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Orpheus and Eurydice (2015)
Orpheus and Eurydice (2017)
Another illustration to my favorite ancient Greek myth.
Iphigenia, daughter of Agamemnon (2018)
Iphigenia was a daughter of King Agamemnon and thus a princess of Mycenae. Agamemnon offends the goddess Arthemis, who retaliates by commanding him to kill Iphigenia as a sacrifice so his ships can sail to Troy. In some versions, Iphigenia is sacrificed at Aulis, but in others, Artemis rescues her.
Warrior of asphodel (2017)
Orpheus and Eurydice (Bronze Age version) (2018)
Hades and Persephone (2019)
Orpheus asks Hades to return Eurydice to him (2020)
Constellation Iphigenia (2019)
Hades and Persephone (2019)
Orpheus and Eurydice (2022)
Greek Mythos does mention this, fairly often. You just have to read the right texts.
By the by, many rivers are also deities (and/or dragons). First one to mind is the Welsh Gwyn Ap Nudd, associated with the Irish Nuada Silverhand, both a death god and a river dragon.
Men who died were guided by Hermes, women were guided by Hekate.
Styx is the River of Hate, so sacred that the gods swear by it. The Cocytus is the River of Lamentation or Wailing. The Phlegethon is the River of Fire. The Lethe is the River of Forgetfulness. The Acheron is the River of Sadness.
The close mortal bank of the Styx is crowded with the souls of the hopeless dead -- those not buried properly, who the boatman Charon ignores. For those buried well, ferried past the river Styx by Charon, the gates to Hades are guarded by Cerberus, a three-headed dog who allow anyone in but will not let anyone out. The far shore of the Styx is called Erebus, even more crowded with the waiting dead.
The kingdom of Hades is crowded, with Hades on his throne and near him the three judges Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus, who question and sort the souls.
Leaving Erebus, you pass by a great abyss, the chasm that is the opening to Tartaros. This is the place for evil souls and those who have angered the gods, and also a prison for the Titans. It is a place with iron gates and a bronze floor, guarded by Hundred-Handers (the Hekatonchieres known as Kottos, Briareos, and Gyges). Like Hades and the Rivers, Tartaros is not only a place but a person -- the Titan Tartaros was the father of the monsters Typhon and Echidna. The Furies or Kindly Ones (also known as Erinyes) -- immortal women named Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera -- punish the cruel in Hades, and also sometimes pursue wrongdoers on earth. There is no sun in Tartaros, the only light coming from a man bound for eternity to a flaming wheel in the sky -- Ixion, the first murderer.
The souls everywhere else, in the vast majority of Hades known as the fields of Asphodel, were neither happy nor sad. Empty. Lukewarm. Faceless, nameless shades. They all eventually have drunk from the River Lethe, which wanders through the place, and makes them forget their names and lives and shapes and faces. They all just stand there, and wait. They wait for all eternity, shifting, wandering, empty.
Those who have been more good than bad go to the Elysian Fields, or Elysium. Immortal ease, no snow or winter, no rain, warm breezes from the Ocean River... three harvests a year. There is no more beautiful place in the underworld, and it is mostly empty. Or, it was, until the coming of Persephone to the Underworld.
The fields to which Hades came unseen and from which he took Persephone down to his Underworld were called the fields of Eleusis. When Demeter and Hekate found Persephone and ended the Long Winter of the world, the place where they emerged were those same fields. Later, a new set of rites were created in honor of Persephone and Demeter and Dionysus (also known as Libera, Ceres, and Liber) -- mystery rites by which those who are faithful and good can enter into the blessed peace of Elysium after death. These are known as the Eleusinian Mysteries, sacred to Dionysos and Persephone alike.
Phew.
As you can see, there is a lot of depth and complexity to it. Much recommended for further delving.
I… Ok… this shit just got complicated and now I’m not sure I understand it.
Couldn’t resist :D
So have a super quick sketch of Cerberus with wilted flowers and Asphodels for @asphodelgame
(Also do check out the game, it’s amazing!)
Team Angsty Fluff- Fluffy Cerberus with a wilted flower crown?
Tbf if given one (or three) he’d probably wear it (or them) till it fell off. xD