Both the ancient Egyptians and the Aztecs of Mexico believed that dogs guided the dead on their journey through the afterlife. Occasionally, dogs appear in negative roles, such as the hellhound Gram in Norse mythology or the fighting dogs belonging to the Greek goddess Hecate. The goat is ...
The presence of Macaria in the underworld pantheon may have served as a comforting reminder to mortals that death was not always something to be feared. For those who had lived virtuous lives and upheld their duties to the gods, family, and community, the prospect of a blessed afterlife under...
According to Greek mythology, humans who received a proper burial would spend their afterlife in the underworld. Yet a number of those who traveled to the underworld were far from dead. Whether kidnapped or seeking favors, they interacted with many of the underworld's occupants, from the three-...
It was probably around this time that the Christian gospels began to be written. All the gospels represent Jesus as the Son of God. The gospel of St John calls Jesus also the Word of God, the instrument of divine creation. John’s language resembles that of the Jewish philosopher Philo, ...
Among their major gods and goddesses were those responsible for creation, fertility, death, and the afterlife. The names of the deities varied slightly from culture to culture. Common themes of Semitic myths included the creation of the world, a great flood, and a hero who overcame a ...
For MORE information on the blessed afterlife seeREALM OF ELYSION GODDESS OF NECROMANCY & GHOSTS Haides and Persephone presided over the oracles of the dead and the rites of necromancy (nekromankia)--summoning and communion with the ghosts of the dead. ...
the mystic religions and prophets--such as the Orphics and Pythagoreans--, as well as the philosophers, modified the land of the dead to incorporate anElysian paradisefor the good and aTartarean hellfor the wicked. Souls were judged and assigned to a suitable afterlife and in some versions ...
she taught the people of Eleusis the art of agriculture. She also established the Mysteries, a festival that celebrated the cycle of life and death and promised initiates a more favourable fate in the afterlife. This myth highlights Demeter's influence on the spiritual and cultural practices of ...
Hades is sometimes confused with the Greek god of death,Thanatos, their roles and responsibilities were distinct. Hades was the overseer of the Underworld, whileThanatoswas responsible for the act of dying and guiding souls to the afterlife. In essence, Hades was a vital part of the natural cy...
departed to Hades where it began an afterlife. This kind of soul lacked any psychological attribute and possessed merely eschatological traits. Remarkably, the termpsycheis etymologically connected with the verbpsychein, which means “to blow” or “to breathe”. By contrast, the body souls were ...