CMLT316 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Greek Love, Long Hair, Fetus
3 Jun 2018
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Class 12: The Realm of Hades, Dionysus and His Retinue
The Realm of Hades: From Life to Death
The Afterlife
● Necromancy: sacrificing black rams
● Katabasis: descent into underworld
Odysseus’ Reanimation of the Dead
● The phantoms he sees in the underworld appear confused/senseless
● Dead require blood (sacrifice) to be reanimated
● Confusion in the text: how does Odysseus access these bhosts? (necromancy -
summoning the spirits - vs. katabasis - descent into the underworld)
● Important figures:
○ Elpenor: crewman on Odysseus’ ship; fell of a roof in Circe’s palace; forgotten
and denied entrance into Hades
○ Tiresias (prophet)
○ Achilles: despised afterlife
○ Agamemnon: murdered by wife Clytemnestra
○ Ajax: committed suicide because of Odysseus
● Achilles to Odysseus:
○ “I would rather be the poorest man on Earth than prince of the Underworld”
Plato’s Myth of Er
● A story in his republic
● Er a soldier who died in battle
● When recovered 10 days later, his body did not show signs of decomposition
● Awoke 2 days later on his funeral pyre
● Relates the story of what he saw
● Path up to heavens and down to underworld
● Those that live a good life temporarily go up; those living bad life go down
● In underworld, repay crimes in this world 10 times over for 1000 years
● All drink from the river Lethe (forgetfulness) - some more, some less
● Example of myth ‘creation’
● Messenger from the dead (Er)
● Death and rebirth (metempsychosis)-Pythagorean Cult
● Reward and punishment - Orphic Cult
● Selection of lots for reincarnation - democracy
Realm of Hades as a Literary Trope
● Readers/audience expected to hear about certain individuals, eg:
○ Charon (ferryman)
○ Minos (judge of souls)
○ Cerberus (3 headed dog)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Class 12: the realm of hades, dionysus and his retinue. The realm of hades: from life to death. The phantoms he sees in the underworld appear confused/senseless. Dead require blood (sacrifice) to be reanimated. Confusion in the text: how does odysseus access these bhosts? (necromancy - summoning the spirits - vs. katabasis - descent into the underworld) Elpenor: crewman on odysseus" ship; fell of a roof in circe"s palace; forgotten and denied entrance into hades. I would rather be the poorest man on earth than prince of the underworld . Er a soldier who died in battle. When recovered 10 days later, his body did not show signs of decomposition. Awoke 2 days later on his funeral pyre. Relates the story of what he saw. Path up to heavens and down to underworld. Those that live a good life temporarily go up; those living bad life go down. All drink from the river lethe (forgetfulness) - some more, some less.
