CLASSIC 30 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Aeneid, Phlegethon, Cocytus
Document Summary
Lecture 11-18-16 greco roman conceptions of the afterlife. Discuss the wide diversity of ancient attitudes towards death and the afterlife. Taken a lot of di erent genres into this epic poem. Thus this book could represent a metamorphoses of the epic poem. There is no single attitude towards the greek idea of the afterlife. Diversity of ideas and attitudes among the greek public on all ideas. There is no one answer and even through the literature we have read we can see di erent ideas about how the afterlife was viewed. One idea can is that the underworld is beyond the sea; see this when orpheus goes to the underworld. The underworld is not always perceived as being underground. Aeneas goes to a cave to get to the underworld. Rivers of the underworld have a signi cance besides location. Example, swearing on the river styx is an unbreakable oath.
