page_title: Katabasis
section_title: Mythological characters who make visits to the underworld include
hierarchical_section_title: Katabasis / Trip into the underworld / Mythological characters who make visits to the underworld include
context_page_description: Katabasis or catabasis is a descent of some type, such as moving downhill, the sinking of the winds or sun, a military retreat, a trip to the underworld, or a trip from the interior of a country down to the coast. The term has multiple related meanings in poetry, rhetoric, and modern psychology.
context_section_description: Mesopotamian mythology
  Enkidu, in the Sumerian text Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld and in the final tablet of the Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh
  Inanna/Ishtar, in an attempt to overthrow her sister, Ereshkigal, queen of the netherworld
  Dumuzid/Tammuz is cast into the netherworld as a substitute for his consort Inanna/Ishtar
  Geshtinanna volunteers to spend half the year in the netherworld as a substitute for her brother Dumuzid
  Nergal, to make amends for disrespecting Ereshkigal
   Ancient Egyptian mythology
  Osiris (see also Book of the Dead)
  The Magician Meryre in Papyrus Vandier (Posener, 1985)
  Greek mythology and Roman mythology
  Adonis is mourned and then recovered by his consort Aphrodite
  The god Dionysus, to rescue Semele from Hades, and again in his role as patron of the theater
  Heracles during his 12th labor, on which occasion he also rescued Theseus
  Heracles, to rescue Alcestis from Hades
  Hermes, to rescue Persephone from Hades
  Orpheus, to rescue Eurydice from Hades
  Persephone and Demeter
  Psyche
  Odysseus
  Aeneas, to speak to his father in the Aeneid
  Theseus and Pirithous try to abduct Persephone; they fail, and only Theseus is rescued by Heracles
  Christianity
  Jesus, during the Harrowing of Hell
  Jesus in the Pistis Sophia
  Norse religion and Finnish mythology
  Odin
  Baldr
  Hermóðr
  Helreið Brynhildar
  Lemminkäinen's rescue from Tuonela by his mother
  Welsh mythology
  Pwyll's descent into Annwn in the Welsh Mabinogion
  Preiddeu Annwfn, King Arthur's expedition to Annwfn as recounted in the Book of Taliesin
  Buddhism
  Avalokiteśvara's descent into a Hell-like region after taking on the bad karma of her executioner in pity
  Kṣitigarbha
  Phra Malai, a monk who travels to Hell to teach its denizens
  Several episodes of people, including Devadatta, who are dragged alive into hell after committing misdeeds against the Buddha
  Other
  Japanese mythology: Izanagi and Izanami in Yomi
  Maya mythology: the Maya Hero Twins
  Vedic religion: Ushas (dawn) is liberated from the Vala by Indra
  Hinduism: Emperor Yudhishthira descends into Naraka
  Ohlone mythology (Native American): Kaknu fights Body of Stone
  Yoruba religion: Obatala, the dying-and-rising god of Ifẹ̀, the Yoruba cultural centre
  Religion of the Mongols: King Gesar launches an invasion into the realm of Erlik to save soul of his mother
  In Wicca and several neo-Pagan faiths, there is a story of how the Goddess descends into the Underworld to learn the mystery of death.
caption: The return of Persephone, by Frederic Leighton (1891)
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