- The underworld is the domain of Hades, the god of the underworld. - Legends show Hades as being very greedy, showing favorable treatment to those who brought more souls to the Underworld (as in war and murder).

Hades

- The underworld itself was usually also called Hades.

- Geographically, the underworld was surrounded by a series of 5 rivers:

- At the moment of death the soul was separated from the body

- It took on the shape of the former person- The soul then

encountered various aspects of Hades before it finally rested

- One had to properly buried (according to Greek customs) in order to enter Hades

- The deceased also had to pay a fare- - coins would be placed in the mouth of the deceased

so they could do this- If a person was either unburied or too

poor to pay, they had to wander between life and death until their circumstances changed.

- The fare was paid to Charon – the ferry man who transported the soul across the River Styx

- This river formed the barrier between the earth and the underworld

The River Styx

There are many rivers in the underworld. However, the one particular river that stands between life and death is particularly famous.

- At the gates of Hades, one was greeted by Cerberus, the three headed watchdog

- Each of Cerberus' heads is said to have an appetite only for live meat and thus allowed only the spirits of the dead to freely enter the underworld, but allowed none to leave.[

Gates of Hades

Judgement- Once a person crossed the river, he/she had to be

judged by a panel of judges. - This process determined where the person would end

up. - There was said to be three divisions of the Greek

Underworld - A) Tartarus- B) - C) Elysium Fields

- Where Greeks who live bad lives went after death - Titans were imprisoned here- Those who were here would be tormented by The Furies – the three goddesses of

vengeance- In Tartarus, one’s punishment would equal the sins one committed on earth.

- For example, Tantalus was the son of Zeus and the king of Sipylos. He

- was invited to share the food of the gods. However, he abused the - guest-host relationship and was punished by being "tantalized"

with - hunger and thirst in Tartarus: he was immersed up to his neck in

water, - but when he bent to drink, it all drained away; luscious fruit hung

on - trees above him, but when he reached for it the winds blew the - branches beyond his reach.

Tartarus

- The Asphodel Meadows were for people who simply lived and did nothing amazing, but nothing bad enough to make them go to Tartarus.

- Basically just made up of asphodel flowers – a favorite food of dead Greeks

- A ghostly place of neutrality – less interesting and less perfect than earth

Asphodel Meadows

- Was a paradise inhabited at first only by the very distinguished

- Later those who were judged to be good/heroic went there- It was located at the western ends of the earth and was

characterized by gentle breezes and an easy life like that of the gods.

Elysium Fields ( Elysian Fields)