ephone, was kidnapped by Hades, god of the underworld, to be his queen. Demeter was so stricken that she disguised herself as an old woman, and wandered the earth crying and seeking her lost daughter. The god of the sun, Helios, tells her at last where her daughter is and she becomes coldly furious. She refused to heal the barren earth, and Zeus, knowing that if his sister was not given aid the mortal world would perish, sent Hermes to bargain with Hades for the return of the sunny Persephone. Hades slyly told Persephone that was free to go, and he gave her a handful of pomegranate seeds to eat if she got hungry along the way. She ate four and was bound to spend four months of the year with Hades in his dark kingdom. During that period Demeter was so sorrowful that the earth became cold and bare, the ground froze despite the light from the sun, and nothing grew.Eros/Cupid, the god of love and passion, was said in the later myths to be the son of Aphrodite. In some of the earliest myths, however, he was considered to be the very first god, the son of Darkness or Chaos, who brought light and order, and therefore life, through love. This idealistic and all-powerful view of love is far from the erotic version associated with Eros in later myths. Portrayed as the conceited and spoiled young son of Aphrodite, he used his magical bow and arrows to cause mortals and immortals to fall hopelessly in love. Although he obeyed his mother, he shot most of his arrows for his own personal entertainment.Hades, god of the undead and king of the underworld, was Zeuss brother. He rarely leaves his silent, gray palaces underground to visit the brightness of Mount Olympus. Hades is also the god of wealth, for he owns all of the precious gems and minerals that lie below the earth.Helios, the god of the sun, drove his fiery horses and golden chariot across the sky each day, bringing day, heat, and light. Although his own origins were obscure, there was one myt...
