Death completes the cycle of human existence, so Greek myth must address it in some way.
After this chapter you should:
- Know the nature and stories of Hades, the Olympian god of the underworld.
- Know some of the Greek customs associated with death, burial, and tending to the spirits of the dead.
- Be familiar with Odysseus's descent into the underworld as told by Homer.
- Be able to recount Plato's Myth of Er.
- Know the main events of Aeneas's trip to the underworld.
- Know the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.
- Be familiar with the religious myths of Orphism and Pythagoras's theory of metempsychosis.
