Myths of Katabasis: Tracking Cultural Change in Ancient Greece Anna Clayworth In Greek mythology, a katabasis is a journey to the underworld. Katabases are prevalent in literature across the Archaic and Classical periods, in plays, poetry and hymns. Undertaken by mortals and immortals alike, some forced and oth- ers voluntary, the numerous iterations of this journey persisted in the popular imagination of the Ancient Greeks. Myth and literature provide a window into the collective concerns and attitudes of the ancient Greeks. Myths of katabases in particular can tell us much about the Greeks’ attitudes towards life and death, prosperity and decline, hope and despair. Indeed, the shifting emphasis in katabases in Greek mythology from the Archaic through to the Classical period parallels the shifting political and cultural climate of the ancient Greeks as they were confronted with signifcant social upheaval. Introduction The katabasis is a recurrent narrative in Greek mythology, and although there are similarities between myths of katabases, each differs in how the journey is presented, and what function it serves within the myth. Comparing myths of katabasis produced during the Archaic period of ancient Greece with myths of katabasis produced towards the end of the 5th century BCE, there appears to be a shift in the importance of the overall journey. The Odyssey and the Homer- ic Hymn to Demeter both have similar katabases that look towards the future. Odysseus and Persephone’s journeys back to the world of the living are cel- ebratory, marked by increased prosperity and familial reunions. These myths emphasise the ascent back to the world of the living, the katabasis functioning as a turning point in their broader journey. By the 5th century BCE, however, this more positive, holistic approach to myths of katabasis narrows considerably. Euripides’ Heracles, and Aristophanes’ Frogs in particular, present myths of katabasis that do not project towards the future, but are more enclosed, focusing on the themes of death and the underworld as 176 Issue 2 destination. When Heracles ascends from the underworld, he is met with further death and destruction, and the lines between the world of the dead and the world of the living are blurred. Furthermore, in Frogs, Dionysus’ hopeful return to the living city of Athens is never actualised, the play concluding within the confnes of the underworld. These myths can be contextualised within the cultural, political and social climates from which they emerged to understand this shifting focus from journey to destination. On the Cusp of Greatness: Literature from the Archaic period Myths produced during the Archaic period of ancient Greece place katabases within a broader transformation or journey, emphasising the growth and pros- perity that can emerge from them. The fall of the Mycenaean civilisation—later viewed by the Greeks as a heroic golden era—seemed to come suddenly and totally; by the 11th century BCE the Greek population had reached its lowest point, with towns abandoned and long-distance trade ceasing.1 The death of Mycenaean civilisation plunged Greece into a period of stagnation, and marked the beginning of the so-called ‘Dark Age’, named for the total absence of written material from this period.2 However, by the eighth century BCE, the population expanded rapidly across Greece, with trade routes reopening, and the revitalisa- tion of material and visual culture.3 The Archaic period marked the rejuvenation of Greek society and the emergence of new social and political structures. Within this context, myths of katabasis do not focus on the underworld as the fnal des- tination, but rather emphasise the ascent to the world of the living. In this sense, the katabasis functions as a turning point, a catalyst for change. The importance of the katabasis does not lie within the descent into the underworld, but the transformative nature of the journey and the potential that awaits in the world of the living. The framing of Odysseus and Persephone’s katabases in Homer’s Odyssey and the Homeric Hymn to Demeter are each refective of a thriving society that has emerged from its own katabasis of sorts. Examined closely, they provide a framework for the katabasis as a turning point from descent to regeneration. Odysseus’ homecoming is heavily emphasised during his katabasis, positioning his descent to the underworld as the turning point of his broader journey. He is motivated by his search for wisdom from Teiresias, who resides in the underworld (Homer, Odyssey 10.563–65). Teiresias informs Odysseus that what he truly seeks is homecoming—to return to Ithaca (Homer, Odyssey 11.134–37). He also reveals that Odysseus will live a long life, and that his people will prosper. This posi- tions the katabasis as a turning point for Odysseus (Homer, Odyssey, 11 passim). 