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HELL IN THE ANCIENT GREECE
SOME BASICAL NOTIONS
In many religious traditions, Hell is a place
of suffering and punishment in the afterlife
often in the underworld
HADES
• The Greek had not
the notion of the
wickedness
(MALDAD) but of the
shame for the acts
which they made,
and, for this reason,
Hell is not an eternal
place of suffering.
Greek Hell or
underworld is called
‘Hades’ in reference
to his title as King of
the dead.
BAD OR GOOD GOD?
• Many times we can
confuse ‘Hades’ as a
bad god because he
is the god of the dead
and we identify with
the Christian Devil or
Demon, but Hades
wasn’t a bad god,
only he was the King
of the underworld.
2. HOW WAS HELL?
• Hell was a place
of residence for
people died, a
place divided
into two regions:
A) EREBUS
• Erebus, where
the dead pass on
to as soon as
they die.
B) TARTARUS
• Tartarus a deeper
region, the infernal
abyss, a place of
punishment for the
wicked (MALVADO)
after death and where
the Titans had been
imprisoned and
people like these:
1. SISYPHUS
• Sisyphus was a king who
promoted navigation and
commerce, but was
avaricious and deceitful,
violating the laws of
hospitality by killing
travellers and guests.
• He was punished in
Tartarus. There he had to
take up a huge rock, only
to watch it rolling back
down, and to repeat this
throughout eternity.
2. DANAIDES
• They were Danaus’
daughter, twin brother of
Aegyptus.
• Aegyptus commanded that
his sons marry the Danaides.
• When Aegyptus and his fifty
sons arrived to take the
Danaides, Danaus instructed
his daughters to kill their
husbands on their wedding
night.
• Danaides were punished in
Tartarus by being forced to
carry water in a jug to fill a
bath and wash off their sins,
but the jugs were broken, so
the water always leaked out.[
4. IXION
• He was king of the Lapiths, and
married Dia, and promised his
father-in-law a valuable present.
However, he did not pay the bride
price, so he stole some of Ixion's
horses in retaliation. Ixion
concealed his resentment and
invited his father-in-law to a feast.
When he arrived, Ixion pushed him
into a bed of burning coals and
wood.
• However, Zeus had pity on Ixion
and brought him to Olympus and
introduced him at the table of the
gods. But Ixion tried to rape Hera,
Zeus's wife, a further violation of
guest-host relations.
•
Zeus ordered Hermes to bind
Ixion to a burning wheel that was
always spinning in the Tartarus for
all eternity,
3. TANTALUS
• Tantalus is known for having
been welcomed to Zeus' table
in Olympus. There he stole
ambrosia and nectar, brought it
back to his people, and
revealed the secrets of the
gods.
• Later Tantalus offered up his
son, Pelops, as a sacrifice to
the gods. He cut Pelops,
boiled him, and served him as
food for the gods.
• Tantalus's punishment, now
proverbial for temptation
without satisfaction, was to
stand in a pool of water under
a fruit tree with low branches.
When he reached for the fruit,
the branches raised his meal
from his grasp. When he
wanted to get a drink, the
water receded before he could
get any.
HOW IS HELL
• Hell the
underworld of
Hades was a
dark, dim
(APAGADO.
OSCURO),
subterranean
place,
inhabited by
vague forms,
shadows and
numerous
rivers.
ANOTHER DEPICTION OF HELL
• It is often
depicted as dark
and gloomy
(SOMBRÍO)
place, set in the
middle (MITAD)
of shadowy
fields and
haunted
(EMBRUJADOS
) landscapes
(PAISAJES)
ONE MAP OF HELL
3. WHO LIVED THERE
• Hades, the King of the Dead. In
Greek mythology, he is a son of the
Titans and Zeus’ brother. Hades was
left to rule the underworld. There,
with his queen Persephone, whom
kidnaped, he ruled the kingdom of
the dead while sitting on a throne
made of ebony. Hades was also
called Pluto, from πλοῦτος, wealth),
meaning "Rich One", because all the
rich metals and the cereals and
another similar ones are below the
land.
CHARON
• A ferryman who lives in the underworld.
• His responsibility was to ferry the dead between the world of the
living and the underworld, across the river Styx.
• Charon demands a fee (tax). People who were unable to pay the
fee were condemned to wander (vagar) the shores (orilla) of the
river for 100 years.
CHARON
• Since most Greeks, understandably, did not want to
wander in the mists (brumas) and marshes
(pantanos), they buried their dead with coins to pay the
ferryman.
