CLAS104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Tiresias, Odysseus, Iliad
22 Sep 2016
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Document Summary
The afterlife / the underworld idea of the underworld developed over time. First account of the underworld; was mentioned in the odyssey by the minor goddess. She tells odysseus that if he wants to get home, he needs to go the underworld to consult a prophet (tiresias) who had already died. In this version, the entrance to the underworld is across oceanus (recall that this is the river that wraps around the world) in the far north (cimmerians), a place where no one has ever gone to before. He thinks it"s in the far north since that"s where the sun doesn"t shine. Spirits of their former selves who no longer have their mental capabilities. According to the seer tiresias, if you make a sacrifice and pour the blood of your sacrifice and let these witless shades drink from it, then these ghosts will regain their wits and you can talk to them.
