Sep 04 2008
The Underworld in The Odyssey
The underworld in The Odyssey is described as a dark, damp, and dreary place. It is not described as the common-thought-of firey hell. Odysseus encounters many spirits during his katabasis, all ghosts of deceased people. The strangest characteristic I found of these spirits is that they all inquired about relatives and friends that are still alive. When I think of the afterlife and the underworld, I think of spirits that can see all and know all and that are all evil. These ghosts are simply good people, stuck in a terrible fate. For example, Achellis asks Odysseus about his son whom is still alive. The most horrible part of this underworld is not that it is a scary place filled with fire, as one would assume, because, as mentioned before it is not very terrifying, but the fact that these spirits are being tortured. Sisyphus in continuously trying to push a bolder up a hill, but it always falls down and never reaches the top. Tantalus is starving and parched and sitting in a pool of water surrounded by grapes. Unfortunately, whenever he tries to eat or drink, the food or water moves out of reach. In my opinion, being constantly tormented is worse than living in the typical firey pit of hell. Achilles even tells Odysseus that he would rather die without glory than to be stuck in this terrible place.
Before reading The Odyssey I had thought of the underworld much like the description of hell, and what many other books and movies in popular culture depict it as. However Homer does not describe the underworld as filled with fire and evil. In fact, the many souls that Odysseus encounters in his time spent in the underworld are not evil at all. These spirits have been sent to the underworld after dying because all mortals went to the underworld after dying. However none of this is to say that the underworld is a great place to be. Although not filled with fire, it is depicted as cold, dark, and above all, sad. As said above, the spirits that Odysseus encountered and many more lingering in the underworld were simply suffering, and serving a kind of fate worse than death. Some of the spirits Odysseus saw were being tortured in the most awful ways like Tityos who was being torn apart by vultures and could do nothing to stop it. Or Sisyphos who no matter how many times he tried, could not get the huge stone over the hill. And then there were those spirits that asked Odysseus about their families, the people they loved that they could not see or know about. So more than anything, to describe the underworld, I would not say “evil” as I once would have before reading Homer’s epic. To describe it I would just have to say heart-wrenchingly sad.
Many of my thoughts have already been mentioned in the posts. The underworld setting was not described as what might be thought of as an underworld. It seemed dark but more open and almost somber instead of fearsome. Odysseus was able to sail up to the shore and arrive in the underworld and those that had perished swarmed around his offering. I was curious as to why Odysseus was able to hold them off with his sword when it appeared that their bodies were no longer capable of physical contact. These spirits or souls also did not know of their families and loved ones and questioned Odysseus to learn of them. Odysseus in turn questioned them, but the spirits seemed to be answering based on their knowledge of those people before they had died. In the underworld, like it has been mentioned in the other posts, some of the perished souls are being tortured and others seem to be caught in a state of wandering sadness or maybe passiveness. The only reference to the underworld being dangerous or fearsome was when Homer repeatedly used the expression of green fear to describe the reaction of Odysseus to the perished. Homer also made reference to Odysseus questioning if Persephone was involved on line 13 of book XI by asking his mother “Or are you nothing but an image that proud Persephone sent my way, to make me grieve all the more for sorrow?” and on line 632 “but before that the hordes of the dead men gathered about me with inhuman clamor, and green fear took hold of me with the thought that proud Persephone might send up against me some gorgonish head of a terrible monster up out of Hades’. These lines make reference to a darker and more fearsome part of the underworld than the other descriptions of the setting imply.
Much like the people who have already posted, I was very surprised with Homer’s description of hell. It doesn’t seem a dark place, a usual description of hell, and there is no mention of the classical Greek underworld elements of the Styx or of Charon the ferryman. Odysseus and his men just seem to sail up to its banks and hang out for a little bit. Upon reaching the house of Hades, Odysseus must dig a hole a make a sacrifice it in to the dead. Almost like bees to a honey pot, the dead come creeping out to see whats going on and this allows Odysseus to chat with some of his old friends. He completes his mission to talk to Thiresias the Theban and he also converses with his deceased mother, Agamemnon, Achilleus, and Herakles. Even in the land of no sun and no pleasure, Odysseus finds enjoyment in his conversations with those he has missed greatly. The residents of the realm of Hades seem to want to know whats going on in the mortal world and even give Odysseus advice including the advice from Agamemnon to not be completely trusting of his wife. This description of Hades really threw me for a second because it seemed like there was no suffering, but then Odysseus sees Tantalos, Tityos, and Sisyphos all experiencing their own types of torture. Besides this Hades is not really an enclosed area or one that is unbearable to live in. Odysseus completes his Katabasis in these two books by following the demands of the goddess Circe and traveling to the underworld and back unscathed.
