Biff the unclean

Hades isn't actually the underworld, it's the name of the god who over sees the underworld. The Greek version of Hell is "Tartarus"

mark9950

That the translators themselves believed in the eternal burning underworld as described in the divine comedy which was all myth and folklore.

MortalWombat

Hades was both the god of the underworld and the name of his dwelling in ancient Greek religion. Tartarus, also the name of a deity and a place, was a section of Hades reserved for punishment.

Biff the unclean

They appear to be mistaken, they are confusing Christian usage as a place name. The Greeks talked of the Domain of Hades, but the reference was to the God.
Here's a piece from [www.pantheon.org] Encyclopedia Mythica. It's an excellent site by the way, very complete.

Hades

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Hades is the lord of the dead and ruler of the nether world, which is referred to as the domain of Hades or, by transference, as Hades alone. He is the son of Cronus and Rhea. When the three sons of Cronus divided the world among each other, Hades was given the underworld, while his brothers Zeus and Poseidon took the upperworld and the sea respectively. He ruled the underworld together with Persephone, whom he abducted from the upperworld. Zeus ordered him to release Persephone back into the care of her mother Demeter, but before she left he gave her a pomegranate. When she ate it, it bound her to the underworld forever/

Hades sits on a throne made of ebony, and carries a scepter. He also has a helmet, given to him by the Cyclopes, which makes him invisible. Hades rules the dead, assisted by various (demonic) helpers, such as Thanatos and Hypnos, the ferryman Charon, and the hound Cerberus. Many heroes from Greek mythology have descended into the underworld, either to question the shades or trying to free them. Although Hades does not allow his subjects to leave his domain, on several occasions he has granted permission, such as the time Orpheus requested the return of his beloved Eurydice.

Hades possesses the riches of the earth, and is referred to as 'the Rich One'. Possibly also because, as Sophocles writes, 'the gloomy Hades enriches himself with our sighs and our tears'. Of all the gods, Hades is the one who is liked less and even the gods themselves have an aversion of him. People avoided speaking his name lest they attracted his unwanted attention. With their faces averted they sacrificed black sheep, whose blood they let drip into pits, and when they prayed to him, they would bang their hands on the ground. The narcissus and the cypress are sacred to him.

Other names include Clymenus ('notorious'), Eubuleus ('well-guessing') and Polydegmon ('who receives many').

Hubble head

Hell, I love threads like this.

Tom Sawyer

It is one hell of a good thread with a hell of a lot of informative information

JGL53

What was the famous quote from the Book of Fred in the Discordian Society/Church of Bob religion? - something like
"The only people deserving of an eternity of pain in Hell are those that believe in it.".

I always liked that one.