177 Myths of Katabasis Anna Clayworth Book 11 is not only the literal midpoint of the epic, it also functions as a catalyst for Odysseus’ return to Ithaca.4 Underpinning Teiresias’ advice is the logic that Odysseus can go no further; the underworld is as far as he can be from home (Homer, Odyssey 11.100). From this point onwards, Ithaca becomes the hero’s explicit destination. Odysseus’ katabasis is not focused on the underworld, but rather his journey back home to Ithaca and the world of the living. The importance of Odysseus’ ascent to the upperworld is emphasised through the contrasting fate of Achilles, whom Odysseus meets in the underworld. Though their timelines are the same, Achilles, who is the embodiment of heroic, Mycenaean Greece, is dead and has no chance of returning to the land of the living. On the other hand, Odysseus, representative of a new heroic ideal, has a long and pros- perous future outside the halls of Hades (Homer, Odyssey 11.134–37).5 Achilles is still admired and valued, as shown through Odysseus’ praise: ‘Achilleus, no man before has been more blessed than you, nor ever will be. Before, when you were alive, we Argives honoured you as we did the gods, and now in this place you have great authority over the dead’ (Homer, Odyssey 11.482–86). Yet Achilles laments his own fate, declaring that he would rather work under another man in the land of the living, than rule over the shades of the dead (Homer, Odyssey 11.488–91). This statement shows a clear shift in heroic ideals away from those expressed by Achilles himself to Odysseus in the earlier Iliad: ‘For my mother the goddess, silver-footed Thetis, tells me that twofold fates are bearing me toward the doom of death: if I remain here and fght about the city of the Trojans, then lost is my return home, but my renown will be imperishable; but if I return home to my dear native land, lost then is my glorious renown, yet will my life long endure, and the doom of death will not come soon on me’ (Homer, Iliad 9.410–16). For Achilles, there was no glory in returning home and living a long and prosperous life. Yet now, residing in the underworld, it is what he yearns for. The promise of eternal glory through a heroic death in battle is seemingly no longer the aspiration of Greek heroes. Odysseus’ katabasis serves to outline the new heroic ideal represented by Odysseus. As Greek society began to reopen trade routes, encourage popula- tion growth, and advance technology after a lengthy period of inactivity during the Dark Age, Homer provides a more practical and suitable hero through Odysseus.6 While Odysseus is gone, his family and household are thrown into dis- array. His mother, unable to survive her son’s absence, literally dies of grief, and his household becomes corrupted by suitors wishing to marry his wife and take up his position (Homer, Odyssey 11.181–203). Thus, Odysseus’ heroic journey 178 Issue 2 is not a bloody quest for glory, but a quest to restore domestic order and pros- perity through his return to Ithaca. As Odysseus leaves the underworld, set on his journey home to Ithaca, the heroic ideals of individual glory and immortality that Achilles’ encapsulates remain frmly with him in the underworld (Homer, Odyssey 11.482–98). The emphasis on Odysseus’ future and the prosperity of his people, far removed from the underworld and what Achilles represents, refects the shift away from a society defned by war to one defned by prosperity and development. Similarly, in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, the emphasis in Persephone’s katabasis is placed on her return to the world of the living and her family. Persephone’s katabasis, like that of Odysseus, has devastating effects for the community she leaves behind (Homeric Hymn to Demeter 305–13). In Persephone’s absence, the earth withers and mortals are unable to produce anything from the infertile soil—an act of retribution by Persephone’s mother Demeter, the goddess of agriculture and fertility (Homeric Hymn to Demeter 305–10). Thus, in both myths, the katabases of Odysseus and Persephone are linked to the devastation of their community (Homer, Odyssey 11.181–203, 18.143–46; Homeric Hymn to Demeter 305–10). Again, like Odysseus’, Persephone’s katabasis functions as a turning point in the broader narrative and sets up the familial reunion as the resolution to the confict in Persephone’s orig- inal home, the upperworld. Persephone’s katabasis does not conclude in the un- derworld, but emphasises her ascent to the upperworld, and the resolution of the devastation caused by her absence (Homeric Hymn to Demeter 305–10, 398–400). In both the Odyssey and the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, the importance of fam- ily and the return to the living is strongly emphasised.