TheUnderworld -...

The Underworld

Annabel Orchard

Ixion in the Underworld, red figure amphora c. 330 BCE. hAp://www.apcon.gr/pelion/images/mythology/centaurs/ixion.jpg

The Underworld Some literary sources

Greek: Homer, Odyssey 11 Homer, Iliad 20, 23 Plato, Republic: ‘Myth of Er’ Roman: Virgil, Aeneid 6 Virgil, Georgics 4

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The Homeric Underworld

Hades (Ais, Aides, Aidoneus): •  brother of Zeus •  Division of spheres: Zeus, Poseidon, Hades •  Lord of Underworld, Host of the Dead Persephone – consort of Hades

“House of Hades”, “Hades’ (place)” = the Underworld, the geographical location

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The Homeric Underworld

geographical location: Homer, Iliad 20. 61-5: below earth

Homer, Odyssey 10, 11: across Ocean

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The Homeric Afterlife

Odyssey 11: •  Final destination for (almost) all, no

differential treatment Exceptions in Odyssey (not in Iliad): •  Castor and Polydeuces •  Herakles •  Menelaus: Elysium, Odyssey 4. 561ff

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The Homeric Afterlife Homer, Iliad •  Psyche – “breath”? (Death of Hektor, 22.

361ff) •  Eidolon – “image”? •  Importance of proper

burial (Ghost of Patroklos, 23. 65ff)

Hypnos, Thanatos, Hermes and the body of Sarpedon. AJc Red Figure calyx krater, signed by Euphronios, ca 515 BCE, Metropolitan Museum, New York, USA , Cat. No.: New York 1972.11.10 hAp://www.theoi.com/Gallery/N12.1.html Annabel Orchard

The Homeric Afterlife

Odyssey 11: •  Bleak view of afterlife •  The dead are

senseless, gibbering, insubstantial

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Elpenor, Odysseus and Hermes. Athenian red-‐figure clay vase about 475-‐425 BC. Boston (MA) Museum of Fine Arts 34.79 William Amory Gardner Fund. Beazley Archive, Oxford, Photo E3302: hAps://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/dic_onary/Dict/ASP/dic_onarybody.asp?name=Elpenor

Notorious criminals Odyssey 11 •  Tityos •  Tantalos •  Sisyphos

Other sources: vase paintings, Virgil, Georgics, Aeneid

•  Danaids •  Ixion

Ixion in the Underworld, red figure amphora c. 330 BCE. hAp://www.apcon.gr/pelion/images/mythology/centaurs/ixion.jpg

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Virgil, Aeneid 6

•  Much more complex topography

•  Tartarus: for ordinary mortal sinners •  Elysium: a special zone for the

enlightened

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Virgil, Aeneid 6

•  Moral differentation, reward •  Transmigration of souls

Influenced by ideas of Pythagoras, the Orphic writings, Plato: eg Republic, “Myth of Er”

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The hero’s quest to the Underworld

•  Ultimate heroic feat •  Rite of passage aspect: death and rebirth

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Heroic quests to the Underworld

Heracles Apollodorus,

Library 2.4.12ff

Homer, Odyssey 11. 717ff

Heracles and Cerberus at the gates of the Underworld. AJc Amphora aAributed to the Andokides Painter and Lysippides Painter, ca 520 -‐ 510 BCE: Musée du Louvre, Paris, France, Cat.Nuo.: Louvre F204 hAp://www.theoi.com/Gallery/M12.2.html Annabel Orchard


Theseus Apollodorus, Epitome 1.24 Virgil, Aeneid

6. 393ff. Heracles (right) rescues Theseus from the Underworld. AJc red figure lekythos: hAp://www.uncg.edu/cla/slides/heraktheseus.jpg

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Orpheus Virgil, Georgics 4 Ovid,

Metamorphoses 10

Hermes, Eurydice and Orpheus, Roman copy in Pentelic marble of a c. 420 BCE Greek original, Musee de Louvre: hAp://www.mam.gov.mo/2008041201/photos/large/2008041201093.jpg

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Typical Underworld features

Rivers, water •  Pyriphlegethon (flaming fire) •  Styx (Hate) •  Cocytus (Wailing) •  Acheron (Woe) •  Lethe (Oblivion) Charon the ferryman

Charon and Hermes. AJc white-‐ground lekythos by the Sabouroff painter, date unknown, Na_onal Museum, Athens: hAp://www.uark.edu/campus-‐resources/dlevine/Charon.jpg Annabel Orchard

Typical Underworld features

Thrones of Hades and Persephone Judges: •  Minos •  Rhadymanthus •  Aeacus

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Typical Underworld features Cerberus:

guard dog Aeneid 6.

417ff

Heracles and Cerberus at the gates of the Underworld. AJc Amphora aAributed to the Andokides Painter and Lysippides Painter, ca 520 -‐ 510 BCE: Musée du Louvre, Paris, France, Cat.Nuo.: Louvre F204 hAp://www.theoi.com/Gallery/M12.2.html Annabel Orchard

Orpheus and the Underworld

hAp://wingedsandals.com/arts/wingedsandals/story_me/orpheus.htm

Odysseus’ Underworld journey

•  The significance of storytelling •  Oral tradi_on-‐ a world without wri_ng and with

few images •  Storytellers in the epic so far-‐ Phemios,

Demodokus, Nestor, Menelaos, Helen •  Odysseus tells his own story in his own words:

1st person singular •  Who is the audience? Us, Phaiakians •  Is there an agenda to Odysseus’ storytelling?

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Women in the Underworld

•  Antiklea tells of life on Ithaka •  Persephone sends women to talk to

Odysseus: Alkmene, Epikaste, Leda, Ariadne et al: Odysseus’ agenda

Odyssey 11. 387ff •  Odysseus pauses: Arete speaks •  Alkinoos requests an encore

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Agamemnon on women and homecoming

Agamemnon’s story: 11.395ff •  infidelity and treachery in the home •  Aigisthos •  Klytaimnestra

Agamamnon: “Land your ship… gone forever.”

Homer, Odyssey 11.533-‐5 (Fitzgerald, tr., NY, 1998)

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Achilleus on death and glory

Achilleus: “Let me hear … exhausted dead”.


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Aias’ anger

•  the compe__on for the armour •  No forgiveness: •  Odysseus to Aias:

“My lord…your pride”.


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Herakles’ salute

•  Herakles : the hero who transcends all limita_ons

•  Odysseus sees ‘a phantom’, but he himself is with the gods (11.717-‐21)

“The eyes … the sunny world?” Homer, Odyssey 11.732-‐7 (Fitzgerald, tr., NY, 1998)

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