Isles of the Blest, Elysium, White Isle |
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6322: Elysium? Relief decoration, base on which stood a lekythos. Hermes. Attic workshop near the end of the 5C BC. National Archaeological Museum, Athens.
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"And this majestic feeling
remains with me for over three days: so
persistently does the speech and voice of the
orator ring in my ears that it is scarcely on the
fourth or fifth day that I recover myself and
remember that I really am here on earth, whereas
till then I almost imagined myself to be living in
the Islands of the Blessed, so expert are our
orators." (Plato, Menexenus 235c).
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Elysium and rebirth
After death, the souls of the righteous are sent
by the immortals to the Elysian Plain (Elysium), a
favored region in Hades. In the Elysian
Plain which is "at the ends of the earth"
"… life is easiest for men. No snow is there, nor heavy storm, nor ever rain, but ever does Ocean send up blasts of the shrill-blowing West Wind that they may give cooling to men …" (Homer, Odyssey 4.561ff.).
Pindar (518-438 BC), in one of his thrénoi (the thrénos is
a dirge or song of lamentation) describes Elysium
as follows:
"For them doth
the strength of the sun shine below,
While night all the earth doth overstrow.
In meadows of roses their suburbs lie,
Roses all tinged with a crimson dye.
They are shaded by trees that incense bear,
And trees with golden fruit so fair.
Some with horses and sports of might,
Others in music and draughts delight.
Happiness there grows ever apace,
Perfumes are wafted o'er the loved place,
As the incense they strew where the gods' altars
are
And the fire that consumes it is seen from
afar." (quoted by Plutarch, Moralia:
Letter to Apollonius 35, 120c).
According to Pindar (Oly.2.55-75), the lawless spirits are immediately punished after death:
"… the reckless souls of those who have died on earth immediately pay the penaltyand for the crimes committed in this realm of Zeus there is a judge below the earth;
with hateful compulsion he passes his
sentence."
On the other hand the good lead an easy
existence:
"But having
the sun always in equal nights and equal days, the
good receive a life free from toil, not scraping
with the strength of their arms the earth, nor the
water of the sea, for the sake of a poor
sustenance. But in the presence of the honored
gods, those who gladly kept their oaths enjoy a
life without tears, while the others undergo a toil
that is unbearable to look at."
Apparently, however, they will not remain in
Elysium forever:
"Those who
have persevered three times, on either side, to
keep their souls free from all wrongdoing, follow Zeus' road to the end, to the tower of Cronos, where ocean breezes blow around
the island of the blessed, and flowers of gold are
blazing, some from splendid trees on land, while
water nurtures others."
Rather, after three lifetimes, the souls of the
good are conveyed to the Island of the Blest, ruled
by Cronos and Rhea:
"With these
wreaths and garlands of flowers they entwine their
hands according to the righteous counsels of
Rhadamanthys, whom the great father, the husband of Rhea whose throne is above all others,
keeps close beside him as his partner."
In Plato (Meno 81b), Socrates appears commenting on Pindar:
"They say that
the soul of man is immortal, and at one time comes
to an end, which is called dying, and at another is
born again, but never perishes."
Then Pindar is quoted:
"For from
whomsoever Persephone shall accept requital for ancient
wrong (pénthos), the souls of these she restores in the ninth year to the upper sun again; from them arise glorious kings and men of splendid might and surpassing wisdom, and for all remaining time are they called holy heroes amongst mankind."
Pindar is regarded here as adhering to the idea of reincarnation. Much later, also Virgil (70-19 BC) agrees with it in his own description of Elysium (Aeneid 6.637ff.), although for this author some souls are destined for reincarnation and others aren't. Aeneas' father Anchises 1 will not
reincarnate; he says:
"Each of us suffers his own spirit: a few of us are later released to wander at will through broad Elysium, the joyous fields; until, in the fullness of time … nothing is left but pure ethereal sentience and the pure flame of the spirit." (Virgil, Aeneid 6.742).
