MORTUI

The Entrance Way

The entrance way to the underworld is the place in which all the evils of the world, the things that are of both death and night yet exist in the outer world, congregate. All the dead must pass through this limbo of monstrosities and bear witness to the evils borne and born of mortal man.

Hermes Psychopompos
Hermes is the divine son of Zeus and Maia (daughter of the Titan Atlas). He is the messenger of the gods as well as the god of travellers, thieves, and merchants. As an extension of his dominion over travellers, Hermes--under the appellation "Pyschopompos" meaning "leader of the soul"--leads the souls of the dead down to the underworld.
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Aeacus
Aeacus, the king of Aegina, was the son of Zeus and Aegina. His people were known as the Myrmidons from the Greek "myrmex" for "ant" because Zeus changed the ants of the island of Aegina into people to relieve the loneliness of Aeacus. Aeacus was also the father of Peleus and grandfather to Achilles. After his death, Aeacus became the least of the three judges in the Underworld with variously assigned tasks. Often he is given as the gatekeeper for Hades.
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Sibyl of Cumae
The Cumaean Sibyl was beautiful girl named Deiphobe whom Apollo greatly desired. He offered to give her anything she should desire, so she took up a handful of sand and asked to live a year for each grain in her hand. Apollo agreed and she then spurned his love only to find that she had not asked for eternal youth. So, the Sibyl grows inexorably older and is all the while burdened by Apollo's hated gift of prophecy. She is also charged by Hecate, the a goddess of the moon, the night, and witchcraft to guard the Cumaean entrance to Hades.
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Furies
Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megara, the Furies sprang from the blood of Uranus that was sprinkled upon the earth when he was castrated by Cronos. As a result of this violent "birth," the Furies seek out and avenge perjury and crimes committed against the family.
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Geryon
Geryon was a three-bodied, three-headed monster who was the son of Chrysaor (son of Medusa and Poseidon, brother to Pegasus). He tended a herd of cattle whom Eurystheus ordered Heracles to steal as his tenth labor. Heracles killed Geryon with one of the his arrows poisoned by the Hydra's blood.
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Grief; Disease; Old Age; Fear; Hunger; Need; Thanatos (Death); Hypnos (Sleep); Toil; Discord
These are the ailments of man personified as gods and goddesses, most of which were inflicted upon mankind from Pandora's Box. Poor, poor man.
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The Waiting Room

The waiting room is the place where all the souls of the dead must wait their turn to cross the rivers on the boat of Charon and enter into Hades Proper. Those who received a proper burial must wait their turn to be ferried toward judgment whereas those whose bodies lie unburied must wait for their burial or a hundred years, whichever comes first, until they may find the paupers' entrance and continue their journey into death. Also in the waiting room, but on the other side of the rivers, wait infants and those who have killed themselves; as they left life before their allotted time, they may not enter Hades Proper.

