User:KyleBHead/Greek Mythology: Afterlife

Greek Mythology: Afterlife is about the Greek funeral rites, passage to the underworld, and life of the underworld.

The Underworld:
The Underworld in Greek Mythology is where all souls go when they decease. It is believed good or bad that everyone would go to the Underworld. This doesn’t however mean that every soul would go to the same section or part of the underworld as others. The Underworld is ruled by Hades who is the brother of Zeus. Hades and his wife Persephone were practically isolated from the other Gods except for the exception of Hermes who would bring them news regularly. Hades and his wife Persephone both had reputations for being cruel and merciless. Their reputation of cruelty gave influence to Ancient Greeks that they became afraid to even say the word “Hades.”

The Entrance:
The Underworld is surrounded by water and the most important river of them all is known as the river of Styx. The Ancient Greeks considered the journey to the Underworld very important because much of what would happen would rely on the rituals they performed for the deceased. The journey began with Thanatos who is the God of the dead. He would cut a lock of hair from the dead the moment they died. Their souls would then be met with Hermes who would guide them to the river of Styx. Then those who have been buried were allowed to approach Charcon(or Charon). This part of the journey directly constitutes with what happens during the rituals and the burial of the deceased. Charcon is the miser who ferries the souls in a boat across the river of Styx. Charcon would not help these souls if they didn’t have an offering to him such as a coin. The only way these souls would have a coin to offer would be if their relatives during their burial ritual would place a coin under their tongue. This was considered extremely important through the process of the underworld journey. Souls that did not have a coin offering would have to wait for ever near the bank unless they evaded their conductor Hermes and crept down on the back entrance. Through the journey there is a three headed dog named Cerberus and Cerberus would act as a guard of the underworld not letting souls leave or intruders trying to go in. After the Styx was crossed the dead would travel on until they reached the Asphodel fields. This was a place of apathy and these souls would just wait there until it was time for their calling to the next part of their journey.

The Fields of Asphodel:
When the souls that Charon bought across the River Styx arrived, they were judged. The large majority of these souls were sent to the Fields of Asphodel. This was a place that Virgil, in The Aeneid, described as being meadows. These meadows had few if any trees and extended forever, for there are so many souls resting here. This is an existence that is quite boring. It is similar to Purgatory, it is not hellish, but it is not heavenly either. This is where the average people of the world went. These were people who did not steal, but did not give, who followed orders but were not exceptionally brave.

The Fields of Elysium:
Virgil tells us that this place lies on the right path, under the palace-wall of the mighty Hades, whereas to the left is Tartarus. Elysium (or Elysian) was the place where the warriors and noble people went when they died. It was a much happier place then Asphodel. Virgil explains them as happy plains, where the souls that reside there stay for a thousand years. In these years the soul is cleansed and leaves only purity and heavenly intelligence. “The flame of essential ether.” These fields are also shown as the Isles of the Blest by Pindar, where only the most courageous and skilled go.

The Lethe
The Lethe is a stream that brings forgetfulness. The souls of the dead are to go here after one thousand years to drink from it, forget their past life, and start a new one. A process called reincarnation. Virgil says that the Heaven summons the dead to the stream to end their memory and return to the sky for a new body. The same goes for in Plato’s Republic (10.621a-b) where the soul must drink from the river to erase his memory before reincarnation.

The Isles of the Blessed:
There were five races of humans made by the gods. The first was the “Golden Age,” an age pf perfection. Then came the Silver race, which were put to an end by Zeus. The third race was the Race of Bronze, which was created out of ash-trees. The next race is a race of heroes. These are the Demi-Gods we hear of in myths. They fought at Thebes and Troy, and a few were granted the existence on the Islands of the Blessed. These were heroes we have heard of, Achilles, Ajax, and Peleus. These are men who fought great battles and lived great lives; these were people who were not easy to kill. When they did eventually die they had the choice of being reborn. If each life they lived was a perfect one, untainted, full of an eagerness to please the gods, and the ability to do so, they could live on the island called the Island of the Blessed. Only Demi-Gods could live here for only they had the ability to prove to Zeus that they were worthy. Three times they had to live the perfect life, a life full of heroics and purity. As Pindar puts it:

"Those who have persevered three times, on either side,

to keep their souls free from all wrongdoing,

follow Zeus' road to the end, to the tower of Cronos,

where ocean breezes blow around the island of the blessed,

and flowers of gold are blazing, some from splendid trees on land,

while water nurtures others."

Pindar goes on to describe how Zeus would take these heroes of heroes and bring them to the Island.

“They are led by Zeus to the end:

To the palace of Kronos,

Where soothing breezes off the Ocean

Breathe over the Isle of the Blessed:

All around flowers are blazing with a

Dazzling light:

Some springing from the shining trees,

Others nourished by the water from the sea:”

These islands are ruled by Cronos, who was finally allowed to come out of Tartarus. He is still considered an outsider but he is now imagined as a benign and remote ruler rather than Zeus’ adversary. The Isles of the Blessed (or Isles of Blest) is told by Hesiod as three islands, one more beautiful than the next. These islands were made by Zeus the son of Cronos, where the Demi-Gods lived untouched by sorrow. These Islands were along the shore of deep swirling Ocean, where delicious fruit flourished three times a year. It was far from the Gods and was ruled by Cronos, for the father of men and gods released him from his bonds.