Elysian Fields: Mysterious Resting Place For Heroic And Virtuous Souls In Greek Ancient Beliefs

A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - The Elysian Fields were a prominent place where the deceased could enjoy an idyllic existence in a land of plenty.

If someone was once a brave hero or a good ruler, relative to the gods, or another virtuous person, the judges sent them to the Elysian Fields (Elysium), described as a vast land of abundance, peace, happiness, eternal spring, and flourishing gardens.

"Elysium" by Léon Bakst (1866-1924) from 1906. Public Domain

It was believed to be located at a mysterious distant place somewhere at the end of the Earth.

According to some versions, the ruler of this magnificent realm was Kronos, son of Gaia (Mother Earth) and Uranus Lord of Heaven), and at the same time, father of Demeter, the goddess of harvest and agriculture, and many other deities like  Hestia, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus.

The ancient Greeks imagined life after death as less appealing than on Earth. At first, the souls of the deceased (both good and evil) were faced with crossing the river Styx (hate), the principal river in the Underworld, which formed the border between the upper, and lower worlds.

The souls were carried on a boat by Charon, the Ferryman, and a psychopomp of Hades. He charged a fee - a coin of 1 obole for his service. According to tradition, the family used to place the coin in the mouth of the deceased.

Charon delivered the deceased for judgment in front of three judges. There, the soul was tried and finally went to one of the three eternal rest places, among others, in the abode of the blessed - Elysium. The Righteous were heading to the right of the Forgotten River - Lethe (oblivion).

Aeneas meeting with his father in the Elysium. Sebastian Vrancx (1573–1647). Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon. Public Domain

After drinking water from it, they forgot about earthly life. Their next stop was the Elysian Fields, a land of never-ending peace and happiness, where souls deprived of all sufferings and unnecessary desires walked through the meadows, filled with beautiful music from invisible lyres.

Others had no privilege of reaching Elysium.

Those souls, who had committed serious crimes against the gods, would be sent to the Fields of Punishment, a part of Tartarus. The place was reserved for the dead, like a giant Tityos (or Tityus), punished for his attempt to rape Leto. Sisyphus, and Tantalus, were judged to spend eternity.

Residents Of The Elysian Fields

Many famous deities resided in the realm of the Elysian Fields. Among them was King Menelaus of Sparta, a husband to Helen and thus also Zeus' son-in-law. (Homer Odyssey 4. 561-69)

According to prophecies by the sea god Proteus, Menelaus was not fated to die in Argos but instead was sent to the Elysian Fields with Helen, where 'soft zephyr-winds from the ocean blow continually to refresh mankind.'

Elysian Fields by Arnold Böcklin. Source

In Homer's Odyssey, book 11, we learn that Odysseus meets Achilles among the unhappy ghosts in the Underworld. But later, writers placed Achilles in a much more idyllic place in the afterlife - the Elysian Fields.

The Elysian Fields (or Isles of the Blessed) are first mentioned in Homer's Odyssey as a place where there is 'no snow and no winter,' but instead, there are 'singing winds of the West' refreshing all mankind.' (Odyssey, IV.637-639).

According to Homer, also fair-haired Rhadamanthys dwells in the Elysian Fields, "where life is most free from care for men."

Rhadamanthys was one of the three judges of the dead (two others were Aeacus and Minos). Writers such as Hesiod and Virgil presented another myth of the Elysian Fields. They referred to the realm as 'The Isle of the Blessed, and as such, it was the Garden of Eden in Christian beliefs.

Written by – A. Sutherland  - AncientPages.com Senior Staff Writer

Updated on November 19, 2022

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