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Exploring Greek Myths of Death: From Hades to Orphism

Delve into the Greek beliefs surrounding death, from the bleak vision of the afterlife to the journeys of heroes like Odysseus and Orpheus. Discover the evolution of views on death and afterlife, from rituals for the deceased to Orphism's influence on early Christians.

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Exploring Greek Myths of Death: From Hades to Orphism

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Presentation Transcript

  1. Chapter Eleven, Lecture One Myths of Death

  2. Myths of Death • Greeks mostly believed in a life after death, but it was a bleak vision • It evolved and changed over time.

  3. The Greek View of Death

  4. The Greek View of Death • Not a “natural process” for the Greeks • Life ended from some violent intervention • Hades (“the unseen one”) • Pluto (Dis) • Euphemisms : Polydemôn; Polyxenos • Individuals continued as an eidolon • Breath (anemos > anima) psychê

  5. The Greek View of Death • The recently dead had to be satisfied with rituals • Morning, noise, even food • Invited to parties: the anthesteria • Some ghosts are beneficent, others malevolent • Hermes led them to their place of rest (psychopompus)

  6. Odysseus’s Journey to Death’s Realm

  7. Odysseus’s Journey • Must get advice from the deceased Tiresias • Was once a woman; knew which enjoyed sex more • Journey across the Ocean • Blood sacrifice (vampirism) • Elpenor • The fate of the unburied

  8. Odysseus’s Journey • Catalog of Noble Women • Achilles • “Better to be a peon . . .” • The arbitrators of the underworld • Minos, Rhadymanthus, Aeacus • The illustrious evil • Tityus, Tantalus, Sisyphus

  9. Odysseus’s Journey • Heracles’s eidolon • Elysium • Menelaüs

  10. Orpheus and Eurydicê

  11. Orpheus and Eurydicê • Orpheus the singer • Loses his intended Eurydicê at their wedding • Loses her again on the way out of Hades • Torn apart by Menaeds • Refused Dionysus’s cult or refused women followers or refused women in general ?

  12. Orphism

  13. Orphism • Collection of writings (the Orphic Hymns) • Religious cosmology • Brought followers a better afterlife

  14. Orphism

  15. Orphism • Cosmology to explain human nature • Sôma sêma • Metempsychosis • Cycle can be broken • Ascetic purity • Magic formulas • Influence from Shamanism • Influence on Pythagoras, Plato, and early Christians

  16. End

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