Charon
Charon is the ferryman of the gods and leads dead souls across the Stygian marsh and the river Acheron from the waiting room to Hades Proper. He is an old but strong god with a long, white, unkempt beard, flaming eyes, and a dirty cloak. Charon requires from the dead a gold coin to pay for passage across the rivers of Hades. Without this gold coin that is placed under the tongue of a body in the proper burial ceremony, the soul must stagnate for one hundred years before Charon will ferry it across into Hades.
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Minos
Minos was king in Cnossos on Crete and world-renowned for his fair justice. After his death, he was appointed as a judge in the underworld. In concert with Aeacus and Rhadamanthys, he adjucates the fates of the dead. It is said, however, that Minos has the final word; it is he who decides who goes to the Fields of Mourning, to Tartarus, or to Elysium.
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Cerberus
The guard dog of Hades, Cerberus is the three-headed offspring of the monstrous Typhon and Echidna. He ensures that none of the souls of the dead escape back out of Hades and that no mortal may venture in save by divine intervention. Cerberus is located just on the far side of the Stygian marsh so that once Charon has transported a soul to Hades Proper, it cannot return the way it came.
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Styx
Styx is alternately the main river of Hades and the marsh at which the other rivers commingle. She is the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, and was the first of the deities to commit herself to Zeus's side in his war agains the Titans. As such, it is by Styx that the gods must swear when they make their most sacred oaths. Styx is the mother of Zeal (Zelus), Victory (Nike), Strenght (Cratus), and Bia (Force), all of whom Zeus keeps constantly at his side as an honor to their mother. In the Underworld, Styx is known as the River of Hate, and it is across her that Charon must ferry the dead.
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Phlegethon
Phlegethon, also called the Pyriphlegethon, is the River of Fire. It is on the dividing line between the entrance to Hades and the waiting. This river of molten magma flows all the way to Tartarus and thrice around the Tartarean walls as an added measure toward keeping the souls of the damned in Hades.
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Acheron
The Acheron is the River of Woe on the border of the entrance to Hades and the waiting room. In some myths, it is across the Acheron and not across the Styx that Charon must ferry the souls of the dead. It's boiling, muddy waters flow directly into the Cocytus.
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Cocytus
Cocytus, the River of Wailing, is the fourth river that divides the entrance of Hades from the waiting room. It gathers its waters from the river Acheron.
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Elpenor
The youngest of Odysseus' crewmen, Elpenor remained on Aeaea, the isle of Circe, after Odysseus et alii sailed onward. Sadly, he got too drunk on night and fell off of Circe's room thus breaking his neck and dying. He recieved no burial and made an appearance to Odysseus begging proper burial when Odysseus visited Hades. Following this, Odysseus and his men returned to Aeaea for the express purpose of interring Elpenor.
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Anticlea
Anticlea was the mother of Odysseus by Laertes, king of Ithaca. During Odysseus' wanderings after the Trojan War, she became certain that he had died and out despair she drowned herself. As this is suicide, she was relegated to the outer reaches of Hades. Odysseus has the opportunity to converse with her when he visits the underworld.
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Palinurus
Palinurus was Aeneas's helmsman. Poseidon required the life on one of Aeneas' crew before Aeneas could be allowed to reach land safely, and he chose Palinurus. Late one night as Palinurus was guiding the ship through the waves, Somnus (Hypnos/Sleep) came and closed Palinurus' eyes. He floated ashore, but tribesmen killed him, and he went without burial: thus he may not enter Hades.
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Infants
Those who were not yet old enough to have experience life or to have sinned remain the souls of infants on the far side of the Rivers of Hades.
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Suicides
Those who sought death by their own hands yet are guilty of no other crimes are forced to remain in a place similar to those of the infants on the far side of the rivers of Hades yet not in Hades Proper. They are unable to assume the proper reward that would otherwise have beenReturnto the Waiting Room of Hades.
theirs had they not so readily discarded life.

Fields of Mourning

The Fields of Mourning are a special place for those who have been consumed and destroyed by love during their mortal lives, and for those who died in battle much lamented. The anguish and pain and unhappiness of that those who populate the Fields of Mourning experienced in life remains with them in death.

