14 Facts About Greek underworld

In mythology, the Greek underworld is a distinct realm where an individual goes after death.

The earliest idea of afterlife in Greek myth is that, at the moment of death, an individual's essence is separated from the corpse and is transported to the underworld.

The Greek underworld is considered to be an invisible realm, which is understood both in relation to the permanent state of darkness but a potential etymological link with Hades as the 'unseen place'.

The Greek underworld is made solely for the dead and so mortals do not enter it - with only a few heroic exceptions.

Rivers are a fundamental part of the topography of the Greek underworld and are found in the earliest source materials: In Homer's Iliad, the "ghost" of Patroclus makes specific mention of gates and a river in Hades; in Homer's Odyssey, the "ghost" of Odysseus's mother, Anticleia, describes there being many “great rivers and appalling streams”, and reference is made to at least four specific rivers.

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In some Greek sources Tartarus is another name for the underworld, while in others it is a completely distinct realm separate from the underworld.

Greek underworld was not a tormenter of the dead, and sometimes considered the "Zeus of the dead" because he was hospitable to them.

However, she had eaten six pomegranate seeds in the Greek underworld and was thus eternally tied to the Greek underworld, since the pomegranate seed was sacred there.

Greek underworld was called upon by the dying to assist in their passing – some called upon him to have painless deaths or be able to die when and where they believed they were meant to die.

Greek underworld's cave was described as impenetrable by the light of sun and moon alike; it was surrounded by poppies and other soporific plants.

Eurynomos is one of the daemons of the Greek underworld, who eats off all the flesh of the corpses, leaving only their bones.

The Greeks showed belief in the possibility of marriage in the underworld, which in a sense implies the Greek underworld was little difference from the world of the living.

Rather, the continuation of the existence of the soul in the Greek underworld was considered a remembrance of the fact that the dead person had existed, yet while the soul still existed, it was inactive.

Greek underworld was forbidden to return to the underworld a second time and he spent his life playing his music to the birds and the mountains.