Preview

Aeneas & the Underworld

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1010 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Aeneas & the Underworld
Aarion Johnson
Essay 2
World Literature MWF 12pm
April 11, 2014

The Ultimate Underworld Experience We all try to imagine what will happen to us, once we leave this life here on Earth. Countless of people believe that we will either go to heaven or hell, many believe that we may come back as another figure, and some believe in a place known as “The Underworld.” The Underworld is roughly similar to the Christian “hell.” Unlike the Underworld, we cannot go visit hell and then come back to Earth; don’t we wish we could! The Underworld is a place “under the world” where you could go and speak to shades and receive advice, good or bad. The most influential and powerful of gods resides in The Underworld. Although, today many people don’t believe in the underworld. Hundreds of years ago, multiple authors did believe in The Underworld, such as Virgil and Homer.
A few heroes, Gilgamesh, Odysseus, and Aeneas visit The Underworld. They all go to the afterlife, yet they go for different purposes. So, how do we figure who had the ultimate afterlife experience? The experiences these heroes embark into are quite similar. They all venture into the Underworld, communicate with shades to seek advice, and they all make it out safely and unharmed. Though, Gilgamesh and Odysseus had quite an impressive experience in the afterlife, their journey doesn’t quite compare to the journey of Aeneas. This hero receives special guidance, sees some special people that hits close to home and he gets dissed all in the same adventure.
First, Aeneas goes to the Underworld to receive advice and to seek his father Anchises. We all have our guardian angel with us at all times, in spirit. But, Aeneas has his guardian angel present with him, Sibyl. Among the undead, Aeneas has the guidance of Sibyl. Surrounded by the dead, he attempts to find the guidance of his father. Sybil was prophetic, which means that all the things he spoke were true. We all need a little guidance in life. We sometimes
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Odysseus In Hades
    • 275 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Odysseus In Hades

    A.E. Stallings writes “The Companions of Odysseus in Hades,” employing a plural narrative to effectively convey a powerful theme. The poem describes what happens to Odysseus’ companions after they eat the cattle of the Sun god, Helios, despite being warned not to. As a punishment for their actions, the companions are sent down to Hades, while only Odysseus lives. The plural narrative is a unique literary element that is rarely used in literature because of the challenge it poses to the writer. It is considered to be enigmatic and technically demanding. The plural narrative is difficult to incorporate into a piece of writing because it is too infrequent that a group of people is all in unison with one another. Stallings creates a poem…

    • 275 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Greek Depiction Of The Underworld In Homer's Odyssey
    • 473 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Greek Depiction Of The Underworld In Homer's Odyssey

    Homer provides the earliest written depiction of the Greek underworld in the Odyssey. While his writings about the underworld are the first to be physically recorded, they represent a long history of oral stories that had been prevalent in Greek society for many years. The Greeks viewed death as simply another part of daily life; they prayed to the gods and performed ceremonies to ensure that the dead made it to the underworld for the rest of eternity. In Greek culture, the underworld was nothing more than a final resting place for departed souls to reside. The description of the underworld in the Odyssey – known as the House of Hades - contains more of the conditions of afterlife rather than its scenery. While it is not strictly intended…

    • 473 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Afterlife of the Greeks, Egyptians, and Mayans
    • 723 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Afterlife of the Greeks, Egyptians, and Mayans

    The Ancient Greeks believed that the soul good or bad first had to go the underworld realm of Hades, the land of the dead. To reach the land of the dead they had to cross one of the five rivers of the underworld. Once they reached the underworld “the soul of the deceased would be judged by Hades and all the sons of Zeus” (Death, Burial, and the Afterlife in Greece and Rome). The Greeks believed that there are three areas where the deceased souls go to after judgment. For pure and blessed souls they go to the Elysium which consisted of green fields, valleys and mountains, everyone there was peaceful, and the Sun always shone there. For ordinary souls they go to the Asphodel Fields which was described by being a dull and dreary place. For evil souls they go to Tartarus which is described as a place of torment and suffering.…

