What do all cultures have in common? All cultures have some believe that after death the soul goes to an underworld. In the underworld there is a variety of different gods and creatures, beliefs of what happens to the soul, the settings in them, and the hero’s journey to and from the underworld.
In ancient Greece they believed that a god by the name of Hades ruled everything beneath the earth. They also saw the importance in the length of ones life. This is why they had the three semi-goddesses who are responsible for the spinning of life and death is called the Moirae. The three Moirae consists of Clotho; who is responsible for spinning the string of life. The second is Lachesis, who is the measuring of the string of life. The third is Atropos who is the cutter of the string of life.
Guarding the gates of the underworld there is a violent creature by the name of Cerberus. Cerberus is a three headed dog. At the beginning of the river of Styx there is a person named Charon. Charon, is responsible for the transportation of the living to the underworld across the river. Charon requires the dead to pay a coin for a right of passage to the underworld. If the dead are unable to pay they may wonder at the gates for hundreds of years. Because of Charon’s fee for the right of passage to the underworld; the Greeks had to develop a tradition to burry their dead with either two coins that go in each of the eyes or one coin that goes into the mouth so that their loved ones would not be required to wonder around for hundreds of years.
Although the Greeks were not very specific in the locations of the three parts of the underworld they are specific about what they are and what they include. In the underworld there are the Elysian islands...
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...d God(Rudd 8-11). Keep in mind the punishments are still getting worse as they go down to the bottom of hell. These punishments are to stay in a river of blood or get shot, get souls trapped in trees and only talk when bleeding and having harpies eat them, very weird and the last one is burning sand and raining fire. Dante may have chosen to give the seventh layer these punishments because he saw it fit because since they harmed themselves god or others they will be harmed forever in hell.
Not done. Will finish
The underworld and hell are mystic places held home to many gods, beast, strange places, and stories. In the underworld Hades is the main god of it, he is the one who is the keeper of the dead as well. What about Dante, leading through his nine layers of hell and the weird yet immaculate structure of the punishment and layout of it all is just amazing.
In most ancient literature some sort of divine justice is used to punish people's acts in life. This is that case with Dante's Inferno, where the Author categorizes hell in 9 circles. Circle 9 being the lowest sins and punishments as the circles decrease. From the time this was written to now in days many things have changed, and things are not seen the same no more. Back then sins like greed and gluttony were ranked as high sins but now people would probably rank those very low with other things like murder way on top. Yet the basic structure set by Dante remains.
A man dies. He winds his way down into the underworld to reach the banks of the river Acheron where he meets the ferryman Charon. He takes a coin from his mouth to pay the toll across. On the opposite bank he is greeted by a Maenad or perhaps Bacchus himself who offers him a kylix of wine. Drinking deep, the man is transformed and resurrected from death to a higher plane. Instead of living a miserable dream in the underworld he receives redemption from his god Dionysos, the Savior. In Roman imperial times there was a great resurgence of the "Mystery" cults of Greece fueled by the hope of a life after death. In funerary monuments there can be seen the tenets of the religion as well as how it views the afterlife. Within the Los Angeles County Art Museum stands such a vessel created to facilitate this journey to eternal bliss.
Greek gods, the basis of Greek culture and religion, are the center of Greeks’ superstitions and ways to worship. These relate to the god’s origin and their deeds in their myths. Gods can either show jealousy, courage, or kindness to mortals and other gods, so Greeks label the gods based on their qualities. In most circumstances, the Greeks decide whether to worship or despise a god only by whom or what they rule over. For example, Greeks show reluctance in worshipping Hades, the Lord of the Underworld. Greeks hold celebrations and festivities to earn favor from the gods. Greek gods can either have a positive or a negative impact on Greek culture. Most people believe that Hades, an important god in Greek culture, has a negative impact on Greek society. Hades is an impact to Greek society because of his reputation as Lord of the Underworld, his actions in popular myths, and his relationships with other gods and mortals; this influenced how Greeks view him and how they worship him.
In ancient times, the Greeks had absolute and undeniable respect for their gods. They demonstrated their admiration by putting in place many rituals and celebrations to reverence the gods that they loved and feared in order to ensure harmony with them. In particular, the focus will be on the religious beliefs of the Greeks, including prayer and sacrifice, as well as on festivals and the arts, such as the ancient Olympic games and theatre. These aspects of their culture made a significant contribution to their quality of life. Moreover, these topics will be examined in relation to the twelve Olympian gods and their associates.
