The Realm of the Dead: Afterlife in the Ancient World

Relevant History welcomes historical fiction author Elisabeth Storrs, who has written The Wedding Shroud, first book in a trilogy set in early Roman times. She was inspired to write the novel after seeing a sixth-century BCE sarcophagus depicting a man and wife in a tender embrace. Discovering the story behind the couple led her to the mystical Etruscan civilisation and the inspiration for her story. She lives in Sydney with her husband and two sons. The Wedding Shroud was published in Australia/NZ by Murdoch Books and is available as an ebook worldwide. The sequel is due to be published in 2012/13. For more information, check her web site and author blog, and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

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The ancient Greeks believed in an underworld to which the souls of the dead journeyed. It was known by names such as Hades or Erebus, which have become synonymous with the concept of 'Hell.' The Underworld was a structured place. The souls of the dead were sent to various realms based on how they were judged: blameless heroes to Elysium, the evil to Tartarus and those who were neither good nor bad to the Fields of Asphodel. To safely travel from the world of the living to that of Hades, the soul needed to cross the Styx (the River of Hate) on a boat steered by a grim ferryman known as Charon. The cost of the trip was a gold coin and it was the custom of mourners to place one in the deceased's mouth to ensure safe passage.

Although the Romans came to adopt a belief in Hades in imperial times, the religion of early Rome did not envisage that an individual would experience an afterlife. Instead it was believed that the souls of the dead joined an amorphous mass of spirits known as the Dii Manes or the 'Kindly Ones.' The name is ironic because these spirits were considered fearful and needed to be placated by the relatives of the deceased in case they rose to torment them. Calling them a flattering name was therefore an attempt at appeasement.

Of course a belief in an afterlife is common to many ancient societies. My research revealed another civilisation existing in Italy from archaic times with a complex codex, which provided guidance on how a person could live forever. That civilisation was Etruria, and its people were known as the Etruscans.

The Etruscans were a race that lived in the area of Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio but whose influence spread from the Po Valley in the north to Campania in the south. They were the sworn enemies of the Romans, whose fledging republic was still scrapping with its Latin neighbours while the Etruscans were establishing a trade empire across the Mediterranean. Indeed, the Romans were as austere and insular as the Etruscans were sophisticated and cosmopolitan.

Although recent archaeological digs are revealing more about the Etruscans, they have often been dubbed 'mysterious' because none of their literature has survived other than remnants of ritual texts. Most of what we know about them is from Greek or Roman historians (their enemies) who wrote centuries after Etruria had been destroyed. However, we can gain a glimpse of their own perspective through their fantastic tomb art which also serves as a rich vein of inspiration for episodes within my books. In fact a good deal of what is known about Etruscan architecture and daily life comes from their incredibly ornate tombs which replicated the houses of the living with their lintels and doorframes, tables and couches—even clothes hanging from hooks on the walls. Treasure was also included together with all the necessities to ensure a comfortable life such as plates and utensils and food, and a host of slave statuettes to serve the spirits of the dead.

From this funerary art it is apparent that the Etruscans' afterlife was not so much an underworld as an 'Afterworld' or 'Beyond.' In this realm, the character of Charon also appears. He is known as 'Charun' and is a gatekeeper rather than a ferryman. The dead were also met at the entrance to the Beyond by a winged demoness named Vanth. One tomb painting depicts her as wearing a tiny pleated skirt, short hunting boots and a baldric crossing bare breasts. An eye is painted upon each arch of her wings. The two snakes twisting around her hint at her potential menace should she deny assistance to the traveller. She is often portrayed as holding a key and a torch to guide the dead. In one tomb she is shown holding a scroll of names, which suggests there may have been some form of judgment day as was the case in Hades.

The souls of the Etruscan dead faced a perilous journey over land and sea where monsters and other demons lurked. The fiercest of these was the winged Tuchulcha with its donkey's ears, vulture's beak, grey-blue rotting flesh, and two spotted snakes coiled around its arms. And the final destination should such terrors be overcome? A sumptuous banquet with their ancestors.

The fear that the soul might fall prey to such dangers led the Etruscans to perform rigorous rituals and sacrifices to enable them to transform into lesser gods known as Dii Animales. Achieving such a status ensured their place at the banquet and possibly gave them the chance to return to receive ritual honours and assist their descendants.

The belief that blood sacrifice was necessary to placate the anger of the dead and to protect their souls in the transition to the afterlife led to dark practices. In the 'Phersu' game a masked man would set a slavering hound onto a hooded prisoner to rip the victim apart. This type of human sacrifice was later adopted by the Romans in lavish gladiatorial games held to celebrate the funerals of the powerful.

The heroine of The Wedding Shroud is a young Roman girl, Caecilia, who is married to an Etruscan nobleman to seal a truce between their warring cities. The lure of obtaining immortality in the afterlife tempts her to question her own people's belief in the bleak world of the Kindly Ones. In time, though, Caecilia comes to realise there is a price to be paid to obtain salvation. This dilemma is only one of the conflicting moralities and beliefs with which she must struggle when determining whether her future lies with Rome or Etruria.