    • 723 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Odyssey And The Aeneid Analysis
    • 1327 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Odyssey And The Aeneid Analysis

    Ancient Greeks had a poor and dark view on what happened to them once they died. They did not have a place where they their souls went to rest in peace. Instead, they went to where they were tortured for the rest of their immortal lives. This is shown in both epics, The Odyssey by Homer and The Aeneid by Virgil. In the Odyssey Odysseus into the underworld and you get his count on the awfulness of Hades, and too Aeneas goes to the underworld and you see the different parts and find out the meaning of each section. Both texts have similarities and differences on the interpretations of the after lives of greeks. Throughout time Greeks have changed their understandings of…

    • 1327 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    The Odyssey
    • 1147 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Odyssey

    Greek gods and goddesses are very important in the Greek culture. There are a few Greek gods and goddesses that play very important roles in The Odyssey. They are Athena, Zeus, Poseidon, and Circe, and Calypso. The relationship between the mortals and the gods are very interesting. Everything that happens in this poem, dealing with the mortals, is related to one of the gods. Without the gods, Greek culture and literature would be nothing.…

    • 1147 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Greek Mythology and Research Project Hades
    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Greek Mythology and Research Project Hades

    The underworld itself was often called Hades. It was divided into two regions: Erebus, where the dead pass as soon as they die, and Tartarus, the deeper region, where the Titans had been imprisoned. It was a dim and unhappy place, inhabited by vague forms and shadows and guarded by Cerberus, the three-headed, dragon-tailed dog. Sinister rivers separated the underworld from the world above, and the aged boatman Charon ferried the souls of the dead across these waters.…

    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Best Essays

    Dante's Inferno and Classical Mythology
    • 1818 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Dante's Inferno and Classical Mythology

    Dante’s descent into Hell in Inferno, the first part of his Divine Comedy, tells of the author’s experiences in Hades as he is guided through the abyss by the Roman author, Virgil. The text is broken into cantos that coincide with the different circles and sub-circles of Hell that Dante and Virgil witness and experience. Inferno is heavily influenced by classic Greek and Roman texts and Dante makes references to a myriad of characters, myths, and legends that take place in Virgil’s Aeneid, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, and Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Some of the most important references, however, are the most obvious ones that are easily overlooked simply because of the fact that they are so blatant. Dante is being escorted through Hell by the poet Virgil, and this is Dante’s first homage to Greco-Roman mythology. The second reference is the actual descent into the underworld. This reference is pulled directly from Homer’s Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid and Dante constructs his vision of the underworld with the help of Virgil’s seminal text. Because there are so many classical references in Inferno, the other references that are focused on in this paper are ones that show Dante’s breadth of allusion, as he draws on mythology described in Ovid’s Metamorphoses and other parts of the Aeneid.…

    • 1818 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Best Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Hades and the Underworld
    • 1043 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Hades and the Underworld

    In the time of ancient Greeks many people believed in certain Gods and Goddesses and their mythological stories. Among the many gods and goddesses there was Athena, Goddess of wisdom, crafts, and war. Also there was Apollo, God of the sun, music, healing, prophecy, and poetry. Apollo’s twin sister Artemis Goddess of hunting and archery. Then there’s Poseidon, God of the ocean and brother to the most powerful God of them all, the God of all Gods, Zeus. However, there was only one specific God that mortals and even Gods feared, the brother of Poseidon and Zeus. He was the ruler of the underworld and the dead; he went by the name of Hades.…

    • 1043 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Afterlife In The Odyssey
    • 1432 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Afterlife In The Odyssey

