''Asphodel Meadows''

By Crusader1307

Ancient Greek Religious Beliefs and Concepts were in fact – complex. It was The Greeks who brought about the Mythology of The Gods and Goddesses who would be adopted and copied by many other Cultures of The Ancient World. In terms of The Afterlife – and as We have seen, The Greeks had a rich Mythos as well. Hades, as We have ventured, was the final repose for Spirits. ‘’Ruled’’ by many Gods, The ‘’Region’’ itself was a large and detailed environment. Not ‘’far’’ from the famed River Styx in The Underworld was an area called The ‘’Asphodel Meadows’’ (or ‘’Fields’’). The Meadows have been described differently thru Greek Culture. First a location for Souls who lived an ‘’ordinary and unheroic life’’, These Spirits were neither ‘’Good not Bad’’. As was said, when such ‘’judged’’ Souls entered Hades, They were taken to The River Lethe (another of Hades tributaries). These were the ‘’Waters of Forgetfulness’’. Once drunk, a Soul ‘’lost all it’s former identity’’. Thus, ‘’confused’’ as to Their past (lack of) achievements, They would wander thru Eternity in a state of ‘’confusion’’. But this ‘’confusion’’ had a purpose. These Souls flittered with great speed throughout Asphodel Meadows with undefined purpose. ‘’They’’ hoped to find another Soul in The Afterlife with the purpose of heroism or achievement. This would (hopefully) allow Them to be ‘’redeemed’’.

Later, The Meadows were seen as neither ‘’Paradise nor Retribution’’ in The Afterlife. The Region served as the opposite of what would later be adopted by The Ancient Roman (Pagan) as The ‘’Elysium Fields’’, where Heroes ‘’went’’ in The Afterlife. In fact, Roman ideology stated that the Spirit of a Hero had to ‘’pass thru’’ The Meadows with great care, on it’s way to Elysium. The aforementioned ‘’Flittering Spirits’’ of The Meadows would naturally be drawn to Them. They could, if ‘’One’’ was not careful, drive a Heroic Spirit ‘’off it’s intended path’’ to Paradise.