The Greek Minoans believed the snakes in the Goddesses hands represented protection; and the "renewal of life" since snakes shed their skin every so often, to reveal newer skin.
The God Of Death Hades, the God of the Underworld and Death, also the God of the Riches. Most of Hades and his four siblings life was spent in the stomachs of Cronus his father. Cronus was the Titan God of time and the ages. He was afraid if he had not eaten his children he would be overthrown by one of his sons. If not for Zeus later on Forcing the Cronus to disgorge them Hades would not have had a life at all.
The underworld is a place of departed souls, imagined as being under the earth. This means that Hades has to
Inferno, the first part of Divina Commedia, or the Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri, is the story of a man's journey through Hell and the observance of punishments incurred as a result of the committance of sin. In all cases the severity of the punishment, and the punishment itself, has a direct correlation to the sin committed. The punishments are fitting in that they are symbolic of the actual sin; in other words, "They got what they wanted." (Literature of the Western World, p.1409) According to Dante, Hell has two divisions: Upper Hell, devoted to those who perpetrated sins of incontinence, and Lower Hell, devoted to those who perpetrated sins of malice. The divisions of Hell are likewise split into levels corresponding to sin. Each of the levels and the divisions within levels 7,8, and 9 have an analogous historical or mythological figure used to illustrate and exemplify the sin.
In Dante’s Inferno, Dante narrates his descent and observation of hell through the various circles and pouches. One part of this depiction is his descriptions of the various punishments that each of the different sinners has received. The various punishments that Dante envisions the sinners receiving are broken down into two types. The first type he borrows from various gruesome and cruel forms of torture and the second type, though often less physically agonizing, is Dante’s creative and imaginative punishment for sins. The borrowed torturous forms of punishments create a physical pain for the shades, whereas the creative punishments are used to inflict a mental and psychological suffering. However, it is possible for the creative punishments to inflict both a mental and physical pain upon the sinner.
Book IV of the Aeneid can stand alone as Vergil's highest literary achievement, but centered in the epic, it provides a base for the entire work. The book describes Aeneas's trip through the underworld, where after passing through the depths of hell, he reaches his father Anchises in the land of Elysium. Elysium is where the "Soul[s] to which Fate owes Another flesh" lie (115). Here Anchises delivers the prophecy of Rome to Aeneis. He is shown the great souls that will one day occupy the bodies of Rome's leaders. Before the prophecy of Rome is delivered, Aeneis's journey through the underworld provides a definite ranking of souls according to their past lives on Earth. The Aeneid does not encompass a heaven, but the Underworld provides a punishment place where souls are purged of their evils and after one thousand years, regenerated to Earth. The ranking of souls in the Underworld warns of punishment for sin, and provides a moral framework for Roman life.
The underworld for the ancient Greeks was a world not to be violated. Anyone who went to the underworld knew there was no return. Greek history highlights people who travel to the underworld and come back afterwards. Hercules, Odysseus, Orpheus and the god Hermes are four examples of Greek figures who have traveled to the underworld and
Dante is undoubtedly biased in his punishments and rankings of his sins as a result of his personal thoughts and experiences. Although some of his punishments are fairly reasonably and match the crime, there are also some circles that are in the wrong order and have unjustified punishments. A few of the circles that are the most disagreeable include limbo, the lustful, violence against self, and complex fraud. These specific circles are disagreeable because Dante ranks them based on his own experiences and thoughts. Hell could also be redesigned in a completely different way to make it more reasonable. Dante’s divine comedy has some major biased within it, making the sins and punishments arrangements arguable, and able to be completely redesigned.
Despite the obvious flaws of Dante himself, he does give a clear vision of how punishments will be taken forth in the afterlife. He gives reason to fear and respect the law of God lest eternal punishment be your only promise in the afterlife. These punishments are as relevant as can be, so he offers a very vivid picture of hell. The men that he puts in hell give it a realistic twist, enhancing the fear that is felt upon reading this work
To the early Greeks, death was dark and mysterious. Early myth about the underworld and life after death is very vague, and it is likely that the Greeks just did not understand death or the underworld. In Homer’s myths the underworld, Erebus, was the child of Chaos along with Night. The early Greeks, according to Hamilton, believed that