• For that reason a corpse (cadáver) had always an
obolus placed under the tongue, this tradition is still
retained in many parts of Greece.
SOME DEPICTIONS OF CHARON 1
SOME DEPICTIONS OF CHARON 2
CERBERUS
• It is the name
given to the dog
which guards the
gates of Hades
to prevent those
who have
crossed the river
Styx from ever
escaping.
CERBERUS’ PARENTS
• Cerberus was the
son of Echidna
(up), a hybrid halfwoman, halfserpent and
Typhon (down), a
fire-breathing
giant whom even
the Olympian
gods feared.
DEPICTION OF CERBERUS
• It has three heads, a
mane of live serpents and
a dragon's tail.
• They represented the
past, the present and the
future.
• Or maybe birth, youth
and old age.
• Cerberus was always
employed as Hades' loyal
watchdog, and guarded
the gates that granted
access and exit to the
underworld.
THE ERINYES OR FURIES
• They were the persecutors of
mortal men and women who
broke natural laws, in
particular, those who broke
ties (vínculos) of kinship
(parentesco) through
murdering a mother
(matricide), murdering a
father (patricide), murdering
a brother (fratricide), or other
such familial killings.
• They were thought to dwell
(live) in Tartarus where they
applied their tortures to the
damned souls there.
• They were three:
A) MEGAERA
• She punishes
people who
commit
crimes,
especially
marital
infidelity.
B) ALECTO
• She is the Erinyes
with the job of
castiganting the moral
crimes.
C) TISÍPHONE
• She was who punished
crimes of murder:
parricide, fratricide and
homicide.
MOIRA
• They controlled the
metaphorical thread of life of
every mortal from birth to
death (and beyond).
• They lived in Hades’
Palace.Even the gods feared
the Moirae.
• Zeus also was subject to their
power.
• In Greek mythology, any of
three goddesses who
determined human destinies.
• The Moirae were usually
described as cold, remorseless
(despiadadas) and unfeeling,
and depicted as old crones
(bruja fea y vieja) or hags
(arpía).
• The Moirae were three:
• CLOTHO
 Pronounced in English
IPA: /kloʊθoʊ]/, Greek
Κλωθώ:
–
"spinner"
(hiladora)) spun the
thread (hilo) of life from
her distaff (rueca) onto
her spindle. who was
originally a goddess
called upon in the ninth
month of pregnancy.
• LACHESIS
• In English /’lækəsɪs/,
(Greek Λάχεσις),
"allotter" (asignadora)
or drawer (dibujar) of
lots) measured the
thread of life allotted
to each person with
her measuring rod
(vara).
• ATROPOS
• In English /’ætrəpɒs/,–
"inexorable" or
"inevitable", literally
"unturning", was the
cutter of the thread of
life. She chase the
way) and oportunity of
each person's death.
• When she cut the
thread with "her hated
shears" (tijeras),
someone on Earth
died.
DEPICTIONS OF MOIRA 1
DEPICTIONS OF MOIRA - 2
WHAT HAPPENED WHEN ANYONE
DIED?
• On death, the soul of a
person was lead by the god
Hermes to the entrance of
the underworld.
• There were met by the aged
Charon who runs the only
ferry allowed the cross the
rivers. Only those who could
pay the fare (after death,
coins, and other treasures
were often buried with the
deceased for this purpose)
would receive passage,
those who couldn’t pay
would be trapped between
two worlds for a hundred
years.
ACHERON RIVER
• The journey
would begin
on
the
Acheron
river (river
of woe).
COCYTUS RIVER
• Then it
carried on
the river of
lamentation
called
Cocytus.
LETHE RIVER
• Later they crossed
the Lethe, river of
forgetfulness.
PHLEGETHON
• They passed through
the Phlegethon, river
of the fire.
THE STYX
• They came on the
Styx, lake of hate.
ARRIVED
• Finally, they
arrived at the
gates of the
palace.
• The soul then
enters through
the gates to be
met by Cerberus,
who allows all
souls to enter,
but none to
leave.
JUDGES
• The soul then
appears before a
panel of three
judges,
Rhadamanthus,
Minos and Eacus,
who reviewed the
soul’s past life.
ELYSIAN
• Those who had
been good
were blessed
and allowed to
proceed into
the Elysian
Fields, a happy
final resting
place.
TARTARUS
• Those who had
not, were
damned and
abolished to
Tartarus, the
infernal abyss,
there to forever
reside in
torment.