Those souls judged to have led bad lives were put in the hands of the Furies and taken to Tartarus, the lowest level of Hades, to receive punishment for their misdeeds. Souls judged to have led especially good lives were first taken to drink the waters of the River Lethe which made them forget all bad things, and then they were taken to the idyllic Elysian Fields. Traditionally, the three judges of souls were Minos, Rhadamanthys, and Aiakos, themselves noted for their honourable lives. On arrival at the gates of Hades, the final destination of the souls was determined by an assessment of their actions whilst they were alive. There are also accounts of sacrificial practices made in honour of Hades, carried out at night and where the blood of victims was left to seep down into the earth to reach the underworld god. Indeed, even to speak his name was avoided instead epithets were used such as Eubuleus (giving good advice). Perhaps a less prominent protagonist in the tales of mythology than the other Olympian gods, Hades, nevertheless, must have been held in superstitious awe by many ordinary Greeks. Zeus received the sky, Poseidon the seas, and Hades the underworld.
Hades The Godįollowing the overthrow of first the Titans and then the Giants by the Olympian gods, Hades drew lots with his brothers Zeus and Poseidon to decide which part of the world each would rule. The god's wife was Persephone whom he abducted to join him in the underworld, and his symbol is a sceptre or cornucopia. Perhaps the most feared of the gods, he is described by both Homer and Hesiod as 'pitiless', 'loathsome', and 'monstrous' Hades. Hades was both the name of the ancient Greek god of the underworld ( Roman name: Pluto) and the name of the shadowy place below the earth which was considered the final destination for the souls of the dead.
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