Samantha Nivison & Erica Ulysse

THE UNDERWORLD

THE UNDERWORLD

• The Underworld is hidden in the Earth. It is the kingdom of death and ruled over by Hades. For most, life in the underworld is not particularly unpleasant. It is rather like a miserable dream, full of shadows, without sunlight or hope. A joyless place where

the dead slowly fade into nothingness.

The way a person acted during their life determined which part of the Underworld they would spend eternity. Spirits who were neither evil or wonderfully good in their lifetime would go to the fields of Asphodel. If a person was righteous and good during their life, they would be sent to the Elysian Fields or Elysium. This was a place of blessedness and eternal happiness. The people who were wicked and cruel in life were sent to the depths of a place called Tartarus. It was the deepest, darkest region of the Underworld. The souls who were sent to Tartarus were forced to live in torment for all of eternity with no chance of escaping. The fields of Punishment is where people were sent if they committed specific crimes against the gods.

Geographically, the underworld is surrounded by a series of rivers: The Acheron (lamentation), The Cocytus (woe/sorrow), The Phlegethon (river of fire), The Styx (river of hate), and The Lethe (river of forgetfulness, those who drank from it forgot their former lives). Once across the river, and adamantine gate, guarded by Cerberus, forms the entrance to the kingdom. Deep within the kingdom is Hades vast palace.

THE UNDERWORLD GEOGRAPHICALLY

Rivers Divisions

THE UNDERWORLD Upon death, a soul is lead by Hermes to the entrance of The Underworld and the ferry across the Styx. There is a single ferry run by Charon to take the souls across the river. The fee for his service was a single obolos coin which was placed in the mouth of a corpse at burial. Those who had not received due burial and were unable to pay his fee, would be left to wander the earthly side of the Akheron, haunting the upper world as ghosts.

Once they arrive at the end, the souls enter through the gates. Cerberus will allow all to enter but none to leave. The souls then appear before a panel of three judges, Rhadamanthus, Minos, and Aeacus, who pass sentence.

The very good go to the Elysian Fields, similar to heaven and the others are singled out for special treatment.

People TormentedTityos (or Tityus) was a Phokian giant who assaulted the goddess Leto as she was on her way to Delphoi. Her son Apollon came to the rescue and despatched the giant with his arrows and golden sword. As further punishment for his crime, Totyos was condemned to eternal torment in the underworld. There he was staked to the ground and two cultures set to feed on his ever regenerating liver.

SYMBOLS

Cerberus: The past, the present, and the future.

Rivers: mystery, path to your fate

Tartarus: torment and torture, Hell

Elysian Fields: happiness, Heaven

Styx River: Hate

Adamantine gates: entrance into a new life

Black (Darkness): The unknown, evil, death

Nine: eternity, beginning of something new (life in the underworld). The styx river wraps around the underworld 9 times.

Shadows: Evil, dark side.

THEME

The Underworld itself is not literally Hell. It’s not a heaven either. Tartarus is basically the real hell of the Underworld which reaches even lower below it. The

“heaven” of the Underworld is the Elysian Fields. There really was never real hope when it came to the Underworld. Your fate is determined by the three judges that wait for you near the gate that Cerberus guards. The way you are going to live for

eternity is based on the actions of your life. You were either good or bad.

The theme of the Underworld is that you always live for eternity with no hope surrounded by evil and misery.