Download The Underworld The Greek underworld was made up of various

The Underworld
The Greek underworld was made up of various realms believed to lie beneath the earth or at its
farthest reaches.
This includes:
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The great pit of Tartarus, which was originally the exclusive prison of the old Titan gods
In Greek mythology, Tartarus is both a deity and a place in the underworld even lower
than Hades.
Hesiod's Theogony, c. 700 BC, the deity Tartarus was the third force to manifest in the
yawning void of Chaos. After Chaos, sprung primordial objects. The first was Eros,
(desire) the driving force behind the generation of new life followed by Gaea(earth).
As for the place, the Greek poet Hesiod asserts that a bronze anvil falling from heaven
would fall 9 days before it reached the Earth. The anvil would take nine more days to fall
from Earth to Tartarus. In The Iliad (c. 700), Zeus asserts that Tartarus is "as far beneath
Hades as heaven is high above the earth." but later came to mean the dungeon home of
the damned souls.
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The Land of the dead ruled by the god Hades, which is variously called the house or
domain of Hades (domos Aidaou), Hades, Erebus, the Asphodel Fields, Stygia and
Acheron;
In Greek mythology, Hades is the oldest male child of Cronus and Rhea. According to
myth, he and his brothers Zeus and Poseidon defeated the Titans and claimed ruler-ship
over the cosmos, ruling the underworld, air, and sea, respectively; the solid earth, long
the province of Gaia, was available to all three concurrently. Because of his association
with the underworld, Hades is often interpreted in modern times as the personification of
death, even though he was not.
Hades was also called "Plouton" (Greek: Πλούτων, gen.: Πλούτωνος, meaning "Rich
One"), a name which the Romans Latinized as Pluto. The Romans would associate
Hades/Pluto with their own chthonic gods; Dis Pater and Orcus. The corresponding
Etruscan god was Aita.
Symbols associated with him are the Helm of Darkness and the three-headed dog,
Cerberus.
Orcus was a god of the underworld, punisher of broken oaths in Italic and Roman
mythology. He was more equivalent to the Roman Pluto than to Hades, and later
identified with Dis Pater. He was portrayed in paintings in Etruscan tombs as a hairy,
bearded giant. A temple to Orcus may have existed on the Palatine Hill in Rome. It is
likely that he was transliterated from the Greek daemon Horkos, the personification of
Oaths and a son of Eris.]
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The Islands of the Blessed or Elysian Islands ruled by Cronus where the great heroes of
myth resided after death; The Elysian Fields were ruled by Rhadamanthys, where the
virtuous dead and initiates in the ancient Mysteries were sent to dwell.
In Greek mythology, Rhadamanthus (Ῥαδάμανθυς; also transliterated as
Rhadamanthys or Rhadamanthos) was a wise king, the son of Zeus and Europa. Later
accounts even make him out to be one of the judges of the dead. His brothers were
Sarpedon and Minos (also a king and later a judge of the dead). According to one
account, Rhadamanthus ruled Crete before Minos, and gave the island an excellent code
of laws, which the Spartans were believed to have copied. Driven out of Crete by his
brother, Minos, who was jealous of his popularity, he fled to Boeotia, where he wedded
Alcmene. Homer represents him as dwelling in the Elysian Fields (Odyssey, iv. 564), the
paradise for the immortal sons of Zeus.
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(In the Fortunate Isles, also called the Isles (or Islands) of the Blessed (μακάρων νῆσοι makárôn
nêsoi), heroes and other favored mortals in Greek mythology and Celtic mythology were
received by the gods into a blissful paradise. These islands were thought to lie in the Western
Ocean near the encircling River Oceanus; Madeira, Canary Islands, Azores, Cape Verde and
Bermuda have sometimes been cited as possible matches)
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The five rivers of Hades are Acheron (the river of sorrow), Cocytus (the river of
lamentation), Phlegethon (the river of fire), Lethe (the river of forgetfulness) and Styx
(the river of hate), which forms the boundary between upper and lower worlds.
The ancient Greek concept of the underworld evolved considerably over time.
Homeric Underworld
The underworld is ruled by Hades. The oldest descriptions of the underworld can be found in
Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. The other poets of old epic such as Hesiod describe it similarly. In
the Odyssey the Underworld is located beyond the Western horizon. Odysseus, instructed by
sorceress Circe to cross the Ocean [1] and assisted by North Wind reach the underworld by ship
from Circe's island[2], and later on, the ghosts of the suitors who have died are herded there by
Hermes Psychopompus (the guide of the dead). He herds them through the hollows of the earth,
beyond the earth-encircling river Oceanus and the gates of the (setting) Sun to their final resting
place in Hades
Ferryman
The deceased entered the underworld by crossing the River Acheron or Styx ferried across by
Charon (kair'-on), who charged an obolus, a small coin, as a fee. Charon's obol was placed in or
on the mouth of the dead person, a custom described in Greek and Roman literature and
confirmed by archaeology. (Only a relatively small number of Greek burials contain the coin.)
The far side of the river was guarded by Cerberus, the three-headed guard dog of Hades.
Myths featuring the Underworld
The twelfth and last task of Heracles was to retrieve Cerberus from his post and bring him to
Eurystheus.
