The Underworld Research Paper

Bilbo enters the dark cave and sees the dragon sleeping on top and under the gold and silver as if protecting it. The author describes the cave as being red lighted with a hot temperature that makes Bilbo sweat. He takes a heavy golden cup and returns back up through the dark tunnel to his dwarf friends. They are so elated to see Bilbo and praise him for his excellent thieving. This descending into darkness, being face to face with the evil dragon, and coming out again with a new appellation represents examples of two archetypes: descent into the underworld and death and resurrection. Hades, as mentioned before, is the god of the underworld in Greek mythology. He is the protector of the lost souls and like the dragon he is evil, uncanny, and deceitful. The underworld is most times described as dark, hot, and scary, as it was for Bilbo to enter the dark cave to steal from the

Hades’ realm, also known as the Underworld, is a dark and gloomy place where the souls of the dead reside. He rules the Underworld with the help of his loyal

The Celts believed that the soul lived on after death. The concept of Elysium is found in a series of Irish tales where the gods inhabited an underworld within the hills or on an island obscured by mist.

Picture it, dark, gloomy, lifeless. Pictured it? Well that’s the underworld for you. After one’s death there soul was supposidly sent down to the underworld. A joyless and hopeless, where no soul was able to escape once it had entered the doomed pit. However, if my some chance they had permission from Hades himself they were able to leave. Supposively the underground was no a horrible place but for the souls that roamed there it felt as if it were a never ending nightmare. No hope or light of any sort lived in this place.

The good souls were directed to heaven; the others to the underworld. Plato describes this place of heaven as one of joyous reunions that contained “beautiful sights.” The underworld, on the other hand, is quite the opposite. Plato describes the souls whom are sent here are in constant punishment. He writes, “For each in turn of the unjust things they had done and for each in turn of the people they had wronged, they paid the penalty ten times over, once in every century of their journey. Since a century is roughly the length of a human life, this means that they paid a tenfold penalty for each injustice.” This reward/penalty system is why Plato stressed the idea that every human should live their lives in according to what the Good and the Forms dictated. By adhering to the truths that these Forms revealed, the immortal soul will be rewarded by being sent to paradise. Unjust souls are forced to repent their deeds for an indeterminate amount of time. This is the ultimate philosophy in order to enforce social order - a philosophy that Christianity adopts into its doctrine.

Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire (NIV Bible). There is another rendition of Hell depicted by a Catholic believer aptly called Dante Alighieri. He envisioned that Hell was divided into nine different circles each level more horrible than the last, while being led through it by Virgil, an ancient Roman Poet. “The first circle is called limbo which isn’t horrible at all, it is the place where virtuous non-Christians and unbaptized pagans who are punished with eternity in an inferior form of Heaven” (Dante's Inferno). In the second circle it contains individuals that have done the deadly sin of Lust, in which their punishment is to continuously be blown by wind from every direction and not allowed to rest. On further note each circle they document the deadly

The afterlife is described in many cultures, dating back thousands of years. It is no different in Greek culture. As with the other cultures, the ancient Greek perspective on the afterlife shares similarities with the other views of life after death, but also contains its differences. The traditions, values, beliefs and culture of different people across the world shaped multiple views on the afterlife. The conception of the Greek underworld can be traced to the culture of the people at the time and shifts in perspective can be explained by shifts in beliefs and values.

The practicers of Greek mythology place a great deal of importance on the afterlife, and how you might get there. There is simply an underworld, there is no heaven, this means there is no way of having eternal life. This is not to say the underworld is without a hierarchy of itself. The underworld is a hopeless place, the few who receive the privilege of happiness only are given this gift while they are remembered. Burial is also very important in mythology, if buried incorrectly certain fundamental rights in the underworld were stripped. The Greek mythological concept of the afterlife makes it seem as though death, and what happens to

In ancient Greek beliefs people were also judged when they were down in the underworld. At the dividing road between Tartarus, a place of torture in the underworld and the Isles of the Blest, a place for the good in the underworld, there are the Plains of Judgment. Awaiting the souls in the Plain of Judgment are Aeacus, Minos, and Rhadamanthys. These dead men, judge who goes to Tartarus, who goes to the Isles of the Blest or back to the Asphodel Fields if they were neither good or evil. These men were all sons of Zeus who were rewarded as judges in the underworld by creating the first just laws on Earth. Aeacus was king of Aegina during mortal life and was also known for making decisions for Zeus. After his death he became keeper of the keys of Hades and the judge of men of Europe in the Underworld. Minos was the King of Crete, and Rhadamanthys was his brother. They both lived in Asia during their mortal lives. After his death, Rhadamanthys became lord of the Isles of the Blest, and judge of the men of Asia. After Minos died he gained the responsibility of having the final judgment. In The Odyssey, Odysseus says " And now there came before my eyes Minos, the son of Zeus, enthroned, holding a golden staff, dealing out justice among ghostly pleaders arrayed about the broad doorways of Death.". (XI. 640) The Greeks believed Minos had a lot of power in the underworld. In Roman beliefs Rhadamanthus had control over the punishments people

In the underworld there is no anguish, sadness or pain. But there is neither joy or expectation. Accordingly, these all appertain to the orb above. Although the former living experience may be remembered here below, it is not done so as it occured. Hence, in the underworld, all things that happened above are of equal value; that is, a murder may be deemed but a friendly handshake to these that dwell below; and regardless of handshake or murder, they are both of no importance now.

The concept of hell can be viewed as three distinct underworld concepts in the Old and New

The Greeks believed that the importance of where you go depends on the manner of your death, the behavior you had while still alive and how you were buried could affect where or what happens to you. This is similar to reincarnation because ideas are that the way you act while you are alive, conclude what type of person you are in the future. The way you are buried affect what type of person you become in your future life, such as rather you are buried or cremated. The differences between the Greeks thoughts and mine are that when you die in the Greeks thought, you go to the Underworld if you were judged to be “bad” and if you were “good” you went to Elysium. In reincarnation, some people can go to different places or you can be reincarnated. Another difference is that the Greeks believed in the underworld, if you traveled there your loved ones would be there and available to talk to. With reincarnation you are reborn into a completely different life and are unaware of who your past family was or any relation to your past life

The Book was originally intended as a set of spells and incantations meant to insure safe passage for the soul of a deceased person into the Underworld. Some of the ending chapters include instructions on not dying a second time, meaning how not to die in the underworld and thus having no chance of being reborn or living a full afterlife. The original text--at least, the bits and pieces that modern scholars possess--consists of a set of hymns, beginning with the Hymn to Osiris. This hymn is meant to call up the king of the underworld and make him aware of the presence of the soul. After summoning Osiris, the presiding priest would begin a series of ceremonies designed to give the spirit all the

The underworld in Greek mythology was not a lively place, for it was where all the dead souls went. When a person died, the soul would be sent to Hades, a more formal name for the underworld. "The dead would go to Hades because there was no annihilation in the Greek mythology. The dead are dead because they have a flavorless and unhappy existence".

Being the god of The Underworld does not make someone a villain but it sure does make their actions look pretty evil. Hades is the oldest of the three brothers from Cronus and Rhea. When the Olympians defeated Cronus and The Titans the siblings drew for their area of power; Hades got The Underworld. This caused many problems for Hades such as not being considered equal by the other gods and rarely getting credit for what he does. When thinking of Hades people instantly think he is evil and a horrible god. Hades is not a villain because he is not evil, he is not a thief, and he is not focused on wealth.