Hades.
Son of Rhea and Cronus (Saturn), Hades (also known as Aides or Aidoneus) was the lord of the Underworld, apportioned to him when the universe was divided among him and his brothers Zeus (Jupiter) and Poseidon (Neptune) after the Olympians’ defeat of the Titans. With his wife Persephone (Proserpine), he ruled over the souls of the dead. His name means “unseen,” deriving from the cap of invisibility (Greek, Aides kyne) he wore in the battle with the Titans and from his stewardship of the “invisible world.”
     While classical authors perceived Hades as a grim and dreaded figure, he was not considered an enemy of mankind. He punished wrongdoers severely, but never actually tormented the dead, leaving this task to the Furies (Greek, Erinyes). He had no real cult center in the classical world; the only place of worship known for him was in Elis. His sphere, described as being “underground” or “to the West” by the ancient Greeks, was approached by various natural chasms and bordered by five rivers. Although difficult to enter and almost impossible to leave, it was visited by Odysseus (Ulysses), Heracles (Hercules), and other mythological figures.
     The Roman god Dis derived his mythology almost entirely from the Greek Hades. Both the Greeks and the Romans also called him Pluto, a name derived from the Greek plutos (“wealth”) and alluding to the riches that come from the earth. Postclassical authors and artists have often equated the god with Satan and the classical Underworld with the Judeo-Christian hell. In postclassical art, Hades sometimes appears as a personification of the element Earth.
     See also Alcestis; Gods and Goddesses; Hades [2, realm]; Orpheus, and Eurydice; Persephone; Plutus; Titans and Giants.