Hades was both the god of the Underworld and the Underworld itself. It was not a place of torure or panishment and it was not the ancient Greek equivalent of Hell. It was just the place where the souls of all dead, good or evil, would gather in order to be judged. Those who were innocend would travel to the Illyseum Fields, a place of eternal bliss and happiness, and those guildy of crimes would travel to Tartara, the place of their eternal punishment. The god Hades was a very quiet ominus god who would always be accompanied by his faithfull dog Cerberus, a mythical monster with three heads. The god was strongly associated with the star of Sirius, the "Dog-Star", and there are many weird highly symbolic myths in relation to him. In the very early days, it was believed that Hades lay far to the west, beyond the horizon where the river Oceanus, which encircled the earth, began. Later, some stories contained descriptions of dark caverns and long, gloomy passages which led down to the Underworld from districts on the mainland of Greece such as Thesprotia in the west or from across the Aegean Sea in Asia Minor or somewhere in Peloponnessos, near Sparta. The "Dog-Star" Sirius was the guardian star of Ancient Sparta and today there are dogs running loose everywhere. In Peloponnesos there is also an ancient cite of the Gates of Hades, not very known to many tourists, and the Psychomantium of Poseidon, the Oracle of the Souls. A hole, now covered with concrete slabs, was thought to lead in the Kingdom of the Dead, the Hades.

             The reputation of the place, apart from the dark legend of the Hades itself, stems from many unexplained phenomena viewed in the area and from the unexplored system of karstic caves that exist everywhere in the area, most famous being the Diros Cave. The reputation of the place was so great that even the late explorer Jean Jack Cousteau requested permission from the Greek Government to conduct scientific oceanic research around the area. Originally the permission was granded but after a while it was cancelled because it was a "sensitive military area". Near the Poseidon's Palace ther is an enigmatic spot. In the middle of a land surface littered by thousands of rocks in various sizes there is a bare circular area cleared by any rock or pebble whatsoever. The locals have reported numerous sightings of UFO's especially on top of a hill that overlooks the sea that was named the Devil's mountain. According to the legend a daemon lives in its interior who causes various problems to the local people from time to time. Apollonius of Tyana roamed around this same area of Greece during his lifetime. He was granted permission to enter a cave of Hermes called the Cave of Trophonius. It is said that Apollonius retrieved the Emerald Tablets of Thoth/Hermes from this cave and that these valuable documents, inscribed on solid jade, ended up in the personal imperial library of Emperor Hadrian at Rome around the year 110 CE. Did Apollonius visit the Diros Cave? Did Apollonius enter the Gates of Hades? Today, of course, nobody can know.