![]() Wicked spirits were condemned to the dark pits of Tartarus. The underworld consisted of various realms ruled by Hades and his wife, Persephone. In some sources, Elysium resembled a Greek pagan version of the Christian Heaven where good spirits whose lives were etched into the memories of the living began a bright new state of existence. Apart from major deities like Hades, Persephone, and Hecate, there were also other minor deities living in the underworld, including the Furies (Erinyes), the god of sleep (Thanatos), his twin brother, the god of sleep (Hypnos), the goddess of the night (Nyx), and more. The gods that resided in the underworld were known as chthonic. Hades’ Underworld Aeneas and the Sibyl in the Underworld, by Jan Brueghel the Younger, 1630s, via Met Museum Those unable to pay the fare remained trapped between the world of the living and the dead. Only souls who paid him the boat fare with coins, placed on the eyes or under the tongue of the corpse during burial, could gain access to the ferry. These two rivers divided the world of the living from that of the dead.Ĭharon carries souls across the river Styx, by Alexandr Lytovchenko, 1861, via WIkimedia CommonsĬharon, sometimes called the Ferryman, rowed the boat. The Greeks believed that after the burial, Hermes (the god of trade, travelers, and merchants) led the soul to the entrance of the underworld to a ferry that carried the spirit across the Acheron (river of woe) and/or Styx (river of hate), depending on the source. The Soul’s Journey After Burial An ancient statue of Hermes, Roman copy after a Greek original, via Vatican Museum This ritual stemmed not only out of respect but also from the fear that the dead brought bad luck if the family did not pay tribute to them regularly. Once a Greek man or woman passed away, their families washed their bodies and placed a coin inside their mouth as payment for the spiritual ferryman Charon who carried the bodies’ spirits across the river Styx into the underworld.ĭuring the burial, valuable objects such as pottery, coins, and jewelry were buried alongside them as gifts for the bodies to use in the underworld.įamilies of the deceased visited these tombs annually to make offerings and refresh the tomb decorations. In the 4th century, the Greek philosopher Plato asserted that the gods’ biggest reward to the dead is to have their memory remain in the minds of the living long after they are gone.īut what ritual did the dead undergo before burial and passage into the underworld? ![]() Nonetheless, Greek mythology stresses respect for the dead due to the belief in the continued existence of the fallen after their spirit has passed on. In Homer’s Odyssey, even the great warrior spirit Achilles in the nether world tells Odysseus that he would rather be subjugated as a landless slave than be the king of the underworld due to the dreary existence in the land of the dead. Hades’ realm, as opposed to the kingdom of Mount Olympus, is virtually all gloom and darkness, solely inhabited by the dead. The Shade of Teiresias appearing to Odysseus in Hades, by Johann Heinrich Füssli, 1780-1785, via Albertina Museum, Vienna Most often, the world of the afterlife is associated with Greek mythology, where it is called the underworld, or Hades.Īccording to the ancient Greeks, at the time of death, the soul separates from the body and is transported to the underworld, where it is accepted into the realm by the governing god Hades, who is known to reside at the edges of the ocean and under the deepest depths of the Earth. Its origins span from the ancient world and classical antiquity until today. The concept of an afterlife is not a novel one many western religions, as well as south Asian and African ones, believe in some form of life after death.
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