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The Underworld The Greek underworld was made up of various realms believed to lie beneath the earth or at its farthest reaches. This includes: 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. 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.] 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. (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) 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 The Danaides Ixion Sisyphus Tantalus The Titans Tityus The Residents Aeacus Cerberus Charon Erinyes Hades Hecate Hypnos Minos Moirae Persephone Rhadamanthus Thanatos Visitors Aeneas Heracles Hermes Odysseus Orpheus Pirithous Theseus Dionysus