blog




  • Essay / The concept and description of hell in The Iliad, a poem by Homer

    Hell has been described as a residence for souls after death and has long been a subject of discussion and debate . This notion intrigues man. It is a concept that man can only know through direct experience which, once acquired, cannot be shared. But that does not prevent man from imagining its form. Since the first Greek epics, such as Homer's Iliad, society has imagined an underworld, a place beneath the Earth that houses souls. Although our expectations of such a place have changed over the centuries, many ideas about the underworld depicted in Greek and Latin poems are still believed today. Say no to plagiarism. Get Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get Original Essay Homer believed in an underworld called Tartarus. Some call it Hades because a God called Hades rules Tartarus. He believed it was a prison for the gods, but later it was a dungeon for spirits. There is only one life after death according to Homer. It doesn't matter if everyone tries to be good, a man ends up sinning at some point, so everyone is punished. The punishment of spirits is torture. But only certain spirits are punished, those who have offended the gods. Hades is described as an ill-defined place. it is said that Achilles would prefer “to be the slave of another man on earth rather than to reign here below over the breathless dead” (the Iliad). Tantalus and Sisyphus are among the many sufferings. But this torture is only intended to offend the gods and not men. Another of the many poets has a similar view to Homer. Virgil believed that people have a spirit within themselves and that when you die, your spirit goes to the underworld. Like Homer, Virgil believed in an afterlife, where everyone was punished. There are different types of punishments, such as birds pecking at spirits. He called his hell the underworld. Virgil's hell is a realm with fields of mourning and bliss. This vision resembles the Christian afterlife as that conceived by Homer. Dante's journey through hell into the Inferno is largely based on Vigil's Dis. Although Virgil's view is similar to Dante's, there are still marked differences. Dante believed in a place called hell, where the ungodly go to be punished. He believed that if man did not accept Christ, he would go to hell. A man's punishment is decided based on what he did while alive. There are ten circles in hell, each one contains a different punishment depending on what that man has done. The different circles hold hypocrites, falsifiers, sorcerers and thieves. Dante believed that “the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality” (Dante inferno). These are some famous writers' beliefs about hell, but now we come to the real version of hell, the biblical view. Hell in the Bible is described as a “fiery furnace” (Daniel 3:6, New International Version). It is a completely Godless place. It is full of people who have not accepted Christ. Everyone deserves to die, but Jesus has mercy on everyone who believes in Him. Those in hell must burn forever. A good metaphor is this: “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away. For it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be cast into hell” (Matthew 5:29). Hell is a punishment for the wicked dead. The Bible states that when the time comes, the earth will be destroyed and God will throw Satan and his followers into the "pool of.