    In the Odyssey, Homer talks less about what the afterlife looks like and more about the conditions there. We learn that all mortal men, good or bad, descend to Hades, or the underworld, after death. In the book, Odysseus embarks on a journey back to his wife, Penelope, but is detoured through the underworld. While there, he questions many dead souls, or “shades”, and he discovers that they, the shades, have their knowledge from before their deaths but lack the ability to see or understand the current world around them once they enter the kingdom of the underworld. This is perhaps a way of punishing those that are doomed to Hades. One example of this is when Odysseus asks Achilles about his son and Achilles cannot answer the simple question in Lines 496-499 of Book XI. Later, Odysseus is surprised to find out that Minos, a king during his life, continues to have power in the underworld by passing out justice to the dead (Homer, Book XI, Lines 562-571). Later in his journey through the underworld, Odysseus is exposed to the punishments that are given to different souls. In book XI, lines 572-590, we see a challenge before Tantalus in which is never won. He is forever thirsty and hungry but cannot eat or drink despite having food and water in his possession. Later, we see Sisyphus punished in a similar way. He is in a never-ending cycle of pushing a boulder up…

    • 1432 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Virgil vs. Homer in Underworld
    • 1577 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Virgil vs. Homer in Underworld

    When comparing “The Aeneid” to “The Odyssey”, it is impossible not to notice the similarity between Homer and Virgil 's poems. Both heroes leave Troy, granted one barely escapes and the other leaves victoriously, and both in one sense or the other are trying to reach their home, whether it is the old or future home. The adventures of the two heroes are incredibly similar on a number of accounts with the trip to the underworld being most intriguing.…

    • 1577 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Hades In The Odyssey
    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Hades In The Odyssey

    As you are an “Employee of Hades,” and a god of death, I have several questions for you. I know you are a very busy god, and I thank you for taking time out of your job to read and respond. I mean, people pass away all day, every day, so I will try to be brief. Firstly, there is a large amount of rumours about your appearance. Is it true that you have large wings? On many pictures and vases, you are portrayed as a ancient warrior with a helmet and beard, along with the wings mentioned before. Is that the truth ? If you have been depicted falsely, what is your true appearance, and why do authors and artists alike depict you in other ways?…

    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Narrative Essay On Proserpina And Pluto
    • 1594 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Narrative Essay On Proserpina And Pluto

    At the entry of the underworld, Ceres stood waiting and pacing, nerve-rackingly excited to be reunited with her darling beloved daughter once again. Ceres’s excitement brought forth prosperity across the land, as the snow began to slowly melt away and the Northern wind nearly come to a cease. The end of a long and terrible winter has just…

    • 1594 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Hades Research Paper
    • 1010 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Hades Research Paper

    Death is a very mysterious topic that is still debated to this day. Many different cultures have many different theories, including one that the ancient greeks favored. In this essay, I will be exploring the greek underworld, particularly the ruler, Hades, through his myths, symbols, and worship.…

    • 1010 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    How Does Odysseus Drive Their Philosophies
    • 1708 Words
    • 7 Pages

    How Does Odysseus Drive Their Philosophies

    (462)” with the purpose of hearing the fate of his journey home from Tiresias. The scene that Homer outlines through the mouth of Odysseus is one of absolute sorrow heavily laden with the imagery of blood. This underworld is described as unable to be permeated by light saying “the sun never shines there, never climbs the starry sky to beam down at them, nor bathes them in the glow of its last golden rays; their wretched sky is always racked with night’s gloom. (452).” Beyond the gloomy outlook of sorrow, legitimatizing the mourning of and value place upon death, there is a significant amount of time spent with Odysseus dealing with, and observing the souls that are residing there, whose judgment has been passed down by “Minos, Zeus’ glorious son (465).”…

    • 1708 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Ap World Early Civilizations
    • 1545 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Ap World Early Civilizations

    1. The Mesopotamian view of the afterlife was a place known as the land of no return. It was completely filled with darkness and the people there see no light. It is the house from which none who enters ever returns. Anyone who held a high name in the mortal world will serve the gods.…

    • 1545 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More

Related Topics