[–] alalzia 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
All we Greeks go to Hades unless we become immortals, modern Greek pagans believe that achieving maximum trolling is the way to immortality tho this is disputed . There were various philosophical derivatives from "no after life" to a kind of a "cosmic soul" .
[–] jewsbadnews [S] 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
wtf so everyone in Greece knew they were going to hell for eternity? How did that not disrupt society?
In norse mythology men who did not die in battle went to hel. Hel was a female ruler of the underworld but I am not sure where women went. In egyptian all went to the underworld. The more slaves and worldly goods you had in this life determined how much land you got in the underworld or something like that.
[–] jewsbadnews [S] 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Thanks for the reply! Also, was it possible for mortals to get to Asgard? If you are a complete legend?
Jews are bad news. My understanding is that as long as you follow the creed and die in battle valkeries will carry you to valhallah where you drink and fuck and eat all day and fight all night. Not my version of heaven but hey. The egyptians understood that there is nothing without toil.
[–] EricHunting 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
Greek and Roman mythology had the underworld of Hades where people would live a ghostly existence.
Norse mythology had nine realms and various realms for the dead (The hall of Odin, the Hall of Freya, an underwater realm for those who died at sea, etc.) but the chief alternative to Valhalla was Hel or Helheim. It was ruled by the goddess of the same name. This should not be confused with the Christian notion of Hell as it is very different in aspect, although still characterized as an underworld.
Egyptian mythology had an afterlife that was in many ways a mirror image of the world of the living called the Fields of Reeds or the Fields of Hetep and Iaru. It was basically the realm where the sun god Ra went at night. All Egyptians went there in death, assuming they could pass the 'entrance examination'. Passing to the underworld meant traveling by boat and passing through a long series of gates and guardians which you had to know the passwords for --basically the names and honorifics of all these different guardians. These were collected in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, a copy of which was often included with the deceased's burial goods or written on tomb walls. Eventually you would get to the ultimate judgement where the god Anubis would weigh one's heart against the Feather of Maat (goddess of truth and justice) and if lighter, you could pass into the afterlife and, if not, your soul would be devoured by the composite monster Ammit and you would go to oblivion. But one's quality of life in the afterlife was in ways related to the condition of one's physical remains, hence the compulsion to preserve the bodies of the dead as well as possible. It was also not strictly a one-way trip. The spirits or 'Ka' (depicted as a little bird with a human head) of the dead would periodically return to the world of the living so people could commune with them. This is another reason for preservation because the Ka needed to recognize their own remains in order to find their way. Now, if you were a pharaoh you had a potentially different direction to go after death because you were considered a living god to begin with --an avatar of Osiris. And so you would be sent to the stars where we see Osiris in the sky --the Orion constellation. And so the Pyramid of Cheops has shafts pointing at Orion during certain times of the year for the passage of the pharaoh's Ka. Some believe the pyramid complex there is itself a monumental representation of the three stars of Orion's belt.
[–] jewsbadnews [S] ago
Wow. Thank you for the long and informative reply! upgoat!