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Worldly Underworld

The idea of a place whose primary purpose is perdition has persisted throughout

thousands of years. As an effort to concatenate the countless iterations of crushing

versions of hell, Scott G. Bruce, the editor of “The Penguin Book of Hell", had examined

the hells on the pages of great literary books within the last three thousand years. Bruce

had also accounted for the hell of the modern times.

Instances of hell on earth include global warming, reign of violence in between

the streets of poverty, the seduction of drugs and the damnation it brings, genocide, and

war. The implication of the statement “hell on earth" is that perdition is achievable within

the hands of man. As such, perdition in this form is not necessarily out of the grace of

God (as stated by Christianity), rather, could stem from the impulses of man such as

greed, anger, and revenge.

The structure of hell was not an original design by the Christian doctrine. It is a

literary construct from the minds of Homer, Virgil, Dante, and Milton. It is not a far cry to

say that the influences of these writers on one another spawned the infamous fires of

hell.

Homer, one of the first to be credited for the illustration of hell, told the story of

Odysseus and his journey throughout hell to his abode, Ithaca. Bruce had specifically

detailed how the Hell of Homer is not underneath the earth nor is it of another

dimension but, rather, a faraway land. It is more interesting to note that the tortures

implemented in Homer's underworld have a resemblance to the torments of other

cultures. Viking sagas, for instance, is the home of the vile blood eagle torture method.
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Although not explicitly stated by Bruce, the Hell of the ancient times were modelled by

the culture and justice system of the past.

Scott Bruce drew a connection between heroism and suffering (i.e., in the

underworld); of how epic heroes experience worldly sufferings only to emerge as strong,

kind, and pure hearted souls deserving of a heavenly place. An exemplar hero of this

nature is Odysseus and Hercules as foretold by Homer. Hercules, upon completing his

Twelve Labors, shed his mortal soul into the underworld and reigned in Mt. Olympus as

a god. A parallel can be observed with how Hercules went back to his own abode, Mt.

Olympus, after the toilsome Twelve Labors. However, the existence of the mortal

Hercules in the underworld is a statement that even the greatest heroes can reside in

the underworld. As such, Homer's vision of hell is distinct from the Christian hell.

Christian hell whose fires burn countless sinners is a contradiction into itself,

resulting to internal disagreements within the religious community. A merciful God who

gives pardon to the most vicious of evils will prompt few to none residents of hell. Even

more notable is the vague and few mentions of hell in the bible. So, is it that hell was

modelled by man or are the actions of man modelled by hell?

Arguably, hell began as a literary construct not from the bible. As such, similar to

a reward for good behavior, hell is the punishment for bad behavior. Hell is any place of

perdition analogous to man's prison. As such, it can be on earth, it can be right now, or

it may have already passed. However, humans will never forget the sufferings

accompanied by hell and that may, often that not, be the basis for decision making.

Thereby, it may have been modelled by the human imagination in the olden times yet its

room in the human mind is still visited in the modern era.

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The Suffering and Glory

Homer's famed portrayal of the underworld in his epic, Odyssey, is starred by the

King of Ithaca, Odysseus. Odysseus, after the Trojan war, travelled ten long years back

to his homeland, Ithaca. However, this ten-year travel was not without suffering or

difficulty. As with any great epic capable of traversing time, it is filled with adventure,
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monsters, heroism, and a disturbing number of women for a supposedly loving

husband.

At one point of his journey, Odysseus treks the Aeaea towards the abode of the

beautiful enchantress and goddess, Circe. Along with her infamous beauty is Circe's

vast knowledge and power as a witch, turning Odysseus' companions into swines.

Through the help of Hermes, Odysseus battles Circe and saves his crew while enjoying

his new status as Circe's lover. Throughout the one year stay of Odysseus in Aeaea, he

fathered sons for Circe; however, he did not lengthen his stay and continued his journey

to Ithaca. Upon asking Circe, Odysseus learned of Tiresias, the spirit of the prophet that

will tell of the way to Ithaca.

The expedition towards Hades was not without trouble. Before the journey

began, Elpenor, who was ironically the youngest, died by falling on the roof due to his

inebriation. Despite this, the crew ventured on towards the stream of Oceanus of which

Odysseus strictly followed the directions of Circe to sacrifice a lamb and ewe in a pit of

libations for the dead.

The first spirit who approached Odysseus was the young Elpenor who asked

Odysseus to return to Aeaea to gift his body a proper burial. The second to appear was

the prophet Tiresias who foretells that the Achaeans have angered Poseidon by

harming his son, Polyphemus. Thereby, although the voyage to Ithaca will be

successful, Odysseus will continue to another journey to placate Poseidon. Tiresias

strictly warns to avoid all contact with the cattle of the Sun in the island of Thrinacia

governed by the god Helios in his journey to Ithaca. Harming any of the sacred Helios

cow or the flocks of the sun can end with the destruction of their ship and their death.
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Although, Odysseus may indeed survive as the hero he is, he will return alone and

broken.

After this prophecy, Odysseus converses with Anticleia, his mother whom he had

not known was dead. Their exchanges revolved around Ithaca and the grief of a mother

left waiting for his son. Other encounters of Odysseus in the underworld are

Agamemnon, Minos, Tantalus, Heracles, and Achilles. Tantalus, particularly, was a king

and a favored human of the gods. Unfortunately, due to his greed, he was sent to

Hades to suffer in eternity. To be eternally thirsty while water reaches his neck and be

eternally hungry while delectable fruits hung over his head. His contrapasso for greed

was the distancing of the water and fruits whenever thirst and hunger attacks. Another

notable gathering in the underworld was the of Achilles, the hero of the Trojan war, and

Odysseus. Although Achilles was known to be brave and strong in the worldly soils, the

underworld has broken his ego leading to his famous saying of choosing to slave on

earth than rule in the dead. Understandably, no glory from becoming a war hero is

enough to reverse death.