The Greek Underwold – Between Rivers
There are five rivers encircling Hades. Acheron, known as the river of pain, forms the border of Hell. Cocytus, the river of lamentation, flows into the river Acheron, across which dwells the Underworld. The river of oblivion, Lethe, flows around the cave of Hypnos and through the Underworld. Phlegethon, fire-flaming a stream of fire, coils round the earth and flows into the depths of Tartarus. And Styx, meaning “hate” and “detestation”, forms the boundary between Earth and the Underworld, circling the Underworld nine times. Styx, Phlegethon, Acheron, and Cocytus all converge at the center of the Underworld on a great marsh. It is said that if they cannot deflect the will of Heaven, they shall move Hell.
Text – compiled from Wikipedia.org
Photo – ōmacron
Concept – ōmacron
The Greek Underworld – Land
In the Greek Underworld, the great pit of Tartarus is the unbounded first-existing entity from which the Light and the cosmos are born. The deity Tartarus was the third force to manifest in the yawning void of Chaos. Erebus represented the personification of darkness and shadow, which filled in all the corners and crannies of the world. The Asphodel Meadows is a land of utter neutrality, described as a ghostly place that is an even less perfect version of life on earth. It is a plain of Asphodel flowers, the favorite food of the Greek dead. Elysium’s name evolved from a designation of a place or person struck by lightning. The Elysian Fields lay on the western margin of the earth, by the encircling stream of Oceanus, without tasting death.
Text – compiled from Wikipedia.org
Photo – ōmacron
Concept – ōmacron
