A tour of the ancient Greek Underworld - Iseult Gillespie

844,975 views ・ 2023-10-24

TED-Ed


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:14
Achilles, welcome!
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I’m the Sibyl of Cumae, prophetess and avid reader of leaves.
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To clarify, you were just slain in the Trojan War.
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Sorry about that.
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It’s normal to feel mixed emotions right now.
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But you will be immortalized as one of the greatest warriors ever.
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And you’ll have endless distractions down here.
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So, pros and cons.
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It gets a bad rap, but the Underworld is actually a lovely place to “live.”
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It boasts historic charm and eccentric neighbors with eternal ties to the area.
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The community even has its own guard dog, Cerberus.
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01:00
Heel, boy! Oh.
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Sorry, I know that’s a sensitive spot.
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Anyway, with Cerberus, you get three for the price of one!
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He’s just not a big fan of anyone leaving.
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And who would want to leave anyway?
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This is the Styx— it’s like the subterranean riviera.
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But you’ve been here before;
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it was the source of your almost complete invulnerability, of course!
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The Underworld also features four other waterways:
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Acheron, the river of woe; Cocytus, river of wailing;
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Lethe, river of oblivion;
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and Phlegethon, river of fire, a great source of natural light.
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Now, on your left, you’ll see the Mourning Fields,
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inhabited by souls tormented by love.
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Quite an attractive place, really,
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when you’re not in the throes of endless heartbreak.
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And without further ado:
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Elysium, the Underworld’s exclusive VIP section—
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and your permanent home.
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Here, you'll join the ranks of royalty and heroes.
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Cadmus over there once slayed a dragon!
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And Patroclus is around here somewhere, along with lots of other friends and foes.
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I'll let you two get reacquainted soon,
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but our tour wouldn’t be complete without a quick whirl
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through the heart of Hades: Tartarus.
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Tisiphone here guards the portal.
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She's one of the legendary Furies
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and is particularly passionate about avenging murder.
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She never sleeps.
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So, if you need anything, just ask!
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Tartarus is reserved for a select few who some might call
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the greatest sinners of all time.
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Take Ixion.
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He was once a king.
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When he didn’t pay his wedding dowry,
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his father-in-law, Deioneus, stole his horses to get even.
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In retaliation, Ixion pitched Deioneus into a pit of fire.
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Ixion was banished, but Zeus miraculously took pity on him,
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and invited him to a Mount Olympian feast.
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There, however, it soon became clear that the disgraced king
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was trying to seduce Zeus’s wife, Hera.
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So, Zeus contrived a trap:
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a fluffy cloud that resembled Hera exactly.
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When Zeus had proof of Ixion having his way with the cumulus,
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well, you could say it was all nimbus from there.
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That landed Ixion on the flaming wheel.
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Poor thing.
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Oh, and don’t mind Tantalus here.
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He was part of the first generation of mortals,
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enjoying privileges like dining with the gods.
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Some say Tantalus stole ambrosia from Zeus,
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others that he doubted the omniscience of the gods
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and cooked his own son into a stew to see if they would notice.
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Naturally, they did.
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And as eternal punishment, when Tantalus reaches for food,
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the branches grow taller.
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And when he stoops to quench his thirst, the water recedes.
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And here we have the Danaids.
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At their father’s order, they beheaded their husbands on their wedding night.
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They must fill this basin with water.
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But, the trick is, their jars are cracked, so it always... just... leaks away.
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Oh, but don’t worry! No leaky appliances for you.
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Finally, our last stop on the tour is one of our loveliest vistas.
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From here, you can see the hill where Sisyphus pushes his boulder
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day after day,
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only for it to roll back down again—
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all for trying to cheat death.
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As you can see, Achilles, the Underworld is full of exciting amenities.
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Here, you don’t have to worry about brutal wars or painful cycles of revenge.
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You can finally just put your feet up and relax.
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