Greek Underworld Research Paper

The practicers of Greek mythology place a great deal of importance on the afterlife, and how one might get there. The underworld exists, there is no heaven, and the only way to receive eternal life is to be a god, or to be given this gift by a god. This is in no way trying to say the underworld is without a hierarchy of its own. The underworld is a hopeless place, divided into three levels: Elysium, Asphodel, and The Fields of Punishment. Burial is remarkably important in mythology, if buried incorrectly, the soul could lose fundamental rights in the underworld. The Greek mythological concept of the afterlife makes it seem that death, and the things that happen to both a physical body, and a spiritual body are of greater importance than life

No matter how one lived a life, the sole place to go for the rest of eternity is the underworld sadly “the Greeks had a grim view of the afterlife” (Ancient Religion 3). Followers of Greek mythology believed the afterlife is a collection of souls. The underworld’s leader, Hades, is just as ruthless as the the underworld which he presides over. The underworld is horrid. Believers of Greek mythology often told stories and myths such as “Hades is shrouded in impenetrable darkness and generally unpleasant” (Ancient Religion 4). Hades is a place where souls went to stay forever, additionally it offers a less than hospitable place to stay for the rest of

Hades, not so ironically named after its cruel leader. Hades, also known as the underworld, is a joyless place. There is no Heaven, and the only happy place in the underworld was Elysium, for the rare person who had successfully pleased the gods. The Greek afterlife has levels. Depending on one’s life prior to passing would determine their level in the underworld. These levels were Elysium, the Fields of Punishment, and Asphodel. The happiest of the three was Elysium, but very few go here. The Fields of Punishment stand a testament to their name, very few went here. The few who did go to either of the two lands listed previously lived extraordinary lives, whether good or bad. Asphodel is where everybody else went. It is where a person went to forget everything from the previous life. Where a human went is neither solely determined by how they had lived their life, nor how their relatives buried them, in fact, it requires a culmination of the two. Burial is not to be taken lightly because it is a societal and religious duty. If a burial was not preformed to the proper standards, the soul lost rights and privileges that would otherwise be granted to that individual in the underworld. This all goes to say, the Greeks thought that the afterlife showed a greater deal of importance than life itself, because it is where everyone would spend the