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Tartarus

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This is for the location named Tartarus. For the deity, see Tartarus (primordial)

It's... the worst part of the Underworld, step foot and those no way out but to suffer eternal punishment.

—Homer

Tartarus, often called Hades itself is a world featured in Greek Mythology. It first appears in 700 B.C. in Hesiod's Greek myth story.

Underworld is based on the location of the same name from Greek Mythology, and the Disney film Hercules. It is also based on the concept of Hell.

History[]

Tartarus in Greek Mythology, is the deep abyss that is used as a dungeon of torment and suffering for the wicked and as the prison for the Titans. As far below Hades as the earth is below the heavens, Tartarus is the place where souls were judged after death and where the wicked received divine punishment. Like other primal entities (such as the Earth, Night and Time), Tartarus was also considered to be a primordial force or deity.In Greek Mythology, Tartarus is both a deity and a place in the underworld. In ancient Orphic sources and in the mystery schools, Tartarus is also the unbounded first-existing entity from which the Light and the cosmos are born.

In the Greek poet Hesiod's Theogony, Tartarus was the third of the primordial deities, following after Chaos and Gaia (Earth), and preceding Eros and was the father, by Gaia, of his only son, the monstrous giant Typhon. According to Hyginus, Tartarus was the offspring of Aether and Gaia.

As for the place, Hesiod asserts that a bronze anvil falling from heaven would fall nine days before it reached the earth. The anvil would take nine more days to fall from earth to Tartarus. In The Iliad, Zeus asserts that Tartarus is "as far beneath Hades as heaven is high above the earth."

While according to Greek mythology the realm of Hades is the place of the dead, Tartarus also has a number of inhabitants. When Kronos came to power as the King of the Titans, he imprisoned the one-eyed Cyclopes and the hundred-armed Hecatonchires in Tartarus and set the monster Campe as its guard. Zeus killed Campe and released these imprisoned giants to aid in his conflict with the Titans. The gods of Olympus eventually triumphed. Cronus and many of the other Titans were banished to Tartarus, though Prometheus, Epimetheus, Metis and most of the female Titans were spared. And in some accounts, Cronus somehow later earned Zeus' forgiveness and was released from Tartarus to become ruler of Elysium). Another Titan, Atlas, was sentenced to hold the sky on his shoulders to prevent it from resuming its primordial embrace with the Earth. Other gods could be sentenced to Tartarus as well. Apollo is a prime example, although Zeus freed him. The Hecatonchires became guards of Tartarus' prisoners. Later, when Zeus overcame the monster Typhon, he threw him into "wide Tartarus".

Originally, Tartarus was used only to confine dangers to the gods of Olympus. In later mythologies, Tartarus became the place where the punishment fits the crime.

The rivers of the Underworld also ran through Tartarus, these rivers were:

  • The Styx: The blue river which is also the river of hatred. It is named after the goddess Styx.
  • The Acheron: The green river which is also the river of pain. Charon usually rowed past this river on most mythological accounts. But sometimes the Styx. It is also known as The River of Lost Souls.
  • The Lethe: The yellow river which is also the river of forgetfulness. Drinking it will make the user forget their past.
  • The Cocytus: The grey river which is also the river of wailing.
  • The Phlegethon: The fire river which puts you into eternal burning and is Hades' preferred river.
  • The Oceanus: The river that encircles the world and marks the east edge of the Underworld.

The Underworld is considered to be a dark and gloomy counterpart to the bright and happy Mount Olympus. As to also which, Mount Olympus is the realm of the gods whereas the Underworld is the realm of the dead.

Ixion,the king of Lapiths resided on Mount Olympus for a short time before he fell lustful for Zeus' wife, Hera, so Zeus banished him to Tartarus, which is down in the underworld and he was bind to a winged fiery wheel by Hermes that was always spinning.

Inhabitants (Major)[]

  • † denotes the deceased.

Modern Adaptions[]

Tartarus has been in plenty of movies in our generation... Some of them include: Tartarus was featured on ABC's hit show Once Upon a Time.

Tartarus5

The door into Tartarus.

They also gave us the inside of Tartarus...

Tartarus7

Inside of Tartarus

Tartarus was also featured on the best recent Greek Mythology movie Clash of the Titans and Wrath of the Titans.




Trivia[]

On-Screen Notes[]

  • The Underworld is located exactly nine days under Earth.
    • It would take a dropping anvil exactly nine days from Earth to reach the Underworld.
      • And another nine days from the Underworld to reach Tartarus.

Appearances[]

References[]

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