HELL IN THE ANCIENT GREECE

SOME BASICAL NOTIONS

In many religious traditions, Hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife

often in the underworld

HADES• The Greek had not

the notion of the wickedness (MALDAD) but of the shame for the acts which they made, and, for this reason, Hell is not an eternal place of suffering. Greek Hell or underworld is called ‘Hades’ in reference to his title as King of the dead.

BAD OR GOOD GOD?

• Many times we can confuse ‘Hades’ as a bad god because he is the god of the dead and we identify with the Christian Devil or Demon, but Hades wasn’t a bad god, only he was the King of the underworld.

2. HOW WAS HELL?• Hell was a place

of residence for people died, a place divided into two regions:

A) EREBUS• Erebus, where

the dead pass on to as soon as they die.

B) TARTARUS

• Tartarus a deeper region, the infernal abyss, a place of punishment for the wicked (MALVADO) after death and where the Titans had been imprisoned and people like these:

1. SISYPHUS• Sisyphus was a king who

promoted navigation and commerce, but was avaricious and deceitful, violating the laws of hospitality by killing travellers and guests.

• He was punished in Tartarus. There he had to take up a huge rock, only to watch it rolling back down, and to repeat this throughout eternity.

2. DANAIDES• They were Danaus’

daughter, twin brother of Aegyptus.

• Aegyptus commanded that his sons marry the Danaides.

• When Aegyptus and his fifty sons arrived to take the Danaides, Danaus instructed his daughters to kill their husbands on their wedding night.

• Danaides were punished in Tartarus by being forced to carry water in a jug to fill a bath and wash off their sins, but the jugs were broken, so the water always leaked out.[

4. IXION• He was king of the Lapiths, and

married Dia, and promised his father-in-law a valuable present. However, he did not pay the bride price, so he stole some of Ixion's horses in retaliation. Ixion concealed his resentment and invited his father-in-law to a feast. When he arrived, Ixion pushed him into a bed of burning coals and wood.

• However, Zeus had pity on Ixion and brought him to Olympus and introduced him at the table of the gods. But Ixion tried to rape Hera, Zeus's wife, a further violation of guest-host relations.

• Zeus ordered Hermes to bind Ixion to a burning wheel that was always spinning in the Tartarus for all eternity,

3. TANTALUS• Tantalus is known for having

been welcomed to Zeus' table in Olympus. There he stole ambrosia and nectar, brought it back to his people, and revealed the secrets of the gods.

• Later Tantalus offered up his son, Pelops, as a sacrifice to the gods. He cut Pelops, boiled him, and served him as food for the gods.

• Tantalus's punishment, now proverbial for temptation without satisfaction, was to stand in a pool of water under a fruit tree with low branches. When he reached for the fruit, the branches raised his meal from his grasp. When he wanted to get a drink, the water receded before he could get any.

HOW IS HELL • Hell the underworld of Hades was a dark, dim (APAGADO. OSCURO), subterranean place, inhabited by vague forms, shadows and numerous rivers.

ANOTHER DEPICTION OF HELL

• It is often depicted as dark and gloomy (SOMBRÍO) place, set in the middle (MITAD) of shadowy fields and haunted (EMBRUJADOS) landscapes (PAISAJES)

ONE MAP OF HELL

3. WHO LIVED THERE• Hades, the King of the Dead. In

Greek mythology, he is a son of the Titans and Zeus’ brother. Hades was left to rule the underworld. There, with his queen Persephone, whom kidnaped, he ruled the kingdom of the dead while sitting on a throne made of ebony. Hades was also called Pluto, from πλοῦτος, wealth), meaning "Rich One", because all the rich metals and the cereals and another similar ones are below the land.

CHARON

• A ferryman who lives in the underworld.• His responsibility was to ferry the dead between the world of the

living and the underworld, across the river Styx.• Charon demands a fee (tax). People who were unable to pay the

fee were condemned to wander (vagar) the shores (orilla) of the river for 100 years.

CHARON

• Since most Greeks, understandably, did not want to wander in the mists (brumas) and marshes (pantanos), they buried their dead with coins to pay the ferryman.

