The Underworld

The underworld is the final destination for all of the dead. However, there were two different destinations that the dead could arrive at. Tartarus was for the sinners resembling Hell while Elysium was a beautiful place which resembles Heaven. The Greeks did not worship Hades but there was one temple built in his honor. (Bleiberg et al). It was only opened once a year and was located in Elis (Bleiberg et al). There was also an oracle of the dead to Hades and Persephone (Bleiberg et al).

Tartarus

Tartarus is the version of Hell in the underworld. It is the home of Hades, Zeus’ brother, and Hades’ wife Persephone, queen of the Underworld (Bleiberg et al).The gates into the underworld are guarded by Cerberus, a many headed dog that allows no one to leave (Gagarin). Tartarus is often associated with “blackness, confusion, uproar and torment” (Houghton). This dark place holds the Titans in captivity after Zeus defeated them (Bleiberg et al). Tatratus is said to be far beneath the earth—making it a tangible place (Johnson). The underworld is surrounded by several rivers that all come together to form the river Stynx (Gargarin). The immortal gods feared and despised the river Styx because it was the closest thing to death for them (Johnson). The belief in Transmigration is the idea that the psyche enters another body after it dies and Plato argued that the reason no one remembered their previous life and body was because they drink from the river Lethe (forgetfulness) (Gargarin). 

Homer’s view of the underworld claimed that the ghosts resented the living, had no way of communicating with the upper world, and could only utter “bat like noises” (Gargarin). However, there were a few that would endure torment for all eternity. These included Sisyphus, Tantalus and Tityus (Gargarin). Tantalus was forced to stand in a lake up to his chin and would drink but his thirst could never be quenched while the wind would take fruit from his grasp and Sisyphus had to roll a massive boulder up a hill and then watch it roll back down for all eternity (Houghton). 

Caracci, Agostino. Pluto (Hades). 1592

Titans

The Titans were pre-Olympian gods who ruled the Earth before the Greeks arrived in Greece (Bleiberg et al). They are the offspring of Ouranos and Gaia (Heaven and Earth) (Bleiberg et al). There was then the great battle between the Greeks and the Olympians in which the Titans lost and most of them were damned to Tartarus for all eternity (Bleiberg et al). There were, however, a handful of Titans that fought with the Olympians instead of against them like Cronus, lord of the Titans (Bleiberg et al).

Wtewael, Joachim. Battle Between the Gods and the Titans. 1600.

Elysium

Elysium is the version of paradise in the underworld. Elysium is where “life is easiest for men” and it is believed its name comes from enelysios or “struck by lightning” because those who died from a being hit by lightning were favored (Gargarin). The souls in Elysium were able to enjoy athletic games and dance to the music that was being played for them (Bleiberg et al).  In ancient Roman tomb art, Elysium was a garden that was full of “glowing flowers, fruits and gorgeous birds” (Houghton). There was even a Latin poet that wrote about Elysium and said that it was complete with love-making and that often times love would stir up battles on the Elysian Fields (Houghton). 

Conca, Sebastiano. The Vision of Aeneas in the Elysian Fields, c. 1735-40

Burials

An important aspect in Greek life was their burials. If a deceased person was not properly buried then their soul would not be able to “rest in a quiet place” and they were unable to pass through the gate into the underworld (Adams). If a proper burial did not happen then that could result in a curse from the gods because they were able to communicate and haunt the living in the upper world. (Adams). For example, in the Odyssey we see Agamemnon tries to embrace Odysseus and we also see Odysseus try to embrace his dead mother and he commented, “Three times I rushed to her, and my hear desire to take her, and three times she flew out of my hands like a shadow or a dream” (Adams).  

Bibliography 

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          Underworld and Its Inhabitants." Ancient Greece and Rome 1200 B.C.E.-476

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Edward I. Bleiberg. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2005. 309-12. Gale Virtual Reference

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Gagarin, Michael, ed. "Underworld and Afterlife." Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient

          Greece and Rome. N.p.: Oxford University Preee, 2010. Oxford Reference

          Online. Web. 17 Jan. 2014.

Houghton, L. B. T. "Tibullus' Elegiac Underworld." The Classical Quarterly 57.01

          (2007): 153-65. JSTOR. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.

Adams, Jeff. "Greek and Roman Perceptions of the Afterlife in Homer’s Iliad and

          Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid." McNair Scholars Journal 11.1 (2007): n.

pag. ScholarWorks. Grand Valley State University, 1 Jan. 2007. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.

Johnson, David M. "Hesiod's Descriptions of Tartarus ("Theogony" 721-819)." Phoenix

          53.1/2 (1999): 8-28. JSTOR. Web. 21 Jan. 2014.

Conca, Sebastiano. The Vision of Aeneas in the Elysian Fields, c. 1735-40

Wtewael, Joachim. Battle Between the Gods and the Titans. 1600.

Map of the Underworld. [Picture] Retrieved January 20, 2014 from:

http://www.heavenly-greek-islands.com/ancient-greek-underworld.html

Caracci, Agostino. Pluto (Hades). 1592