Hades vs. Satan

     Long before Lucifer took up his fiddle, a god named Hades presided over a similar kingdom of death. But not as similar as some believe. Even the nigh-infallible Dante drew somewhat unfair parallels between the orignal Dark Angel and Greece's God of Death (though this was likely due to the fact that even back then people thought the Greek myths were cool).

Satan in the Inferno

     Part of the Greek origin myth tells of how Zeus freed his brothers and sisters from the stomach of their father Cronus, thus overthrowing the titans. Zeus and two of his brothers then divided the world into three and drew lots over sovereignty. Zeus became king of the heavens and everything under the sun. Poseidon won lordship over the seas, and the third brother, named Hades, "the unseen," by the humans, gained the Underworld.                                                     12

And who wouldn't trust this guy?

     The Underworld is not Hell. All dead went to the Underworld, regardless of morality. If you did wrong, there were Hellish places for you to stay, but it wasn't the norm. Regardless of this, death was still scary. Hades became a name whispered, much as we don't speak of Hell in regular conversation.

     There is very little written about Hades, likely attributed to his less revered and more feared reputation. There is only one piece of evidence to suggest Hades was anymore violent or dark or evil than his kin. This would be the tale of Persephone and how Hades wooed her to be his bride with a pomegranate.

     So, the bottom line is that while Satan is an evil lord of evil evilness, Hades is just doing his job. Modern culture tends to show Hades with shades of his devilish counterpart.