Hades << HAY deez >>, a god in Greek mythology, was the ruler of the underworld and of the dead that dwelled in it. The ancient Romans preserved without change almost all the myths about Hades and his kingdom—also called Hades—but the Romans called the god Pluto.
Hades was the son of Cronus and Rhea, and he was an older brother of Zeus, the king of the gods. In spite of Hades’s importance to the Greeks, they did not devote any rituals to him. Few myths involve Hades directly.
The kingdom of Hades was a neutral region reserved for the souls of people who deserved neither punishment nor reward upon death. The Greeks believed that Hades was drab and dull, but not necessarily painful. The souls of those who had led virtuous lives dwelled happily in Elysium. The souls of those who had sinned greatly went to Tartarus, a land far below the earth. There, they suffered eternal torment.
The Greeks believed Hades was beneath the earth. It had five rivers—the Acheron, the Kokytos, the Lethe, the Phlegethon, and the Styx. Each served as a boundary between the land of the living and the land of the dead.
The Styx was the best-known river in Hades. To cross it, a soul had to be ferried by Charon, a boatman. He demanded payment, so the Greeks placed coins in the mouths of their dead before burying them. Hades’ house stood on the shore of the Styx. Cerberus, a monstrous three-headed dog, guarded the house. After crossing the river, each soul was assigned to its eternal home by one of three judges—Aeacus, Minos, or Rhadamanthys. Those guilty of serious offenses were tormented by goddesses called Furies or Erinyes.
