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
They may look like the living, but they do not immediately act like them. They “have no mental powers (noos) or strength (menos), and are no more than insubstantial shadows”. Homer makes it clear that there are many different people present in the underworld, stating that he sees the ghosts of many brides, youths, men, and soldiers. Upon asking the ghost of Elphenor how he came to the underworld, he described how he died, stating that he missed his step on a ladder and his “…neck snapped at the spine” (Homer XI 59) and his “ghost went down to Hades.” (Homer XI 60). This was simply a mere description of how he died– he did not state that he lived his life in a certain way or committed any sins, which points to the thought that everyone ends up in the underworld regardless of how well or how poorly they lived their life. Greek society’s view on the afterlife suggested that people might have believed that an underworld existed and that the purpose for cremation was to enable their passage into the afterlife and the House of Hades. Proper burial ensured their life after death, and Homer may have been showing the “true” results of such