As said in this the Underworld described is different from what a person would think off the top of their head. But it still is a v.ery dark and creepy place. There is much dark imagery surrounding the area of the place with the tall shadowy trees, the all black sacrifices, and the blood. There is a great amount of water involved with this underworld because of the rivers compared to the fiery underworld of other visions. Another difference is the spirts come over to him instead of finding them on a path through the underworld. I agree with the statement on how by describing the punishments it makes the place a very fearful place to be because of the specific examples of the torture that Odysseus is given. I understand how the spirits can’t see more cause I can see the underworld as a kind of isolated place of darkness that Hades wants to keep seperate. When Odysseus leaves he is very fearful and perhaps some of this is not wanting to get forced into staying there because he is living and he shouldn’t really be there.
The underworld is a realm of paradoxes and opposites lying side by side. The suffering of Tantulus verses the blessed rest of Archillies shows that in the underworld, there is a place for the good and the blessed spirits to rest while there is also a place of punishment and suffering for the wicked and the damned. Hades realm is a combination of heaven and hell. Also the prescence of Cerberus and the fary man that charters people across the river to the land of the the dead are the impartial symbols of Hade’s realm that everyone must face. Also Persephone and Hades are paradox pair of life and death.
the underwold showed that no matter what was your status in life you were destined to go to the same place. The heros Hercules and Achilles were dwelling with the same people such as the wise Teirias, Arias who is still mad even in death that Achilles armour went to Odyssesus, the murdered Agamemmon, and pious wueens of the past. These spirits did possess intelligence unless they drank the blood sacrifice Odysseus made, otherwise they would jus be shadows.
It also shows that the greeks didn’t believe in the Christian context of hell. That is hell isn’t a place specified for those who were evil in their mortal life. There was people in the underworld who did bad deeds and were punished but they were in the same hell that the godlike queens dwellled after they finished with their moral and good life.
the underworld is still a pretty dreary place but i think that all souls are punished there because it seems like have nothing to do there. there is no “afterlife” the souls seem to just exist. the souls there seem to just exist. it seems like u might as well do somthing bad your current life on earth because either way when you’re in hades ur gonna either just exist or be tortured. Atleast the torture would keep you occupied.
Wow, this is really tough to respond to after everyone else. Everyone has brought up very interesting points, some things I was thinking too, others are things I just never notices. I guess I will just say that I agree that the underworld contains both a heaven and hell like place. I like how someone specifically named the fact that the underworld is an intricate web of paradoxes, I was thinking the exact same thing.
The image of the greek underworld greatly contrasts that of the christian hell, specifically in that it isn’t just the resting place for “sinners”, it’s the resting place for everyone. The different levels of the underworld are for different people, and though many heros and good people are resting peacefully in the underworld, the darker side of the underworld contains the examples ofTantalos, Tityos, and Sisyphos.
I don’t agree with Donni however in that being good in life is so hopeless that you might as well be bad since you options are torture or idleness, and torture would keep you busy. Im sure there are perks to being good in the underworld.
having read the odyssey before Homers description of hell came as no surprise to me- even still- there are many differences between Homers Underworld and the more commonly known version of hell brought to us by the church. In the Odyssey everyone who dies goes into the underworld- it is merely a resting place for souls that have passed on. Although much like Christianity’s version of the afterlife there is a judgment that must occur to determine which of the three layers of the underworld you will inhabit. The first and highest is for war heros and truly noble beings- the second for average beings, and the final level of the underworld is a sunless, dark world in which those who did not lead righteous lives shall be tortured for all eternity. While the whole concept of an underworld is very different from modern day concepts- the three levels are somewhat in keeping with the the ideas of heaven and hell. Another thing that is different about the underworld in the Odyssey is that instead of Odysseus needing to go there to save a lost soul, as is traditional, he goes for information- to find out what he needed to do in order to make it home and achieve his ultimate goal