?
- The underworld came to him by lot: "Hades won the murky darkness" while Poseidon took the sea and Zeus the heaven, "but the earth and high Olympus remain yet common to us all" (Il. 15.187–193, spoken by Poseidon). Apollodorus adds that the Cyclopes "on Pluto ... bestowed a helmet" before the war with the Titans (Apollod. 1.2.1), the helmet Hermes later wears in the Gigantomachy (Apollod. 1.6.2). source
- How did Hades abduct Persephone?
- The abduction: "the lord, Host of Many, with his immortal horses sprang out upon her — the Son of Cronos, He who has many names", carrying Persephone off "by leave of Zeus" (HH2 16–32); Helios tells Demeter that Hades is "no unfitting husband", being her own brother and holder of "that third share which he received when division was made at the first" (HH2 78–87). Hesiod gives the same in two lines, "Aidoneus carried off ... but wise Zeus gave her to him" (Theog. 913–914). source
- Why did Persephone have to stay with Hades?
- When Zeus ordered her return, Hades "smiled grimly and obeyed", but "secretly gave her sweet pomegranate seed to eat, taking care for himself that she might not remain continually" with Demeter (HH2 357–374). Apollodorus says the seed was Pluto's device and that Ascalaphus bore witness against her, so that she must spend a third of each year below (Apollod. 1.5.3). source
- Was Hades worshipped anywhere?
- Pausanias on his cult: the Eleans open the sacred enclosure and temple of Hades once a year, only the priest entering, and "they are the only men we know of" to worship him; the reason given is that Hades fought for the Pylians against Heracles (Paus. 6.25.2). source