McNair Scholars Journal Volume 11 | Issue 1 Article 2 2007 Greek and Roman Perceptions of the Afterlife in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid Jeff Adams Grand Valley State University Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/mcnair Recommended Citation Adams, Jeff (2007) Gr" eek and Roman Perceptions of the Afterlife in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid," McNair Scholars Journal: Vol. 11: Iss. 1, Article 2. Available at: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/mcnair/vol11/iss1/2 Copyright © 2007 by the authors. McNair Scholars Journal is reproduced electronically by ScholarWorks@GVSU. http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/ mcnair?utm_source=scholarworks.gvsu.edu%2Fmcnair%2Fvol11%2Fiss1%2F2&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages Greek and Roman Perceptions of the Afterlife in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid Abstract Homer’s Odyssey says that death “is the This study is a literary analysis of way of mortals, whenever one of them Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and Virgil’s should die, for the tendons no longer Aeneid. Of specific interest are the hold flesh and bones together, but the interactions of Achilles, Odysseus, strong might of blazing fire destroys and Aeneas with their beloved dead. these things as soon as the spirit has left I focused on what each party, both the the white bones, and the soul, having living and the dead, wanted and the flown away like a dream, hovers about.”1 results of their interaction. Methods People have always been fascinated by included reading passages from the death and the afterlife. From scholarly ancient Greek and Latin texts and inte- research to American cinema, everyone grating these with historical evidence of has his or her own idea of the afterlife. beliefs in the mid-eighth century BC for For example, the movie What Dreams the Greeks, and in the late first century May Come serves as one modern take BC for the Romans. Homer significantly on a classical theme: Robin Williams’ influenced the religious beliefs of the character can interact with his wife after Greeks, while Virgil did not similarly his death and he is even able to travel to affect Roman religion. the underworld from heaven to save her. Jeff Adams The concept of the living interacting with McNair Scholar the dead is still a salient topic in our age. We can easily see how present depictions of the interactions between the living and the dead affect our ideas and behaviors regarding death, and it is also important to understand how ancient literature affected ancient societal beliefs. In order to understand how Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid affected their respective societies, I examined the interactions of central characters, both living and dead, and how these actions were reflected in their respective society’s beliefs. In addition, however, the Homeric epics heavily influenced the religious beliefs of the contemporary Greeks, affecting their ideas of the dead, the prevalence of hero cults, and their burial methods. Although Diane Rayor, Ph.D. the Romans had religious ideas that Faculty Mentor were represented in the Aeneid, Virgil’s portrayal of the Homeric view of the underworld depicted in the Aeneid had no similar effect on their beliefs. The different impacts that these epics had were reflected at varying levels of society – from deep spiritual movements to political manipulation. The Greek idea of the underworld was more typical of the account from the Odyssey than the Iliad. Alan Segal notes, “The Greeks apparently concluded that 1. Homer, Odyssey 11.218-222, trans. Jeff Adams. GVSU McNair Scholars Journal VOLUME 11, 2007 5 since death comes to all, Hades was the M. C. Toynbee states that “the dead and in as much detail as the Odyssey, this final destination for all. … The virtu- living can affect one another mutually. does not mean that the beliefs were ous and the sinners all lead the same life … They [Manes or spirits] were capable different. According to Zaidman and in Hades.”2 However, Segal’s view of of aiding their descendents, but were Pantel, “The Greeks certainly had a the afterlife is the Homeric description harmful and spiteful to the living if graphic and often geographical con- shown in the Iliad, which is interesting kinless and neglected.”6 The purpose of ception of the world of the dead.”10 because it does not take Greek Mystery worshipping the Manes was to appease While the Greeks believed in the Cults into consideration, especially the them so that they would not harm the idea of this afterlife, the Romans Eleusinian Mysteries. This mystery family.7 However, these beliefs were did not. R. M. Ogilvie declares: religion was very popular in practiced