The Underworld

Your Time Has Run Out After Clotho had spun your life’s thread and after Lachesis measured your life’s span, Atropos cuts your life’s thread. Coins would be placed over your eyes as fare for the boatman, Charon, who would take your soul to the Underworld via the River Styx, the river of unbreakable oaths.

The River Styx The River Styx was a river in Greek mythology which formed the boundary between Earth and the Underworld (often called Hades which is also the name of this domain's ruler). It circles the Underworld nine times. This river caused those crossing it to forget their lives and be prepared to enter the Underworld forever.

Palace of Hades In the forecourt of the palace of Hades and Persephone sit the three judges of the Underworld: Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus. This is where the souls are judged, returned to the Fields of Asphodel if they are neither virtuous nor evil, sent by the road to Tartarus if they are considered foul or evil, or sent to Elysium (Islands of the Blessed) with the "blameless" heroes.

Judgment Pavilion This pavilion played the same role as the forecourt of Hades’ Palace. I had found two different places on where the souls were judged. One suggested that it was in the palace of Hades himself, while other said that the three judges resided in the Judgment Pavilion.

Tartarus In classic mythology, below Heaven, Earth, and Pontus is Tartarus. It is a deep, gloomy place, a pit used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides beneath the underworld. Plato once said that souls were judged after death and those who received punishment were sent to Tartarus. As a place of punishment, it can be considered a hell.

The Asphodel Meadows The Asphodel Meadows is where the souls of people who lived lives of near equal good and evil rested. It essentially was a plain of Asphodel flowers, which were the favorite food of the Greek dead. It is described as a ghostly place that is an even less perfect version of life on earth. Some depictions describe it as a land of utter neutrality. That is, while the people are neither good nor evil, so are their lives treated, as they mechanically perform their daily tasks. Other depictions have also stated that all residents drink from the river Lethe, the rive or forgetfulness, before entering the fields, thus losing their identities and becoming something similar to a machine.

Island of the Blessed In the Fortunate Isles, also called the Island of the Blessed, heroes and other favored mortals in Greek mythology were received by the gods into a blissful paradise. Plutarch wrote “where the air was never extreme, which for rain had a little silver dew, which of itself and without labor, bore all pleasant fruits to their happy dwellers, till it seemed to him that these could be no other than the Fortunate Islands, the Elysian Fields.” The Elysian Fields were surrounded by the river Lethe, the river of forgetfulness, whose waters, when drunk, caused a soul to forget.

Other Figures Famously Associated with the Underworld Cerberus-3-headed dog, guardian, pet of Hades Hecate-Goddess of witchcraft, sorcery Thanatos-represents death itself Tantalus-never allowed to drink or eat as his divine punishment Tityus-giant who was eaten by vultures Ixion-spun on a flaming wheel as his punishment Sisyphus-rolled a rock up a hill continuously, only to have it roll to the bottom overnight.