Hades as used in the bible means the place of the
dead, the grave
pit. Hades is also used to indicate being spiritually
dead, as used by Jesus in the Lazarus and the rich man illustration. Hades means the same thing as Sheol as far as the bible is concerned, only Sheol was Hebrew and Hades was Greek. See a Greek quote of a Hebrew scripture to prove this:
Psalm 16:10 - For You will not abandon me to Sheol; You will not allow Your Faithful One to see the Pit.
Acts 2:
31 - He was not left in Hades, and His flesh did not experience decay.
In Greek mythology the meaning of Hades described more elaborately “the
world of the
dead.” These ideas about the place Hades represented in Greek mythology were eventually grandfathered into the bible’s teachings regarding the place of the
dead.
For some
time around and after 325 C.E. when Rome was in the process of converting to Christianity, there was pressure for the
church to cater their teachings to the beliefs of pagan nations in order to gain pagan converts. In consequence of these modified doctrines, much of what is taught among Christendom today regarding the state of the
dead was actually taken from Egyptian and Greek beliefs of these subjects.