set down long before Virgil’s Aeneid. Greek religion beginning in the eighth According to Denis Feeney, Virgil was We are too apt to think of the century BC.3 And according to Walter “interested in making the Homeric expe- Greek myths of Styx and the Burkert, the mysteries were an aim at rience part of the Roman experience.”8 kingdom of Hades. This (despite some form of salvation through closeness The representations of the underworld its use by Virgil in Aeneid VI) with particular gods.4 So contrary to the by Virgil mimic Homer’s idea of the was certainly not taken seriously statement by Segal, the archaic Greeks underworld and afterlife. Once again, by Virgil’s contemporaries. … did believe in special treatment or pun- while there are major differences in the But most people, while rejecting ishment of the dead in the underworld representations of the underworld in the Greek vision of the after-life, as is represented in Homer’s Odyssey. the Iliad and in the Odyssey, Virgil was cautiously accepted the hope or Though there is not obvious evidence clearly inspired by Homer in his rendi- the fear that the spirit did in some depicting Homer’s influence on mystery tion. In Homer’s epics, the underworld is sense survive.11 cults, we should never disregard the im- represented as being a tangible location, portance of the Greek mystery religions. where living men are able to travel. Ogilvie clearly states the Romans While it appears that Homer’s writ- Virgil took the concept of the tangible did not believe in the representation of ings had a direct effect on the beliefs underworld and ran with it, depicting a the afterlife depicted in Virgil’s Aeneid. of the Greeks, the inverse was true for heaven and hell hidden from the average Though their beliefs were not the same the Aeneid – the beliefs of the Romans mortal. In book six of the Aeneid, Aeneas as in the epic, the Romans had a vast had more of an effect on the writings of travels into the hidden entrance of the variety of ancestral rituals and festivals Virgil. Homer’s works had a profound underworld only with the help of the that embodied their spiritual enthusiasm influence on the ideas of what became prophetic priestess Sibyl.9 In the Odys- and proved to be quite complicated: of the soul after death. The Homeric sey, Homer describes the underworld as representation of the psukhe, or the having different areas for the different The religious ideas expressed in mirrored image of the dead, became the types of deceased. For instance, Menel- [Virgil’s] poetry are highly com- predominant view of the dead.5 Homer aos will spend eternity in the Elysian plex. Book VI, for instance, com- depicts the spirits of the dead as transpar- Fields because he is Helen’s husband, the bines a wide range of traditional ent images of their former earthly bodies. son-in-law of Zeus. The Elysian Fields, elements from Homer, Pindar, and Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey influenced situated at the ends of the earth with the Plato together with the mystic idea the Greeks’ idea of what occurred after rest of the underworld, was considered to of a descent to Hades, … and fuses death, but also went so far as to reach be paradise where the privileged resided. all these with specifically Roman into many other aspects of the religious Also in the Odyssey is the representa- beliefs and practices. The resulting beliefs of the Greeks in the eighth tion of the mortals Tityos, Sisyphus, and vision would have puzzled most century BC. The Roman conceptions Tantalos, whose punishments carry over Romans.12 of the living interacting with the dead into death, where they are continuously remained an important belief, even with tortured. Even though the underworld is It would be difficult to fit an entire the rejection of the Greek view of the mentioned by Patroklus in book 23 of description about the vastness of Roman afterlife. Although the Romans rejected the Iliad, he never mentions anything religion at this historical point within this this view of the afterlife, they held a concerning other levels or special areas analysis, but descriptions of the estab- similar idea of the spirits of the dead of Hades’ kingdom. Although in the lished practices are useful in exemplify- and how they could affect the living. J. Iliad the underworld is not described ing the relationship between the literature 2 Segal, Alan F. Life After Death: A History of the Afterlife in the Religions of the West. New York: Doubleday, 2004. 3 The Homeric Hymns: Translation, With Introduction and Notes. Translated by Diane Rayor. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2004. 4 Burkert, Walter. Ancient Mystery Cults. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987. 5 Zaidman, Bruit, and Schmitt Pantel. Religions of the Ancient Greek City.