Avernus

**Avernus**, also known the **Land of the Dead**, the **Underworld**, **Hell**, **Tartarus**, **Haides**, **Hades** or **Erebus**, is the Greek Underworld where souls go after death and the kingdom of the Greek god Hades and his wife Persephone.

## Overview

The other entities that have control of the underworld are the Primordials Achlys, Nyx, Erebus & Tartarus along with their children, Hecate, Hermes, the judges of the underworld (Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus), Melinoe, Styx, and the Daemon Eurynomos along with many others.

The original Greek idea of afterlife is that, at the moment of death, the soul is separated from the corpse, taking on the shape of the former person, and is transported to the entrance of the underworld. It is considered the dark counterpart to the brightness of Mount Olympus with the kingdom of the dead corresponding to the kingdom of the gods. Avernus is a realm invisible to the living, made solely for the dead.

The idea of progress did not exist in the Greek underworld – at the moment of death, the psyche was frozen, in experience and appearance. The souls in the underworld did not age or really change in any sense. They did not lead any sort of active life in the underworld – they were exactly the same as they were in life. Therefore, those who had died in battle were eternally blood-spattered in the underworld and those who had died peacefully were able to remain that way.

Lumina described the people of Avernus as simple skeletons. They are indistinguishable from each other, and it is impossible to tell who was wealthy or important in the living world. However, this view of the underworld was not universal – Homer depicts the dead keeping their familiar faces.

Avernus itself was free from the concept of time. The dead are aware of both the past and the future, and in poems describing Greek heroes, the dead helped move the plot of the story by prophesying and telling truths unknown to the hero. The only way for humans to communicate with the dead was to suspend time and their normal life to reach Avernus, the place beyond immediate perception and human time.

Orpheus and Heracles are the only two humans that enter and left the underworld alive.

## Geography

There are six main rivers that are visible both in the living world and the underworld. Their names were meant to reflect the emotions associated with death.

* The Styx is generally considered to be one of the most prominent and central rivers of the underworld and is also the most widely known out of all the rivers. It's known as the river of hatred and is named after the goddess Styx. This river circles the underworld seven times.
* The Acheron is the river of pain. It's the one that Charon, also known as the Ferryman, rows the dead over according to many mythological accounts, though sometimes it is the river Styx or both.
* The Lethe is the river of forgetfulness. It is associated with the goddess Lethe, the goddess of forgetfulness and oblivion. In later accounts, a poplar branch dripping with water of the Lethe became the symbol of Hypnos, the god of sleep.
* The Phlegethon is the river of fire. According to Plato, this river leads to the depths of Tartarus.
* The Cocytus is the river of wailing.
* Oceanus is the river that encircles the world, and it marks the east edge of the underworld, as Erebos is west of the mortal world.

### **Erebos**

Erebos is the wall around Avernus that hides it from the mortal realm and Life. It is controlled by its namesake, the Primordial God Erebus.

### Taenarum - Entrance of the Underworld

Taenarum is the entrance to The Underworld, where the dead enter. In front of the entrance to the Greek underworld live Grief (Penthos), Anxiety (Curae), Diseases (Nosoi), and Old Age (Geras). Fear (Phobos), Hunger (Limos), Need (Aporia), Death (Thanatos), Agony (Algea), and Sleep (Hypnos) also live in front of the entrance, together with Guilty Joys (Gaudia). On the opposite threshold is War (Polemos), the Erinyes, and Discord (Eris). Close to the doors are many beasts, including Centaurs, Scylla, Briareus, Gorgons, the Lernaean Hydra, Geryon, the Chimera, and Harpies. In the midst of all this, an Elm can be seen where false Dreams (Oneiroi) cling under every leaf.

The souls that enter the underworld carry a coin under their tongue to pay Charon to take them across the river. Charon may make exceptions or allowances for those visitors carrying a Golden Bough. Charon is said to be appallingly filthy, with eyes like jets of fire, a bush of unkempt beard upon his chin, and a dirty cloak hanging from his shoulders. Although Charon ferries across most souls, he turns away a few. These are the unburied which can't be taken across from bank to bank until they receive a proper burial.

Across the river, guarding the gates of the underworld is Cerberus. Beyond Cerberus is where the Judges of the underworld decide where to send the souls of the dead — to the Isles of the Blessed (Elysium), or otherwise to Tartarus.

### Tartarus

While Tartarus is not considered to be directly a part of Avernus, it is described as being as far beneath the underworld as the earth is beneath the sky. It is so dark that the "night is poured around it in three rows like a collar round the neck, while above it grows the roots of the earth and of the unharvested sea." Zeus cast the Titans along with his father Cronus into Tartarus after defeating them. Homer wrote that Cronus then became the king of Tartarus. While Odysseus does not see the Titans himself, he mentions some of the people within the underworld who are experiencing punishment for their sins.

Tartarus is ruled by the Primordial deities Nyx (who lives in the main tower along with Thanatos, Hemera, Aether and Hypnos), Erebus and Tartarus.

### Asphodel Meadows

The Asphodel Meadows were a place for ordinary or indifferent souls who did not commit any significant crimes, but who also did not achieve any greatness or recognition that would warrant them being admitted to the Elysian Fields. It was where mortals who did not belong anywhere else in the underworld were sent.

### Mourning Fields

The Mourning Fields (Lugentes Campi) was a section of the underworld reserved for souls who wasted their lives on unrequited love. Those mentioned as residents of this place are Dido, Phaedra, Procris, Eriphyle, Pasiphaë, Evadne, Laodamia, and Caeneus.

### Elysium

Elysium was a place for the especially distinguished. It was ruled over by Rhadamanthus, and the souls that dwelled there had an easy afterlife and had no labors. Usually, those who had proximity to the gods were granted admission, rather than those who were especially righteous or had ethical merit. Most accepted to Elysium were demigods or heroes. Heroes such as Cadmus, Peleus, and Achilles also were transported here after their deaths. Normal people who lived righteous and virtuous lives could also gain entrance such as Socrates who proved his worth sufficiently through philosophy.

#### Isles of the Blessed

The Fortunate Isles or Isles of the Blessed were islands in the realm of Elysium. When a soul achieved Elysium, they had a choice to either stay in Elysium or to be reborn. If a soul was reborn three times and achieved Elysium all three times, then they were sent to the Isles of the Blessed to live in eternal paradise.

## Hades

### Aliases

Land of the Dead, Greek Underworld, Hell, Tartarus, Haides, Hades, Erebos