Those who are destined for reincarnation drink
from the waters of the river Lethe (Oblivion)
before they are reborn. Virgil describes Elysium
thus:
"Here an ampler ether clothes the meads with roseate light, and they know their own sun, and stars of their own. Some disport their limbs on the grassy wrestling-ground, vie in sports, and grapple on the yellow sand; some foot the rhythmic dances and chant poems aloud …" (Virgil, Aeneid 6.637).
Pindar could be one of the first poets to have
introduced the idea of reincarnation. Yet Porphyry
(c. AD 233-305) believes that Pythagoras (570-497
BC) was the first to introduce in Greece the idea
of the transmigration of the souls
(metempsychosis):
"But it became
very well known to everyone that he said, first,
that the soul is immortal; then, that it changes
into other kinds of animals; and further, that at
certain periods whatever has happened happens
again, there being nothing absolutely new; and that
all living things should be considered as belonging
to the same kind. Pythagoras seems to have been the
first to introduce these doctrines into
Greece." (Porphyry, Life of
Pythagoras 19).
And Diogenes Laertius (Lives
of Eminent Philosophers 8.4-5), the mythographer Hyginus (Fabulae 112), and Diodorus Siculus (10.6.1-3). narrate how Euphorbus, who was killed at Troy by Menelaus (Hom.Il.17.60), later reincarnated as Pythagoras.
Herodotus, however, believes that the idea of
metempsychosis came from Egypt:
"The Egyptians were the first who maintained the following doctrine, too, that the human soul is immortal, and at the death of the body enters into some other living thing then coming to birth; and after passing through all creatures of land, sea, and air, it enters once more into a human body at birth, a cycle which it completes in three thousand years. There are Greeks who have used this doctrine, some earlier and some later, as if it were their own…" (Herodotus, History 2.123.2).
Still Empedocles, a contemporary of Pindar, is
known for having embraced the Pythagorean notion of
metempsychosis.
For some, these news about reincarnation were
not good news. Otherwise they hadn't said:
"Not to be born at all is best, far best that can befall. Next best, when born, with least delay to trace the backward way. For when youth passes with its giddy train, troubles on troubles follow, toils on toils … Last comes the worst and most abhorred stage of unregarded age, joyless, companionless and slow, of woes the crowning woe." (Citizens of Colonus. Sophocles, Oedipus
at Colonus 1225).
The Islands of the Blest
The Islands of the Blest is a place where the virtuous dwell after death, retaining their faculties and enjoying a life free of care. This is probably the last abode of the righteous soul (and no reincarnation seems to affect those living in these islands).
According to some, the Islands of the Blest were
by the western limits of Libya, that is, beyond the
pillars of Hercules (Gibraltar) in the Atlantic
Ocean, or as Strabo says:
"… even calling by name certain Isles of the Blest, which, as we know, are still now pointed out, not very far from the headlands of Maurusia that lie opposite to Gades (now Cádiz)." (Strabo, Geography 3.2.13).
Above all these islands were a place "untouched
by sorrow", where a blessed life could be lived
after death. They were thus associated or
identified with Elysium (the Elysian Plain, also called Elysian Fields),
which was "at the ends of the earth". According to
Strabo, this expression refers to the West:
"For both the
pure air and the gentle breezes of Zephyrus
properly belong to this country, since the country
is not only in the west but also warm; and the
phrase 'at the ends of the earth' properly belongs
to it, where Hades has been 'mythically placed,' as
we say." (Strabo, Geography 3.2.13).
On his descent to the Underworld, Aeneas meets his father Anchises 1 in Elysium
(a part of Hades). There dwell souls who have not yet been born, and other souls who drink from the waters of the river Lethe (Oblivion) before they are reborn. (For the descent of Aeneas, see Map of the
Underworld).
The White Isle
The White Islealso a place where some were sent after deathwas supposed to be a wooded island at the mouths of the river Ister (Danube).
