What is the Underworld like in 'The Odyssey'?

In The Odyssey the Underworld is a very unpleasant place. It is filled with the shades of the dead—only a small portion of each individual's consciousness survives. read more

In the Odyssey, Homer describes more of the conditions of afterlife than the scenery or processes of the underworld. His depiction of Odysseus’s journey to the underworld is “a spiritual adventure and a moment when life and death are brought into contact” (Said, 175). read more

The Underworld in the Odyssey In order to complete his quest home, Odysseus explains that he must enter the underworld (at the advice of Circe) to speak to the wise man Tisereas. Here he meets the spirits of the dead, notably his mother, Agamemnon, Achilles, and Ajax. read more

In The Odyssey the Underworld is a very unpleasant place. It is filled with the shades of the dead—only a small portion of each individual’s consciousness survives. And these shades are bitterly unhappy and filled with longing for their former lives and loved ones. read more