Hades was the ancient Greek god of the lower world. He ruled over all the other powers of the infernal regions and over the shades of the departed. Since the ancients located the dwelling of the dead in the bowels of the earth they came to assign to Hades the control of all the wealth of earth, including the products of mines as well as corn and other fruits of the soil. Then, because they dreaded to utter the name which called up the fearful images of death and darkness, they called Hades, Pluto, "giver of riches." Hades was the son of Cronos and Rhea, brother of Zeus and Poseidon. His wife was Persephone, and the two reigned in a splendid palace. Hades was supposed to bear a staff with which he drove souls to the lower world. He possessed a helmet which had the power of rendering its wearer invisible, and which both gods and men found occasion to borrow.
In works of art, Hades resembles Zeus and Poseidon, but his face is dark and gloomy, with the hair falling over the forehead. He holds the key of the infernal regions, and the dog Cerberus is by his side. Sometimes he is crowned with maiden-hair fern, which plant was sacred to him, as were the cypress and narcissus. Ordinarily prayers to him were considered of no avail. In rare circumstances mortais invoked him, when black sheep were sacrificed and the attention of the god was called by striking upon the earth with the hand. The Romans identified Hades or Pluto with their Dis and Orcus.