• For that reason a corpse (cadáver) had always an obolus placed under the tongue, this tradition is still retained in many parts of Greece.

SOME DEPICTIONS OF CHARON 1

SOME DEPICTIONS OF CHARON 2

CERBERUS

• It is the name given to the dog which guards the gates of Hades to prevent those who have crossed the river Styx from ever escaping.

CERBERUS’ PARENTS

• Cerberus was the son of Echidna (up), a hybrid half-woman, half-serpent and Typhon (down), a fire-breathing giant whom even the Olympian gods feared.

DEPICTION OF CERBERUS

• It has three heads, a mane of live serpents and a dragon's tail.

• They represented the past, the present and the future.

• Or maybe birth, youth and old age.

• Cerberus was always employed as Hades' loyal watchdog, and guarded the gates that granted access and exit to the underworld.

THE ERINYES OR FURIES• They were the persecutors of

mortal men and women who broke natural laws, in particular, those who broke ties (vínculos) of kinship (parentesco) through murdering a mother (matricide), murdering a father (patricide), murdering a brother (fratricide), or other such familial killings.

• They were thought to dwell (live) in Tartarus where they applied their tortures to the damned souls there.

• They were three:

A) MEGAERA

• She punishes people who commit crimes, especially marital infidelity.

B) ALECTO• She is the Erinyes

with the job of castiganting the moral crimes.

C) TISÍPHONE • She was who punished

crimes of murder: parricide, fratricide and homicide.

MOIRA

• They controlled the metaphorical thread of life of every mortal from birth to death (and beyond).

• They lived in Hades’ Palace.Even the gods feared the Moirae.

• Zeus also was subject to their power.

• In Greek mythology, any of three goddesses who determined human destinies.

• The Moirae were usually described as cold, remorseless (despiadadas) and unfeeling, and depicted as old crones (bruja fea y vieja) or hags (arpía).

• The Moirae were three:

• CLOTHO

Pronounced in English IPA: /kloʊθoʊ]/, Greek Κλωθώ: – "spinner" (hiladora)) spun the thread (hilo) of life from her distaff (rueca) onto her spindle. who was originally a goddess called upon in the ninth month of pregnancy.

• LACHESIS

• In English /’lækəsɪs/, (Greek Λάχεσις), "allotter" (asignadora) or drawer (dibujar) of lots) measured the thread of life allotted to each person with her measuring rod (vara).

• ATROPOS• In English /’ætrəpɒs/,–

"inexorable" or "inevitable", literally "unturning", was the cutter of the thread of life. She chase the way) and oportunity of each person's death.

• When she cut the thread with "her hated shears" (tijeras), someone on Earth died.

DEPICTIONS OF MOIRA 1

DEPICTIONS OF MOIRA - 2

WHAT HAPPENED WHEN ANYONE DIED?

• On death, the soul of a person was lead by the god Hermes to the entrance of the underworld.

• There were met by the aged Charon who runs the only ferry allowed the cross the rivers. Only those who could pay the fare (after death, coins, and other treasures were often buried with the deceased for this purpose) would receive passage, those who couldn’t pay would be trapped between two worlds for a hundred years.

ACHERON RIVER

• The journey would begin on the Acheron river (river of woe).

COCYTUS RIVER

• Then it carried on the river of lamentation called Cocytus.

LETHE RIVER

• Later they crossed the Lethe, river of forgetfulness.

PHLEGETHON

• They passed through the Phlegethon, river of the fire.

THE STYX• They came on the

Styx, lake of hate.

ARRIVED

• Finally, they arrived at the gates of the palace.

• The soul then enters through the gates to be met by Cerberus, who allows all souls to enter, but none to leave.

JUDGES

• The soul then appears before a panel of three judges, Rhadamanthus, Minos and Eacus, who reviewed the soul’s past life.

ELYSIAN

• Those who had been good were blessed and allowed to proceed into the Elysian Fields, a happy final resting place.

TARTARUS

• Those who had not, were damned and abolished to Tartarus, the infernal abyss, there to forever reside in torment.