Underworld

Overview

The “Underworld” in this story is not one map shared by all ancient authors. The Odyssey has Odysseus summon shades at Ocean’s edge; Hesiod keeps Tartarus, Hades’ house and Styx as distinct deep-world images; the later Bibliotheca sends Heracles down through Taenarum. The scenes can be read together, but each belongs to its own passage.

Key facts

Relationships

• Hadesrules

  Hades rules the world of the dead.

• Persephonerules

  Persephone is the dread queen of the Underworld.

• Odysseusenters

  Odysseus reaches the realm of the dead in search of prophecy.

• Persephonereturns for part of each year

  The hymn’s settlement places Persephone below for part of each year and with her mother for the rest.

• Asphodel Meadowis the shades’ destination in this book

  Odyssey 24 has Hermes lead this company of shades to the Asphodel Meadow.

• Hermesguides the newly dead

  Hermes uses his golden wand to summon and lead the suitors’ shades to the realm of the dead.

• Heraclesreturns the guardian after display

  After showing Cerberus to Eurystheus, Heracles returns the guardian to Hades.

• Heracles Descends to Hadesenters the Underworld

  Heracles’ descent enters Hades’ realm through Taenarum.

• Charonferries in

  Aristophanes' Frogs presents Charon with the ferry of underworld travel.

• Orionhunts after death

  Odyssey 11 shows Orion still hunting within the vision of the dead.

• Lethebelongs to afterlife geography

  Plato's Republic places Lethe within the afterlife landscape of the Myth of Er.

• Gates of Hadesopens toward

  Homeric tradition uses the gates of Hades as the threshold into the underworld realm.

Story appearances

• The Odyssey HomecomingRealm of memory, prophecy and encounter with the dead

  The Underworld joins the route home to family grief, war's consequences and future prophecy.

• Gates of the UnderworldReading entrance connecting sources without flattening their geographies

  Reading entrance connecting sources without flattening their geographies, part of the Underworld story's crossings, losses, judgments or guarded spaces.

• The Labours of HeraclesUnderworld in the Labours

  Underworld enters this story through Heracles' labours; when other stories return to the figure, they follow that later setting.

• Olympian OrderRealm assigned to Hades in the division by lot

  In Pseudo-Apollodorus’s division by lot, the Underworld becomes one of the three major realms after Olympian order is established; Hades receives it beside Zeus’s sky and Poseidon’s sea.

Ancient sources

MythWeave distinguishes ancient-source evidence from later adaptations and modern interpretation.

• Homer, Odyssey, Books 1–24
• Hesiod, Theogony, Lines 736–806: Tartarus' depth, bronze enclosure, gates and threshold
• Hesiod, Theogony, Lines 807–819: the Titans dwelling beyond the gates and the later stations of Cottus, Gyes and Briareus
• Homeric tradition, Homeric Hymn 2 to Demeter, Lines 1–39: Persephone is taken and Hecate hears her cry
• Homeric tradition, Homeric Hymn 2 to Demeter, Lines 305–356: famine and Zeus sends Hermes below
• Homeric tradition, Homeric Hymn 2 to Demeter, Lines 357–433: pomegranate, escorted return and divided year
• Homer, Odyssey, Book 24.1–14: Hermes leads the suitors’ shades to the asphodel meadow
• Homer, Odyssey, Book 11.1–50: the rite for shades at Ocean’s edge
• Homer, Odyssey, Book 11.568–629: Minos, punished shades and the phantom of Heracles
• Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, 1.3.2: Orpheus, Eurydice and the condition against looking back
• Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, 2.5.12: Taenarum, Hades’ condition, unarmed mastery, display and return
• Euripides, Heracles, Lines 1–25: the family awaits Heracles as he completes the Cerberus task
• Euripides, Heracles, Lines 815–1015: Iris and Lyssa bring madness after the hero returns
• Homer, Odyssey, Book 11: the Underworld, Tiresias and the shades