What Is the Greek Underworld and Where Is It Located?
There were no precise ideas about the other world among the Greeks, some saw it as located underground and others saw it in the far west, but Homer in his epic Odyssey gave us a concept that combines the two previous opinions. He saw that the main entrance to the world of the dead (the other world) is located in the far west, beyond the Oceanus River, and then there are two places:The world of Hades, which is Hell, where the souls of the dead ordinary human beings go and live there as ghosts, living a dull and lonely life with no taste or desires, and the sinful soul receives a variety of torments, while the good souls of people remain wandering in this harsh world.
The second place is the world of Elysium, which is a paradise in which a few heroes and righteous people (body and soul) live in a place of complete bliss and eternal bliss.
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| Artist: Swing Painter | Description: Nekyia: Ajax, Persephone with Sisyphus. Attic amphora, ca. 530 BC. | Collection: Staatliche Antikensammlungen | Location: Room 4 | Accession: Inv. 1494 | Licensing: Public domain. |
The House of Hades (Hell):
The souls of people go to the House of Hades, which is the house of the dead, located in some opinions, directly under the earth, and between it and the earth, where the souls of the dead gather and then the twisted road that leads to the underworld, specifically to (the House of Hades).
How Did the Ancient Greeks Envision the Afterlife?
Homer described this part of the earth as lying beyond the course of the Oceanus River called the Cimmerians, a mythical people who live in eternal darkness and are not visited by the sun.How Did the Greeks Interpret Death and the Soul?
The Greek hell consists of three major layers:1- The Erebus layer
Where the souls of the dead gather, and it consists of four levels:
A- The dog Cerberus: Where the three-headed dog Cerberus appears to guard the gate of hell and prevent living people from entering it, although Odysseus, Orpheus and Aeneas were able to penetrate this layer and bypass this dog, as did Hercules when he came upon his twelfth miraculous work and entered the underworld.
For more about Cerberus, check the following article.
Cerberus: The Hellhound Defeated by Hercules
A- The dog Cerberus: Where the three-headed dog Cerberus appears to guard the gate of hell and prevent living people from entering it, although Odysseus, Orpheus and Aeneas were able to penetrate this layer and bypass this dog, as did Hercules when he came upon his twelfth miraculous work and entered the underworld.
For more about Cerberus, check the following article.
Cerberus: The Hellhound Defeated by Hercules
B - Asphodel Meadows: There is a road that extends from the House of Hades to the sea and is covered with many trees such as willow and sacred poplar, and near it are the gates of the setting sun and the land of dreams, and meets at a rock from it called (White Rock) two great rivers of the underworld, then comes Asphodel Meadows where the souls of the dead all solve without account in a dull life and these souls appear as ghosts who cannot practice their normal life as they were on earth.
C- Erinyes: They are the goddesses of revenge and torture, where they are depicted as winged maidens with serpent hair and bodies wrapped in snakes, holding in their hands torches of fire, whips, scythes and knives practicing the torture of sinful souls.
D - Thanatos: which is the place of the god of death.
2 - The Realm of Hades
C- Erinyes: They are the goddesses of revenge and torture, where they are depicted as winged maidens with serpent hair and bodies wrapped in snakes, holding in their hands torches of fire, whips, scythes and knives practicing the torture of sinful souls.
D - Thanatos: which is the place of the god of death.
2 - The Realm of Hades
It is the place of the palace and throne of Hades, where this god sits on his golden throne next to his wife Persephone, and is served by Erinyes.
A- The judges of the underworld: Minos and Aeacus, the judges of the underworld, sit near his throne and Thanatos, the god of death, with his enormous black wings, spreads death when he flies towards the dying person to harvest with his sword a bouquet of his hair and snatch his soul.
B- Keres: They are the fierce creatures close to him and their job is to capture souls and suck the blood of the wounded and dead in wars
C- Hypnos (the god of sleep): He is the one who flies daily over the earth, carrying flowers in his hand, and pours from his horn the drink of sleep, gently touching people's eyes and drowning them in sleep, and not even the gods survive his sleepy waves, and even he himself sinks into a long drowsiness.
D - Gods of sleep and dreams: They are widespread in the kingdom of the dead, including the gods of deadly dreams that disturb people.
E- Empousa: A vampire who singles out people in desolate and uninhabited places.
F- Lamia: The vampire of children.
G- Hecate: The goddess who controls all ghosts and evil spirits and has three bodies and three heads, who comes out after the absence of the moon and roams the streets and desolate roads accompanied by her dogs, and she is the help of magicians who offer dogs as offerings to her, and there are fixed figures that used to exist in the kingdom of Hades such as Rhesus, Myrtilus, The Daughters of Danaus, Hercules, Cerberus, Sisyphus, Dioscuri, Orpheus, Megara, and Heracleidae.
3- The layer of sulfur lakes, bubbling rivers and rivers of stagnant or hot rot, where sinners are tormented.
Who Are the Mythical Creatures and Deities of the Underworld?
A- The judges of the underworld: Minos and Aeacus, the judges of the underworld, sit near his throne and Thanatos, the god of death, with his enormous black wings, spreads death when he flies towards the dying person to harvest with his sword a bouquet of his hair and snatch his soul.
B- Keres: They are the fierce creatures close to him and their job is to capture souls and suck the blood of the wounded and dead in wars
C- Hypnos (the god of sleep): He is the one who flies daily over the earth, carrying flowers in his hand, and pours from his horn the drink of sleep, gently touching people's eyes and drowning them in sleep, and not even the gods survive his sleepy waves, and even he himself sinks into a long drowsiness.
D - Gods of sleep and dreams: They are widespread in the kingdom of the dead, including the gods of deadly dreams that disturb people.
