Hades was
the brother of Zeus and Poseidon.
After the overthrow of their father, Cronus,
he drew lots with them to share the universe. He drew poorly, which resulted in
becoming lord of the underworld and ruler of the
dead. Nevertheless, he was not considered to be death itself, as this was a
different god, called Thanatos.
Greedy like his brother Poseidon,
he was mainly interested in increasing his subjects, and anyone whose deeds
resulted in people dying was favoured by him. The Erinnyes (the Furies) were
welcomed guests in his kingdom.

The
Greeks were not keen on uttering his name, afraid of causing some kind of
reaction that would end up with them dead sooner. Instead, they decided to give
him another name, Plouton,
deriving from the Greek word for wealth, due to the precious metals mined from
the earth. Thus, Ha­des also became the god
of wealth.

Although
an Olympian, Hades preferred
the Underworld and rarely left his kingdom. His weapon was a pitchfork, which
he used to create earthquakes, similar to the way Poseidon used
his trident. He also had a helmet of invisibility, which he had received as a
gift from the Cyclopes,
in order to use it during the clash of the Titans.
He was married to Persephone, daughter of Demeter,
whom Hades abducted
and carried down to the Underworld.