The Afterlife or Hereafter in the mythology of ancient Greece and Rome takes place in an area often referred to as:
- the Underworld, because it is in the sunless regions under the earth, or
- Hades' realm (or Hades) because the Underworld was Hades' third of the cosmos, just as the sea was the god Poseidon's (Neptune, to the Romans) and the sky, the god Zeus' (Jupiter, to the Romans).
Several myths involve a voyage to obtain information made by a living hero, usually, the son of a god, to the Underworld (nekuia*). For this reason, even at such a great remove both temporally and spatially, we know some details of ancient Greek visions of Hades' realm. For instance, access to the Underworld is somewhere in the west. We also have a literary idea of whom one might meet at the end of one's life, should this particular vision of the after-death happen to be valid.
- Nekuia in the Odyssey (Homer)
- Nekuia in the Aeneid of Vergil (Virgil)
- Hercules (Heracles) Tackles the Hound of Hades
- Orpheus in the World of the Dead
- Tasks of Psyche
- Rivers of the Underworld
- Ancient Ghost Stories
The Underworld - A Shadowy Existence
The Underworld, is not entirely unlike Heaven/Hell, but it's not the same, either. The Underworld has the glorious area known as the Elysian Fields, which is similar to Heaven. Hades' realm also has the torturous area known as Tartarus, corresponding with Hell. It also allots special areas for various types of deaths, and contains the Plain of Asphodel, which is the joyless realm of ghosts. This last is the main area for the souls of the dead in the Underworld -- neither torturous nor pleasant, but worse than life.
Like the Christian Judgment Day and the ancient Egyptian system, which uses scales to weigh the soul to judge one's fate, which could be an afterlife better than the earthly one or an eternal end in the jaws of Ammit, the ancient Greek Underworld employs 3 (formerly mortal) judges.
House of Hades and Hades' Realm Helpers
Hades is the lord of the Underworld, but he doesn't manage the limitless Underworld denizens on his own. Hades has many helpers. Some led their earthly lives as mortals -- specifically, those selected as judges; others are gods. Hades sits on the Underworld throne, in his own "House of Hades", beside his wife, the queen of Hades' realm, Persephone. Near them is Persephone's assistant, a powerful goddess in her own right, Hecate. One of the attributes of the messenger and commerce god Hermes -- that of Hermes Psychopomp -- puts Hermes in contact with the Underworld on a regular basis. Personifications of various sorts reside in the Underworld and some of the creatures of death and the Afterlife appear to be on the periphery. Thus the boatman, Charon, who ferries the souls of the deceased across, might not actually be described as inhabiting the Underworld, but the area around it. I mention this because people argue over similar matters -- like whether Hercules went all the way to the Underworld when he rescued Alcestis from Death (Thanatos). For non-academic purposes, whatever the shady area in which Thanatos looms may be considered part of the Underworld complex.
Next: Read about the 10 Main Gods and Goddesses of the Greek Underworld.
*You may see the word katabasis instead of nekuia. Katabasis refers to a descent and can refer to the walk down to the Underworld.
