Hades and Kerberos - from Meyers Konversationslexikon - 1888
In Greek mythology, Hades was probably the most feared of all gods compared to his brothers Zeus and Poseidon, and with good reason too. He was the god who presided over the netherworld and was also the custodian of the dead. He had a stern unrelenting demeanour to go with the job, and this precluded any attempts at worshipping or even requesting favours from him. Therefore there weren’t any temples to his name as there were for his more amiable siblings. Hades didn’t seem to mind all this too much and his major pre-occupation was to keep his subjects, the dead souls, from leaving his kingdom. He had state-of-the art technology of the day guarding the entrance of the netherworld. This would include the ferocious three-headed dog which stood guard, and the dark, murky river Styx which could not be forded without a ferry. And the ferry guide was none other than the cranky Charon, who really couldn’t be bothered helping anyone escape.
Now this is not the kind of bio-data that would attract prospective brides and Hades was not one given to denial. So when the time came for him to find a bride, he planted a pomegranate tree in a meadow frequented by the naïve and the nubile, and then proceeded to bide his time. He didn’t have to wait long for there came fair Persephone, the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, along with a bevy of beautiful nymphs. She saw the beautiful pomegranate and did what any self-respecting young girl would do—reach out and grab. As she did so Hades sprang out from the fruit, loaded her and the fruit onto his horse and was gone before her companions could say, “Bad Hades!”
Well there was a witness to this vile deed, none other than Apollo himself on his chariot up in the sky. The thought probably crossed his mind, ” Now why didn’t I think of that?” and he proceeded to inform Demeter about the series of unfortunate events. She went into a rage, and when all efforts to recover her daughter failed to yield fruit, she cursed the earth with a dry spell that caused all vegetation to dry up and yield no fruit. Now Zeus was worried. This was bad, really bad, for the earth was his realm and his reputation was at stake. So he intervened and soon they reached a compromise where Persephone would spent two thirds of a year with her mother and a third with Hades. Everyone was happy and the earth bloomed again. And Zeus heaved a sigh of relief.