Hades
The son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea, Hades was the brother to Zeus. When the first three Olympian gods (Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon) drew lots to see who would have dominion over which parts of the world, Hades drew the Underworld. Thus, he resides in a secluded manner under the earth never rising to Olympus and only exiting the Underworld on the rare occasion. His palace sits directly between Tartarus and Elysium near the Fields of Mourning across the four rivers.
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Persephone
The daughter of Demeter, Persephone was innocently gathering flowers one day when Hades leapt from the earth riding in his great chariot. He grasped Persephone and carried her down into the Underworld with him to be his wife. She refused and held out for the longest time while Demeter searched this earth for her. By the time that Demeter found Persephone, however, it was too late for she (Persephone) had eaten seeds from Pomegranite and so found herself indebted to Hades. In the resulting argument over whether Persephone should remain in Hades or return to Olympus, Zeus ruled that she should live in Hades half the year and on Olympus the other half. Thus Persephone came to be the queen of the Underworld and the consort of Hades.
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Minthe
Minthe was a nymph and concubine of Hades. Persephone, however, would have none of that, and rightfully so since Hades abducted her to be his wife. So, she turned the hapless Minthe into a plant which came to be known as the mint.
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Phaedra
Phaedra was the daughter of King Minos of Crete. After Minos' death, his son Deucalion married Phaedra to Theseus despite the earlier rough treatment that Theseus gave to their sister Ariadne. Meanwhile, Phaedra conceived a love for Hippolytus, one of Theseus's sons by another woman (Antiope). When Hippolytus did not return her affection, Phaedra killed herself and left a note accusing Hippolytus of raping her. Theseus, in his anger at reading the note, had his innocent son killed. Thus Phaedra must languish in the Fields of Mourning for not only her own death but that of her son-in-law.
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Procris
Procris was happily married to Cephalus for many years until one day when a rumor-monger came to her and told her that he was being unfaithful with a woman called "Aura." Apparently the gossip had heard Cephalus exclaiming on how sweet Aura's breath was when it touched his skin. Procris secretly followed Cephalus out to hunt the next day to find the truth of this infidelity. Unfortunately, Cephalus heard her rustling in the bushes, and expecting game, hurled his unerring spear at the spot only to find that he had pierced his wife. He came to her and she pleaded that he never let Aura into his bedroom. As Procris died in his arms, Cephalus explained that he had only been calling for a breeze. Note: aura is the word for breeze.
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Evadne
Evadne was the wife of Capaneus who was one of the Seven Against Thebes. After Oedipus left Thebes, his sons Polynices and Eteocles were given dual rulership. Eteocles drove Polynices out of Thebes, and Polynices later returned with seven men in attempt to regain the kingdom. They failed. The men were killed, and while their bodies were being burned, Evadne threw herself upon her husband Capaneus' funeral pyre and burned to death. Thus she finds herself in the Fields of Mourning unable to resist the pain of the loss of her husband.
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Eriphyle
Eriphyle was wife to Amphiarius, also one of the Seven Against Thebes. He was the only one who stood against the return of Polynices to Thebes for he, being a prophet, knew that they would all die, but Polynices bribed Eriphyle with a necklace into convincing Amphiarius to wage war against Thebes. Thus, Eriphyle is responsible for the deaths of her husband and the Seven Against Thebes.
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Tydeus
Another of the Seven Against Thebes, Tydeus died making war on Eteocles.
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Adrastus
The King of Argos whose daughter married Oedipus' son Polynices. He was another of the Seven Against Thebes and the only one to escape the war alive.
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Parthenopaeus
The son of Atalanta, Parthenopaeus was also one of the Seven Against Thebes.
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Pasiphae
Pasiphae was the daughter of Helios and wife of King Minos of Crete. Unable to contain her lust, she mated with the prized white bull of Crete that Poseidon had given Minos as a gift. This was accomplished by means of a hollow wooden cow which Pasiphae had ordered Daedalus to construct for this purpose. The resultant offspring of this union was the montrous Minotaur which ate only human flesh. Pasiphae is relegated to the Fields of Mourning due to her unquenchable lust.
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Laodamia
When the Greeks first reached Troy at the onset of the Trojan War, Protesilaus was the first to leap ashore, and he immediately died at Hector's hands. His wife, Laodamia, was inconsolable and so killed herself. The Fields of Mourning now contain her enormous grief.
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Caeneus
Caeneus was a Lapith (the people of Ixion) and, as a girl (Caenis) seduced Poseidon who then offered her anything she could want. She chose to become an invulnerable man (Caeneus). As such, Caeneus committed intolerable impieties (forcing others to worhip his spear) until Zeus brought about his death. Once in the Underworld, Caeneus became once more female.
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Dido
Dido was a Phoenician princess and the wife of Sychaeus who was killed by her brother Pygmalion when he wrested control of the city of Tyre. She fled to Africa and founded the city of Carthage. There came Aeneas with whom she fell in love despite her vow never to love another after Sychaeus. When Aeneas left her at the command of the gods, she killed herself in despair. Upon dying, she rejoined Sychaeus in the Fields of Mourning.
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Sychaeus
Sychaeus was a priest of Heracles and the husband to Dido. Dido's brother, Pygmalion, in his greed for gold and power, killed Sychaeus and gained full control over the city of Tyre. Sychaeus's gost warned Dido to leave Tyre. He was reunited with her in the Fields of Mourning after she killed herself.
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Deiphobus
Deiphobus is a son of Priam and Hecuba. Athena recruits his image to trick Hector into fighting against Achilles in the battle at which Hector dies. After the death of Prince Paris but before the destruction of Troy, he marries Helen. Eventually, Menelaus and Odysseus bring about Deiphobus' death with the help of Helen, and his lust for the Spartan woman sees him into the Fields of Mourning.
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Tartarus

The most well-known arena of Hades, Tartarus is the area where those who were truly evil in life pay the price for their sins. According to Vergil, all those who sinned were punished in Tartarus, be it for the magnificent sins of those mentioned here or for the more mundane sins of adultery, hatred of brothers, miserliness, and oath-breaking.