E- Empousa: A vampire who singles out people in desolate and uninhabited places.
F- Lamia: The vampire of children.
G- Hecate: The goddess who controls all ghosts and evil spirits and has three bodies and three heads, who comes out after the absence of the moon and roams the streets and desolate roads accompanied by her dogs, and she is the help of magicians who offer dogs as offerings to her, and there are fixed figures that used to exist in the kingdom of Hades such as Rhesus, Myrtilus, The Daughters of Danaus, Hercules, Cerberus, Sisyphus, Dioscuri, Orpheus, Megara, and Heracleidae.
3- The layer of sulfur lakes, bubbling rivers and rivers of stagnant or hot rot, where sinners are tormented.
What Is Tartarus and Who Is Punished There?
4- Tartarus layer
It is a huge dark abyss located at the bottom of hell, and in it, wicked humans are punished, including those who committed grave sins and those who offended the gods, and the most important characters that are found in it are:
A- Titans: who were defeated by Zeus and chained there.
B- Tityos : He is the giant who is chained in chains and cannot defend himself from two eagles that gnaw at his constantly regenerating liver, and his crime was his attempt to rape the goddess Leto (mother of Apollo and Artemis).
C - Tantalus: He is the king of Lydia and Agamemnon's great-grandfather who stole the gods' food Ambrosia and drink (Nectar), so the gods punished him by tormenting him with constant hunger and thirst as he stands in the middle of a pool whose water reaches his chin but he cannot drink it because it recedes from him quickly, and above his head hangs all kinds of fruits and their bunches blow away from his reach because of the wind that blows them away.
D- Sisyphus: He was punished by pushing a huge boulder to the top of the mountain, and as soon as he approached the top, the boulder slipped out of his hands and rolled down to the bottom to be pushed again and so on: The one who tried to rape Hera and was punished by being tied by his legs to a large wheel that never stops spinning.
Theseus and pedirpithoos: They tried to kidnap Persephone from the underworld so that pedirpithoos could marry her, and Heracles saved Theseus from his torment, but the other remained "tormented in hell."
5- Rivers of Hell
A- Titans: who were defeated by Zeus and chained there.
B- Tityos : He is the giant who is chained in chains and cannot defend himself from two eagles that gnaw at his constantly regenerating liver, and his crime was his attempt to rape the goddess Leto (mother of Apollo and Artemis).
C - Tantalus: He is the king of Lydia and Agamemnon's great-grandfather who stole the gods' food Ambrosia and drink (Nectar), so the gods punished him by tormenting him with constant hunger and thirst as he stands in the middle of a pool whose water reaches his chin but he cannot drink it because it recedes from him quickly, and above his head hangs all kinds of fruits and their bunches blow away from his reach because of the wind that blows them away.
D- Sisyphus: He was punished by pushing a huge boulder to the top of the mountain, and as soon as he approached the top, the boulder slipped out of his hands and rolled down to the bottom to be pushed again and so on: The one who tried to rape Hera and was punished by being tied by his legs to a large wheel that never stops spinning.
Theseus and pedirpithoos: They tried to kidnap Persephone from the underworld so that pedirpithoos could marry her, and Heracles saved Theseus from his torment, but the other remained "tormented in hell."
What Are the Five Rivers of the Greek Underworld?
5- Rivers of Hell
They are five rivers, starting from the farthest, namely:
A- Oceanus: Which runs in a circle around the earth.
B-Acheron: It flows in a rush in the opposite direction to the Oceanus, and runs underground in dry areas until it flows into
Lake Acherusia, whose shores go to the souls of people where they realize death, and they may stay for a short or long time to dissolve their souls in the bodies of animals.
C- Pyriphlegethon : Which originates from between the previous two and is (the River of Fire) in which the god Charon transports the souls of the dead beyond the Styx River in a narrow boat, boiling with water and mud.
D - Styx: It is a dark blue-colored river that flows into a lake and is called the River of Hatred, and after it flows into the lake, it runs underground and circles around it in a direction opposite to the Pyriphlegethon River.
E-Cocytus: It is the river of groans and consists of the tears of the wicked, and Socrates sees in Plato's Phaedon's dialogue that some of these rivers have a specific function and a specific type of the dead, so the murderer of the soul is thrown into the Cocytus River, and the murderers of parents to the Pyriphlegethon River and carried to Lake Acherusia, where they raise their voices shouting their dead victims or those who have offended them, hoping that mercy will take them, accept them and allow them to get out of the river into the lake.
A- Oceanus: Which runs in a circle around the earth.
B-Acheron: It flows in a rush in the opposite direction to the Oceanus, and runs underground in dry areas until it flows into
Lake Acherusia, whose shores go to the souls of people where they realize death, and they may stay for a short or long time to dissolve their souls in the bodies of animals.
C- Pyriphlegethon : Which originates from between the previous two and is (the River of Fire) in which the god Charon transports the souls of the dead beyond the Styx River in a narrow boat, boiling with water and mud.
D - Styx: It is a dark blue-colored river that flows into a lake and is called the River of Hatred, and after it flows into the lake, it runs underground and circles around it in a direction opposite to the Pyriphlegethon River.
E-Cocytus: It is the river of groans and consists of the tears of the wicked, and Socrates sees in Plato's Phaedon's dialogue that some of these rivers have a specific function and a specific type of the dead, so the murderer of the soul is thrown into the Cocytus River, and the murderers of parents to the Pyriphlegethon River and carried to Lake Acherusia, where they raise their voices shouting their dead victims or those who have offended them, hoping that mercy will take them, accept them and allow them to get out of the river into the lake.
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