The Argonaut Orpheus, a wonderful musician, lost his soon to be wife, Eurydice, after she was
bitten by a snake. He descended to the Underworld and managed to pass Cerberus and Charon by
charming them with his kithara (a musical instrument similar to a lyre) to plead Hades and
Persephone. Persephone felt sorry for him, so he was allowed to have her back, if he reached the
living world again without looking over his shoulder. At the last minute, because he was unable
to hear his wife's footsteps, he turned back and in doing so he caught his last glimpse of his
wife's ghost as he lost her forever.
The Aeneid: "Virgil imbues his Hades, as well as his Elysium, with a substantiated and understandable
raison d'etre , and in the process corrects the notions of his predecessor [Homer in the Odyssey]. For
Virgil, the Underworld must be categorized and organized as well as justified: thus the grouping of the
souls of his Hades by reason or nature of punishment."
Interaction and Reaction in Virgil and Homer
Underworld Issues
the Odyssey, by Homer VS. The Aeneid, by Virgil:
Here are some insights into the Homeric Underworld, based on references to Vergil. The Aeneid, by
Vergil (or Virgil), was written many centuries after Homer's Odyssey. Despite a few centuries, Vergil is
chronologically closer to Homer than we are. Vergil is a good model also because he deliberately
patterned his work on Homer and elaborated on it, and he lived in a milieu where Homer's writing was
still very much a part of the common culture, since Homer was at the heart of the routine education of
children. Therefore, Vergil tells us something about the Greco-Roman (pagan) Underworld that we
should know to understand Homer's nekuia.
"The striking similarities and close contrasts between the Underworlds of the two poets make it
painfully obvious that Virgil was strongly affected by the ideas instilled in Homer's text. How exactly
he reacted to this "burden," however, and how he attempted to justify his own work and separate it
from that of Homer: these are the difficult yet ever-important questions. In re-creating Homer's
Hades, and in the process facing up to his predecessor, Virgil exhibits clearly his desire to re-work
Homer, to complete and perfect the vision of the earlier poet."
Interaction and Reaction in Virgil and Homer
Reasons for Going to the Underworld
Homer: Odysseus goes to the Underworld for help getting home.
Vergil: Aeneas goes to pay a duty call on his dead father Anchises.
Underworld Guidance
Homer :The help Odysseus seeks comes from the prophet, Tiresias, in the Underworld and the
sorceress, Circe, among the living.
Vergil: Among the living, Aeneas seeks the guidance of the Sibyl at Cumae, a priestess of Apollo who
speaks inspired prophetic utterances. Among the dead, he seeks the counsel of his father.
Warnings
Homer: Circe calms his fears and instructs Odysseus on how to travel.
Vergil: The Sibyl tells Aeneas how to proceed but warns him that while the trip to Hades is easy, the
return voyage is limited to the select favorites of Jupiter. Aeneas must be divinely chosen if he is to
return. This isn't all that terrifying a caveat, however, since he will know in advance whether he will be
able to make the trip. In order to start the journey, the Sibyl says he must find a golden bough sacred
to Proserpine. Should the gods not want him to proceed, he will fail to find it, but he does find it. In
the guise of two doves, Venus, Aeneas' mother, guides him.
Unburied Dead
Like Odysseus, Aeneas has a dead companion to bury, but unlike his predecessor, Aeneas must bury
him before proceeding to the Underworld because the death has contaminated Aeneas' fleet
(totamque incestat funere classem). Aeneas does not initially know which of his companions has died.
When he finds Misenus dead, he performs the necessary ceremonies.
Misenus lay extended on the shore;
Son of the God of Winds: none so renown'd
The warrior trumpet in the field to sound;
With breathing brass to kindle fierce alarms,
And rouse to dare their fate in honorable arms.
He serv'd great Hector, and was ever near,
Not with his trumpet only, but his spear.
But by Pelides' arms when Hector fell,
He chose Æneas; and he chose as well.
Swoln with applause, and aiming still at more,
He now provokes the sea gods from the shore;
With envy Triton heard the martial sound,
And the bold champion, for his challenge, drown'd;
Then cast his mangled carcass on the strand:
The gazing crowd around the body stand.
162-175
Slightly different from Odysseus, Aeneas has 2 men for whom he must provide funeral rites, but he
doesn't find the second until the Sibyl has taken him to the shores of the River Styx, past the
companions of Death: Famine, Pestilence, Sleep, Strife, and Disease (Curae, Morbi, Senectus, Metus,
Fames, Egestas, Letum, Labos, and Sopor). There, on the shore, Aeneas finds his recently deceased
helmsman, Palinurus, who cannot cross over until he is given a proper funeral rites. Proper burial is
impossible since he was lost at sea.
Famous Inmates
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The Danaides
Ixion
Sisyphus
Tantalus
The Titans
Tityus
The Residents
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Aeacus
Cerberus
Charon
Erinyes
Hades
Hecate
Hypnos
Minos
Moirae
Persephone
Rhadamanthus
Thanatos
Visitors
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Aeneas
Heracles
Hermes
Odysseus
Orpheus
Pirithous
Theseus
Dionysus
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