Descent to the underworld

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The descent to the underworld is a mytheme of comparative mythology present from the religions of the Ancient Near East and continued into Christianity. The myth involves the death of a youthful god (a life-death-rebirth deity), mourned and then recovered from the underworld by his or her consort, lover or mother.

Contents 1 Katabasis 2 Mythological characters 3 See also 4 References 5 Further Reading

[edit] Katabasis

Main article: katabasis

One meaning of katabasis is the epic convention of the hero's trip into the underworld.^[1] In Greek mythology, for example, Orpheus enters the underworld in order to bring Eurydice back to the world of the living.

Most katabases take place in a supernatural underworld, such as Hades or Hell — as in Nekyia, the 11th book of the Odyssey, which describes the descent of Odysseus to the underworld. However, katabasis can also refer to a journey through other dystopic areas, such as what Odysseus encounters on his 20-year journey back from Troy to Ithaca. Pilar Serrano^[1] allows the term katabasis to encompass brief or chronic stays in the underworld, including those of Lazarus and Castor and Pollux.

[edit] Mythological characters

Mythological characters who make visits to the underworld include:

Ancient Egyptian

• Egyptian Osiris (see also Egyptian Book of the Dead)

Ancient Greek

• Adonis/Tammuz is mourned and then recovered by his consort/mother Aphrodite/Inanna/Ishtar
• The god Dionysus, to rescue Semele from Hades^[2]
• Heracles, for his twelfth labor, on which occasion he also rescued Theseus
• The god Hermes, to rescue Persephone from Hades
• Orpheus, to rescue Eurydice from Hades
• Persephone and Demeter
• Psyche

Ancient Sumerian

• Enkidu, in a tablet of the Epic of Gilgamesh usually considered a later addition to the tale
• Gilgamesh descends to the underworld to meet Utnapishtim in a quest for immortality.
• Inanna descends to the underworld with gifts to pass through the seven gates of the underworld.

Judeo-Christianity

• The biblical story of Joseph is paralleled to the myth in Panbabylonism, notably in Thomas Mann's Joseph and His Brothers.
• Mary's mourning of Jesus (pietà) and the latter's Harrowing of Hell
• Dante, in the The Divine Comedy: Inferno

Norse paganism

• Baldr
• Lemminkäinen's rescue from Tuonela by his mother.
• Helreið Brynhildar.

Other

• Japanese mythology: Izanagi and Izanami in Yomi
• Mayan mythology: Itzamna and Ix Chel
• Mahayana Buddhism: the bodhisattva Kuan Yin's descent into a hell-like region after taking on the bad karma of her executioner in pity.
• Vedic religion: Ushas (dawn) is liberated from the Vala by Indra; Emperor Yudhisthira descends into Naraka
• Welsh mythology: Pwyll's descent into Annwn in the Welsh Mabinogion
• Ohlone mythology (Native American): Kaknu fights Body of Stone.

[edit] See also

• James George Frazer
• Mystery religion

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b} Pilar González Serrano, "Catábasis y resurrección". Espacio, Tiempo y Forma, Serie II: Historia Antigua. Volume 12, pp. 129–179. Madrid, 1999.
2. ^ Robert Graves. The Greek Myths, 27. k, which cites Pausanias' Description of Greece 2.31.2.

[edit] Further Reading

• Walter Burkert, Homo necans.
• Janda, M., Eleusis, das indogermanische Erbe der Mysterien (1998).
• Rachel Falconer, Hell in Contemporary Literature: Western Descent Narratives since 1945, (Edinburgh University Press, 2005/07)