Mystery Religions & Beliefs About Afterlife Flashcards
Death and Funerary Rites
Prothesis
- Women would wash and dress the body
- It would be laid out for visitation
- Ritual washing is done with a Loutrophoros
Loutrophoros: a greek pottery vessal
Death and Funerary Rites
Lekythos
- Held oil that would be put on the skin
- Would also be put in the tomb of the dead person
Death and Funerary Rites
Ekphora
- The procession to the grave
Death and Funerary Rites
Mourners
- The dead need mourning to make it to the afterlife
Death and Funerary Rites
Funeral games
- Happened in the Bronze Age
- Pretty specific to the funeral of a wealthy man
- Prizes are given out (tripods, women, gold, etc.)
Death and Funerary Rites
Grace markers
- The dead are often shown in carvings sitting and saying goodbye to their loved ones
- The family would visit every year and bring offerings
King of the Underworld
Hades
(Brother of Zeus and Poseidon)
Wasn’t feared
The Ferrymen who takes souls across the River Styx
Charon
(the dead needs payment to cross over the river: coin in their mouths at burial)
What represented a dead parent and seek justice for a parent’s murder?
The Furies
(Greeks called them humanities to calm them)
Who is the Guardian of Crossroads and patron of witches?
Hecate
(maid to Persephone)
What is the importance of The Crossroads?
This is where a decision can change your life
(Hecate and Hermes guard it)
Five Rivers of the Underworld
What does the River Styx represent, emotionally?
(The first river)
Hatred
(has to be crossed to get to the underworld)
Five Rivers of the Underworld
What does the River Lethe represent?
(The second river)
Forgetfulness
(drink to forget their past lives)
(drink before rebirth)
Five Rivers of the Underworld
What does the Pyriphlegethon River represent?
(The third river)
It’s the fiery river.
(it seperates Tartarus from the rest of the underworld)
Five Rivers of the Underworld
What does the Cocytus River represent?
(The fourth river)
It’s the wailing river.
Five Rivers of the Underworld
What does the Acheron River represent?
(The fifth river)
The river of Sorrows.
Plato and Reincarnation
How did Plato belive Reincarnation works?
- Just souls go to the sky
- Unjust souls go into the ground (Belived to have learned wisdom from suffering, leading to virtue)
- Souls would draw lots to pick their next life (choices were made freely)
Who is the leader of souls?
Hermes Psychopompos
Who are the three Judges of the Underworld?
- Rhadamanthys (son of Zeus and was a King of Crete)
- Minos (son of Zeus and was a King of Crete)
- Aeacus (son of Zeus and was a King of Aegina)
The Underworld
Who would go to the Elysian Plain?
- Soldiers wounded while fighting for their country
- Priests who remained pure
- Great poets, artists and scientists
The Underworld
Who would go to the Islands of the Blessed?
- Unsure. It is not really explained who.
- It is ruled by Cronus
- It is a special place in Elysium
The Underworld
Who would go to Tartarus?
- The worst criminals against the gods
- It is NOT for crimes against humanity
The Underworld
Who is Tantalus?
- Punished for trying to feed his son to the gods
- Punishment: to forever starve and be thirsty while standing in a pool of water next to a fruit tree.
The Underworld
Who is Sisyphus?
- Killed his visitors, a big no no.
- He has to forever roll a boulder up a hill
(violation of the sacred hospitality tradition)