PhlegethonThe molten river Phlegethon flows thrice around the citadel of Tartarus as an added defence to keep the Tartarean victims in their eternal punishment.
For more info, see the Land of Unburied Souls.
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Rhadamanthys
Rhadamanthys was the brother of King Minos, and after death he became the judge of the Underworld associated with Tartarus. He metes out the punishments in Tartarus which are subsequently carried out by the Furies. He married Alcmene (Heracles' mother) after she died.
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Tisiphone
One of the three Furies, according to Vergil, Tisiphone carries out the edicts of Rhadamanthys in Tartarus.
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Hydra
Born of Typhon and Echidna, the Hydra had alternately seven or fifty heads of which the center head was immortal. As a labor designated by his cousin Eurystheus, Heracles had to kill the Hydra. Each head which he severed with his sword grew back two fold until his nephew and helper Iolus began searing the severed necks with a firebrand. With the help of Iolus, Heracles was able to lop off all of the Hydra's heads. He then placed the immortal head under a rock. The Hydra is now one of the Tartarean terrors of the Underworld.
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Tityus
Tityus was a giant son of Gaia (Ge) who tried to rape Leto (the mother of Apollo and Artemis). In a fury, Apollo shot and killed Tityus who was then relegated to Tartarus where a vulture eats out his liver every day.
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Sisyphus
Sisyphus was the son of Aeolus and brother to Salmoneus. According to some myths, this king was given to be the father of the wily Odysseus. His fame derives from his many clever and damning acts. Sisyphus offended Zeus by telling the river god Asopus that Zeus had fertilized his daughter Aegina, so Zeus ordered Death to take Sisyphus. The wily king chained up death and left it that way until Ares freed it and gave Sisyphus to it. He then ordered his wife not give him a proper burial. Hades sent Sisyphus back to the Outer World to reprimand his wife and to get a proper burial, but Sisyphus did not willingly return; he lived on until he died of old age. After that, he was consigned to a hill in Tartarus where he had to continually roll a rock up a hill although the rock continued to slip back down the hill so that he would never have time to think up another plot.
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Tantalus
Tantalus, at a feast with the gods, set as a course the dismembered body of his son Pelops. The gods recognized the course for what it was and refused to eat, except for Demeter, who at a small portion of Pelop's shoulder. The gods reconstituted Pelops (with an ivory shoulder) and condemned Tantalus to Tartarus. His punishment was to endure everlasting thirst and hunger. Zeus balanced a rock above Tantalus' head, and placed him in a river beneath a fruit tree. As Tantalus reached for the fruit, the brances would pull away, as he knelt for water, the river would shrink, and the rock was always teetering about to fall on his head.
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Salmoneus
Salmoneus was the son of Aelous and brother to Sisyphus. He arrogantly immitated Zeus by dressing up, carrying torches, having his followers beat bronze sheets of metal for thunder, and demanding that he be called a god. Zeus brought him low by killing him with a thunderbolt.
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Otus
Otus was the twin brother of Ephialtes; they were giant children of Poseidon. These two waged war on the Olympians and succeeded in trapping Ares in a jar for an entire year. They then attempted to abscond with Artemis who tricked them into accidentally killing each other with their bows.

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Ephialtes
See Otus. Returnto Tartarus.

Ixion
Ixion, a kind of Thessaly, attempted to seduce Hera, but tricky Zeus substituted a cloud (Nephele) in her place. After Ixion had consummated his embrace with Nephele, the race of Centaurs was born from their union. As punishment for trying to rape a goddess, Ixion was strapped into a fiery feel in Tartarus which spins and flames eternally.
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Titans
The second generation of great gods, the Titans were the forbears of the Olympians. After Zeus freed his five brothers and sisters from Cronos's stomach, the Olympians waged war on the Titans and eventually defeated them and threw them into Tartarus with only a few exceptions. (Prometheus and Epimetheus declined to enter the war based on Prometheus' foresight, and Cronos was eventually instituted as the lord of Elysium.) The Titans spend their time in Tartarus unable to hinder the rule of the Olympians.
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Danaids
The fifty daughters of Danaus, known as the Danaids, followed their father when he was exiled from Egypt by his brother Aegyptus. Later, Aegyptus claimed his right to have his fifty sons marry Danaus' fifty daughters. On the wedding night, Danaus gave each daughter a knife and orders to kill her new husband . All except for one, Hypermnestra, obeyed. These forty-nine were condemned to fill a large cauldron with water which they had to transport with holely water jars.
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Theseus
A great Athenian hero, Theseus made a few unforgivable mistakes in his life. He abducted Helen of Troy (who was very young) with the help of his friend Perithous. In return of the favor, Theseus aided Perithous in an abduction of his own--the goddess Persephone. As expected, they failed. Theseus and Perithous were condemned to sit on a Chair of Forgetfulness for eternity, but Heracles, on his labor to steal Cerberus, saved Theseus. Upon his return, the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux) attacked Athens and won back their sister, Helen. They also ousted Theseus as king of Athens, and he then fled to island of Scyrus where King Lycomedes pushed him off a cliff. Once dead, Theseus was returned to the Chair of Forgetfulness in Tartarus.
Learn more about Theseus
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Perithous
The son of either Zeus or Ixion, he was the fast friend of Theseus. The two friends decided to marry daughters of Zeus and to help one another in their attempts. First, Theseus abducted the ten-year-old Helen although she was eventually retaken by her brothers, the Dioscuri. More foolishly, Perithous chose the divine Persephone. He and Theseus traveled into the Underworld to take Persephone but were tricked by Hades into sitting in the Chairs of Forgetfulness where they were to remain for eternity. While Heracles rescued Theseus, Hades would not allow him to rescue Perithous.
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Phlegyas
Phlegyas was the father of both Coronis and Ixion, and was relegated as a sinner to Tartarus...like father, like son....
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