1. By Muzamel Khan and Shabaaz Punjani
The Greek Underworld
By Muzamel Khan and Shabaaz Punjani

2. Background of the Underworld
Was a place where souls went after death or afterlife.
The moment of death, the soul became separated from the corpse turning into the person they were before they died and arrived at the entrance of Hades
Considered the dark counter path (kingdom of dead to the mighty Mount Olympus (kingdom of gods)

3. Hades God of the Underworld
Son of the Titan Cronus and Rhea, had three sisters Demeter, Hestia, and Hera and two brothers Zeus and Poseidon (the original Six Olympian gods) (Zeus only one not eaten by Cronus)
Married Persephone through trickery
His symbol was his helmet which kept him from being visible
Being the God of the underworld he can control the powers of the afterlife. Being the God of the Dead and of the Underworld, Has complete control over spirits
Hades is also the God of Wealth and Riches having the ability to turn any material into gold, silver, diamonds and other precious substances. Not only can he turn items into the minerals above, he also has a magnetic-like pull to his body, making it randomly pull emeralds and such out of the ground.
One major weakness of Hades was he took much pity on his wife
He is invisible
He helped the gods to victory in the Great War against the titans and Cronus
Was alluded to in Percy Jackson and the Olympians
At times the Underworld is called Hades

4. Persephone
Persephone was born to Zeus and Demeter but raised by her mother alone
Hades’s wife, is the Greek goddess of springtime, flowers, youth, and the queen of the Underworld
The amount of children she has varies from source to source
Persephone had a few different powers. She could easily bring the dead back to life. She also had the ability to make flowers around her burst into bloom.
Not able to escape the influence of an over protective mother.
In A Company of Swans the heroine Harriet Morton eats pomegranate seeds in the hope that will mean she has to remain in Brazil rather than go back to her family home in Cambridge

5. Demeter Goddess of Harvest
Demeter is a daughter of Kronos and Rhea and sister of Zeus with whom she became the mother of Persephone
Also presided over the sanctity of marriage,
She and her daughter Persephone were the central figures of the Eleusinian Mysteries that predated the Olympian pantheon
A weakness of her was that she went to depression quite often
A strength was the she controlled the fertility of Earth
She is identified as the mother goddess
She caused winter to happen when she went into depression due to her daughter Persephone became missing
Greeks have a festival dedicated to Demeter

6. The Styx River between the Underworld and Earth, often called Hades
Important rivers of the Underworld are Lethe Alphelus and Eridanos
Before she was a river she was the goddess of the rivers and could make one invulnerable
She sided with Zeus in the Great War
In Percy Jackson there is a river that separates Camp Half- Blood and the Realm of the Dead which is like The Styx

7. Charon Boatman of the Underworld
Carries souls of the newly deceased across The Styx And Archeron to the Underworld
Son of Nyx (goddess of Night) and Erebus
Not a known weakness
Possessed superhuman strength
Led many living people across to the Underworld and back to Earth including Hercules
Had many different physiques
Has a dwarf planet named after him

8. Cerberus is a multi headed (usually three heads) dog or “hellhound”
Guarded entrance of Underworld for people trying to escape
offspring of Echidna, a hybrid half woman and half serpent and Typhon, a humongous monster the Greek Gods feared
Siblings were Orthus a two headed dog and Chimera, a three headed monster and Lernaean Hydra
Identified usually as a three headed dog
Hercules, as part of his 12 labors, was told to bring Cerberus to the King of Eurystheus without using any weapons and he did but was told to return it back to the underworld
Fed on live meat
Larger than any man and had superhuman strength

9. Pan
God of the wild, shepherds and flocks, nature of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music, also the companion of the nymphs
His parentage is unclear varying from Zeus to Hermes
Mostly Human with goat feet and goat horns
Name is basis for the word “panic” he scared travelers in the woods and made them panic and flee
Superhuman strength
His weakness was that he didn’t understand concepts of pain and suffering

10. Hades And Persephone
Married Hades through trickery, he had kidnapped Persephone and Persephone at first couldn’t stand Hades but started to grow on him
She was supposed to go back to Olympus but she ate six poisoned pomegranates causing her to stay in the Underworld for at least six months
Persephone, Zeus, and Hades came upon an agreement where Persephone would stay in the Underworld for six months and in Olympus for six months