Erinyes did the same to Alcmeon for killing his mother, Eriphyle (Apollodorus,
Library3.7.5).
Ancient Greek conceptions of Hades’ kingdom, and the place of these various
personnel in it, varied over time and location. Although we commonly refer to the
ancient Greek concept of the land of the dead as the ‘‘underworld,’’ not all descriptions
place Hades literally under the ground. In the earliest recorded account, that in the
Odyssey, Hades was imagined to be not under the ground but across the ocean, and
Odysseus beaches his ship there, heading inland to sacrifice to and make contact with
the dead (11.13–22). By the sixth century, however, the realm of Hades was regularly
described as underground, and by the fifth century most of the now familiar elements
of Hades’ kingdom were set. Since Hades’ main job was to keep the living and dead in
their separate places, the topography of his domain was organized accordingly. The
entrance to Hades’ underground realm was unknown to mortals, though several
grottos in various locations around Greece and southern Italy claimed to be home to
the entrance, such as Cape Taenarum in the southern Peloponnese, and Lake Avernus
near Naples. As many as five rivers flowed around and through Hades, the river Styx
(‘‘Hateful’’) being the primary current and most often described as the main boundary
of Hades, separating the living from the dead. The other rivers included the Acheron
(‘‘Woe’’); the Cocytus (‘‘Wailing’’); the Phlegethon (‘‘Flaming’’), a river of flames; and
the Lethe (‘‘Forgetfulness’’ or ‘‘Oblivion’’). The dead who arrived in Hades and drank
from Lethe forgot their former lives and lost their sorrow.
To help ensure that there was a definite and distinct separation between the living
and the dead, after souls were accompanied to the boundary of the underworld by
Hermes they had to cross the river Styx. The soul’s symbolic crossing of water may
have represented the crossing from consciousness into unconsciousness, life into
death, or at least life into an unknown state. Souls could not cross by themselves,
but needed the help of Charon, the boatman who ferried souls across the Styx.
Charon was sometimes thought of as a rather monstrous, fearsome creature (possibly
because of his Etruscan counterpart, the frightening Charun; Garland 2001:56), but
in much of fifth-century Greek art and literature he was depicted simply as an old man
somewhat unhappy with his job (e.g., Euripides,Alcestis252–9; Aristophanes,Frogs
138–40, 180–269). The crossing was not free; the dead had to pay Charon one obol.
Souls that could not pay were forbidden to cross into Hades and left in a kind of
limbo. Because of this, the Greeks customarily buried the dead with a coin in their
mouths or hands, as described above. Once across the Styx and freed from the no
doubt unpleasant company of Charon, souls were confronted by Cerberus, a mon-
strous dog who guarded the entrance to Hades’ kingdom. Hesiod ascribed fifty heads
to Cerberus (Theogony312), but later tradition settled on three. Cerberus’ job was to
help Hades and Persephone prevent unauthorized souls from entering or leaving
Hades, though the creature was sometimes surprisingly ineffectual, as on more than
one occasion living men managed to infiltrate Hades.
Greek literature as early as Homer included the concept of punishment or honor
after death, depending on whether one had offended the gods or led a pious life; that
is, your behavior in this life determined your fate in the next life. Thus, once admitted
to Hades, the dead had to face judgment. The earliest judge in Hades was Minos
(Odyssey11.568). Rhadamanthys, described by Homer as ruler of Elysium (Odyssey
4.561), eventually became another judge, and in the fourth century Plato’s addition
92 D. Felton