Download DEATH, THE UNDERWORLD, AND THE AFTERLIFE

DEATH, THE UNDERWORLD, AND
THE AFTERLIFE
World Mythology – Fall 2013
Why are people so concerned
with death?
 Consciousness = what makes us human
 Only living things that can see our lives as
continuous plot with beginning, middle, end
 Nature = cycles; why should we be different
 Tides, moon, day/night, seasons
 Natural return of whatever is lost
 Can’t imagine life going on without the
consciousness we use to perceive it
And so – the idea of an
afterlife.
 Easier/more natural to believe our
consciousness continues on in some way
rather than just disappearing
 Souls in afterlife – often gain knowledge
 Not limited to past/present, also gain future
 No longer limited to physical boundaries/senses
 Death as a prelude to greater life, greater
knowledge/wisdom/understanding
Death as a Place – Ideas of
an Underworld
 Distinct from Judeo-Christian concepts of
Heaven/Hell
 Not necessarily about punishment/reward
 Often bleak – mirrors the feel of being literally
underground, in a grave or cave
 Burial as return to “Mother Earth” (dualism!), return
to universal womb to await rebirth
 Cremation as return to “Father Sky” – patriarchal
cultures
 Often with a route/entrance daring
adventurers can find and enter
Death as a Place – Ideas of
the Underworld
 Great rulers/kings in many cultures could go
on to become judges in the underworld after
death
 Gilgamesh
 Osiris (Egyptian)
 Minos (Greek)
 Great heroes can venture in
 Gain knowledge (Odysseus)
 Save a loved one (Orpheus)
Rulers of the Underworld
Mesopotamia:
Ereshkigal
•Sister and rival of
Ishtar, goddess of love
•Usually shown with
eagle’s feet
•Husband is Nergal,
god of war , disease,
and famine
•Underworld is called
Kurnugia
Rulers of the Underworld
Greek: Hades
•Brother of Zeus and
Poseidon
•Wife is Persephone,
goddess of spring
•Realm often referred to as
Hades also
Rulers of the Underworld
Norse: Hel
•Daughter of evil
giant/ trickster god
Loki
•Rules Niflheim
•Depicted as half light
and half dark, or half
alive, half corpselike
Death as a Person/Being
 Makes death seem controlled or planned
rather than random
 Often separate from actual ruler of
underworld
 Greek – Thanatos, god of death – depicted either
as an old man with a sword or a boy like Cupid
 Judaism – many references to an “Angel of Death”
 In some Christian traditions – the Archangel
Michael takes good souls home to Heaven
 From British/Celtic tradition – our image of the
“Grim Reaper”
Greek Death – The Basics
1.The person to die gets a visit from either
Hermes/Mercury or Thanatos
2.Gets guided to the shores of the River
Styx
3.If has been buried properly, has a coin in
mouth to pay Charon, the boatman.
4.Proceeds into the Underworld, to one of
several different directions.
Geography of the Underworld
Norse Death – the basics
 Hel – Ruler of Niflheim
 Located under the earth
 Long difficult journey over rough roads
 Dead buried with sturdy “Hel shoes”
 Horses or wagons burned on funeral pyres to help
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
dead get there
Cross the river Gioll
Crystal/gold bridge suspended from a single hair
The maiden Modgud – skeleton, guards the bridge
Fierce dog Garm guards the Hel-gate
Hel’s hall is Misery, her dish Hunger, her bed Sorrow.
Norse Death – the basics
 Straw death – feared and despised
 Dying of old age, disease, in bed
 Dying without having shed blood
 People near the end would find violent ways to die
 Worthy death – death in battle
 Valkyries choose the slain to be taken to Valhalla, in
Asgard/Gladsheim
 Eternity of fighting during the day, drinking and feasting
all night in the hall of the gods
 Boar Saehrimnir
 Goat Heidrun
Jewish Death
 Jewish afterlife seems to be more open to debate than in
Christianity
 Very specific ritual requirements about how to respect a




dead body, prescribed periods of mourning
Some believe in a place like the Christian concept of
heaven, some believe in reincarnation, some believe that
people just wait/sleep until resurrection at the arrival of
the Messiah.
Can believe in a hell-like torment, or torment by demons
of the person’s own making
“Gathered to his people” “cut off from his people”
This world is like a lobby before entering the banquet hall
of the world to come
Jewish Heaven and Hell? One
concept
 Gan Eden – like Adam and Eve’s garden, but not
exactly
 Place of spiritual peace and perfection
 Gehenna (Gehinnom) or Sheol
 Like Christian idea of hell, but 12 month time limit –
punishment and purification
 One demon of torment for every sinful act
 Only the most wicked get the full 12 mos.
 After 12 months…? Annihilation? Purification? Who
knows?