The Underworld

What's all the rage about regarding the Underworld? What is housed in this strange place and what features differentiate it from the Overworld? We'll explore the Underworld's layout in it's entirety in this blog!

There are three main parts to the Underworld: the Asphodel Meadows, the Elysian Fields, and Tartarus.

Underworld Proper

The Asphodel Meadows is where most dead people end up going because it is the resting place for ordinary Shades. A Shade is a shadowy version of a person and their personality from when they were still amounts the living. The Mourning Fields are also contained with the Asphodel Meadows and it is an area that has been dedicated specifically to souls who have wasted their lives loving people who cannot love them back, also know as unrequited love.

The Elysian Fields is a section of the Underworld that has been dedicated specifically to be the final resting place of those souls who were heroic or especially good people during their mortal lives. The Elysian Fields are a beautiful place that is restful, peaceful, and blissful and allows the souls residing her to live out a happy and blessed afterlife.

Tartarus is scariest part of the Underworld as it is dedicated specifically to be the final resting place for evil souls. The souls that come to Tartarus will be in eternal damnation and must be punished and forced suffer for the rest of eternity. It is here in Tartarus that Zeus imprisoned Kronos and many of the other Titans after he, Poseidon, and Hades had defeated them during the Titanomachy.

Edges of the Underworld

Lining the outside edges of the Underworld, there are six rivers or bodies of water that are visible from both within the Underworld and from the Overworld. These six different rivers are:

• Oceanus, the River that Encircles the World

• Phlegethon, the River of Fire

• Lethe, the River of Forgetfulness

• Acheron, the River of Pain

• Cocytus, the River of Wailing

• Styx, the River of Hate

Charon is the ferryman that resides over the rivers Styx and Acheron and carries newly deceased souls across these rivers if they have been granted a proper burial. Crossing these rivers or any of the rivers that are associated with the Underworld means passing from the world of the living into the world of the dead, the Underworld.

It is also worth noting that there are several other different ways in which someone can enter into the Underworld aside from crossing a river, but in most cases, people will pass through the Gates of the Underworld that are guarded by Hades dog, Cerberus.

Within the Underworld, Hades himself resides with the Palace of Hades also known as the Palace of the Underworld. It is also here where souls are judged and sent to their proper places of rest: the Asphodel Meadows, the Elysian Fields, or Tartarus. Hades himself does not judge dead souls but rather he appointed three demi-gods to do the job: Minos: the judge who made the final vote, Rhadamanthus: the judge of the men of Asia, and Aeacus: the judge of the men of Europe.