As for the philosophy of an afterlife it is interesting to consider that modern man, whether religious or sceptical, still questions what lies beyond the grave and whether judgment awaits there.

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A big thanks to Elisabeth Storrs. She'll give away a copy of her ebook, The Wedding Shroud, to someone who contributes a comment on my blog this week. I'll choose the winner from among those who comment by Sunday at 6 p.m. ET. The ebook is available for Kindle and Kobo.

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Comments

[Beverle Graves Myers]

Interesting! I'm reminded of Orfeo who went to the underworld to find his Euridice, then lost her. The Gluck opera based on that myth is one of my favorites.

[Liz]

Hades, as you note, had levels, some comparable to heaven. So, equivalency with hell is a misunderstanding. Still, I pointed out to one of my doctors that a picture of Hades was not the most cheerful of wall hangings for a surgical suite.

[Rebecca]

How interesting, Elisabeth! I didn't know any of this. Well, except for the Greek stuff. I myself went with "Hesperia..." or "The Red Isle," yet another belief among many, that I think predates the whole Hades, Tartarus, Charon stuff. I look forward to meeting Caecilia and figuring out life and death customs with her.

[Suzanne Adair]

Welcome, Bev. Those myths that describe a journey to the underworld are all supposedly symbolic of stuff going on in the subconscious mind. So I wonder what it means when you lose your beloved in the underworld?

[Suzanne Adair]

Hi again, Liz! Did your doctor really have a picture of Hades hanging where patients could see it? Gee, what a jerk! I agree that Hades is not the same as Hell. I've seen that mistake made over and over.

[Suzanne Adair]

Welcome to my blog, Rebecca. Wasn't this post fun? It made me look up the geography so I could find out where the Etruscans were located.

[Elisabeth Storrs]

Thanks so much for commenting. Hades was indeed a complex place. I like the concept of the five rivers that ran through it: sorrow, lamentation, fire, forgetfulness and hate. If you're talking about the subconcious mind there's lots to think about there! As for a picture of Hades (I assume it was Tartarus) I would have thought it more fitting to be in a dentist's not a doctor's surgery :)

[Suzanne Adair]

Elisabeth, you mentioned in your bio the Etruscan sarcophagus depicting the man and wife in a tender embrace. I saw something similar from ancient Sumer, and it got me interested in the Sumerians. Things we have in common with people from the distant past are exciting and put us in touch with them across thousands of years.

[Elisabeth Storrs]

I've yet to explore the Sumerian civilisation so it's interesting that they depicted women in their funerary art. I'll have to take a look. All I know about them is Hammurabi's codex and cuneiform. And yes, the feeling that ancient and modern man are not so very different when it comes to human emotions always fascinates me.

[Diane A.S. Stuckart]

Great article, Elisabeth...your new book sounds fascinating. And now, I am inspired to find a lovely picture of Hades for my office. :)

[Suzanne Adair]

Elisabeth, the Code of Hammurabi came long after Sumer, like thousands of years later. By then, there was almost nothing left of Sumerian civilization, as they'd been overrun by several conquering cultures. Most definitely by the time of Hammurabi, women's rights were in the toilet compared to what women had enjoyed in Sumer.

I keep toying with the idea of setting a mystery series in ancient Sumer. :-)

[Suzanne Adair]

Welcome, Diane. Maybe Elisabeth can refer us to pictures of Hades online. I'm just not sold on it...

[Liz]

Suzanne,
Yes indeed.
Not sure it was his personal choice. Maybe hospital's.
But, when I was having biopsy. Not good.

[Elisabeth Storrs]

Thanks for your interest Diane - no lovely picture of Hades that I can see on Google images :) Not even of the Elysium which is definitely where I'd want to end up.

Suzanne - a mystery series in Sumer - sounds great! I'd love to learn more about that culture. Never realised that Hammurabi was so much later in time.

[Suzanne Adair]

Liz, a hospital. It figures. That picture must have unnerved you.

Elisabeth, the Code of Hammurabi was Babylonian, c. 1700 BCE. Sumerian cuneiform dates from 3000 BCE, possibly farther back. Sumerians definitely had civilization going in their chunk of what's now Iraq even earlier than that, by 4000 BCE. The Sumerian structure of independent city-states with no central government likely contributed to their culture being overrun and subsumed by Akkadians, Assyrians, and Babylonians. From what I've studied, the world today would be much different if Sumerians had developed a central command and succeeded in repulsing invaders.

[Suzanne Adair]

Books about Sumer in the geek library of Suzanne Adair:

o Inanna, Lady of Largest Heart: Poems of the Sumerian High Priestess Enheduanna translated by Betty De Shong Meador

o Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer by Diane Wolkstein and Samuel Noah Kramer

o The Sumerians: Their History, Culture,and Character by Samuel Noah Kramer

[Elisabeth Storrs]

FAscinating Suzanne - hurry up and write the Sumerian mystery!
Cheers
Elisabeth