Chapter 29

• Long ago...
• Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades drew lots for the rule of the universe. Hades got the short end of the stick, the dark underworld. Not only because it was the realm of shadows and the dead, but also because he had to live there, and not on Mount Olympus. In fact, it is believed that his name derives from Aidoneus, the "unseen". On the other hand, Hades' house, later known simply as Hades, was not a hell in the Christian sense, that is, a prison to punish "bad" mortals, but simply the abode of all souls.
• For centuries, the four seasons have been marking the calendar. Now we know that they are determined by the positions of the Earth's orbit in relation to the Sun, resulting in solstices and equinoxes: winter and summer solstice, and spring and autumn equinox. But in Greek mythology, an explanation was sought for the phenomenon that produced meteorological changes. The myth of the abduction of Persephone is what gives rise to the four seasons.