The Afterlife in Homeric Greece: The Soul

In tracing religious beliefs, especially in so developed a society as that in Homer, logical deductions took various turns. The prevalent Homeric terms for “soul” are words that, according to many, derived primarily from “breath” or “wink”. However, the soul was connected to various parts of the body; in contrast, the body was that with which the persona and personality was identified. The soul was connected to various parts of the body and was considered the energizing principle of the body. The soul and the person were a sort of duality of persona, and thus there was a close bond between a man and his soul: When a hero in distress “addressed his noble soul” it reflected a survival of this dualism.

Asphodel 

The soul had various ways of leaving the body; for example, in fainting it was breathed out and returned, apparently it was the same way when an affected person recovered. In death the soul regularly departed from the mouth, sometimes in a flow of blood; at other times it followed the spear, for example, as it was drawn from the wound. In all cases its haste was quickening through the air. “His soul, fleeing his limbs, passed to Hades, Mourning its fate, forsaking its youth and its vigor.”



When the soul passed the rampart of the teeth, it returned no more to vivify the body, becoming ‘eidolon’, incorporeal, but in other respects to the person as they had been in life, being which, if the dead body were treated carelessly might return to earth. Conversely, if the body was properly attended, the soul departed promptly for the spirit-world. Existence in this spirit-world was conceived in terms of existence during life; for example, the hunter Orion in the spirit world chased the souls of the animals which he himself had slain in life. In the after-life all things were mere ‘eidola’ of what existed on Earth. They were supposed to nurture the same human feelings as living men - desire for property, love and pride, jealousy, pain, etc - they even bore their old wounds, and by action of appearance indicated their former station in life; yet these souls were mere eidola, traveling beneath the Earth with distant cries, huddling and clinging together, disappearing like smoke, without mind, and forgetful of all.

The land of the departed was in the West, and its entrance was greatly obscured by darkness, clouds, and eternal night. With this backdrop were four streams with mysterious names, the Acheron, Pyriphlegethon, Cocytus, and Styx, their waters or fires impenetrable for spirits. The “house” of Hades was subterranean, hateful alike to gods and men.  There in an asphodel meadows, the souls wandered around, most of them undergoing no real suffering. However, the thought of Hades and his home was fraught with great fear to the Homeric Greek; no honors after death could compensate for the loss of life.