Ancient Greek Theory Of Afterlife

Register to read the introduction… They did not have the visions of Heaven and Hell as we do now. Specifically, the idea that living a good life will lead one to a pleasant afterlife and that living a bad or immoral life will lead one to an unpleasant afterlife. The ancient Greeks saw life after death as something only attainable through glory in their present lives. As Achilles said in the Iliad (1997 trans.), “If I hold out here and I lay siege to Troy, my journey home is gone, but my glory never dies. If I voyage back to the fatherland I love, my pride, my glory dies.” (p. 265). If they were worthy warriors, if they performed heroic deeds, then these deeds would be talked about. If their deeds were impressive enough, then this talk about them would continue even after they died. There are some interesting extensions to this first theory of afterlife. The first and most poignant is that it could only be achieved by healthy, free men. “Hades is the god of the underworld…only the strongest and most impressive of men could live in Hades” (Faustino, 2004, p.5). The virtue that was necessary to achieve the afterlife was simply not available to women, to slaves, or to the poor (certainly not mutually exclusive categories …show more content…
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