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List of those who, after
death, were sent to the Island(s)
of the Blest, the White Isle, or
the Elysian Plain (also called
the Elysian Fields). Not seldom,
they are couples
(Achilles and Medea, Alcmena and Rhadamanthys, Menelaus and Helen).
Alternative versions are given as
"a)", "b)", etc. Pindar sings of
the Island of the Blest (in
singular).
Several accounts on the White
Isle belong to Leonymus, king of
Crotona (city in southern Italy)
who made war against the Locri in
Italy, and was the first to sail
to the island, at the mouths of
the Ister (Danube). There he saw
the souls of the AIANTES
(Ajax 1 and Ajax 2), Helen (wedded to Achilles), Patroclus 1, and Antilochus (one of the ACHAEAN
LEADERS (Pau.3.19.12ff.). (For Elysium in Virgil, see Map
of the Underworld.)
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Achilles |
a) White Isle
b) White Isle
c) Islands of the Blest
d) Island of the Blest
e) Elysian Plain
f) White Isle
g) Elysian Plain
h) Elysian Plain |
a) Iphigenia
b) Helen
c) Medea
d) ---
e) Medea
f) ---
g) ---
h) Polyxena 1 |
a) Lib.Met.27.
b) Pau.3.19.13
c) Apd.Ep.5.5.
d) Pin.Oly.2.78.
e) Arg.4.811.
f) AETH.1.
g) QS.14.223.
h) Seneca, Troades 938 |
Ajax 1 |
White Isle |
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Pau.3.19.13 |
Ajax 2 |
White Isle |
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Pau.3.19.13 |
Alcmena |
Islands of the Blest |
Rhadamanthys |
Lib.Met.33 |
Antilochus |
White Isle |
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Pau.3.19.13 |
Cadmus |
a) Elysian Plain
b) Islands of the Blest. |
a) Harmonia 1
b) --- |
a) Apd.3.5.4; Hyg.Fab.6. b)Pin.Oly.2.78. |
Diomedes 2 |
Islands of the Blest |
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Ath.15.695. |
Harmonia 1 |
Elysian Plain |
Cadmus |
Apd.3.5.4 |
Helen |
a) Elysian Plain
b) White Isle |
a) Menelaus.
b) Achilles. |
a) Apd.Ep.6.29.
b) Pau.3.19.13 |
Iphigenia |
White Isle |
Achilles |
Lib.Met.27 |
Lycus 2 |
Islands of the Blest |
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Apd.3.10.1 |
Medea |
Islands of the Blest |
Achilles |
Apd.Ep.5.5 |
Memnon |
Elysian Plain |
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QS.2.650. |
Menelaus |
Elysian Plain |
Helen |
Apd.Ep.6.29. |
Neoptolemus |
Elysian Plain |
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QS.3.760. |
Patroclus 1 |
White Isle |
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Pau.3.19.13 |
Peleus |
Island of the Blest. |
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Pin.Oly.2.78. |
Penelope |
Islands of the Blest |
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TEL.1. |
Rhadamanthys |
a) Islands of the Blest
b) Island of the Blest |
a) Alcmena
b) --- |
a) Lib.Met.33
b) Pin.Oly.2.78 |
Telegonus 3. |
Islands of the Blest |
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TEL.1. |
Selected references to the Islands of the Blest, the Elysian Plain, and the White Isle |
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Island(s) of the Blest
Hesiod, Works and
Days 155-173:
"But when earth had
covered this generation also, Zeus the son of Cronos made yet another, the
fourth, upon the fruitful earth, which was
nobler and more righteous, a god-like race
of hero-men who are called demi-gods, the
race before our own, throughout the
boundless earth. Grim war and dread battle
destroyed a part of them, some in the land
of Cadmus at seven-gated Thebes
when they fought for the flocks of Oedipus, and some, when it had
brought them in ships over the great sea
gulf to Troy for rich-haired Helen's sake: there death's end
enshrouded a part of them. But to the
others father Zeus the son of Cronos gave a living and an
abode apart from men, and made them dwell
at the ends of earth. And they live
untouched by sorrow in the islands of the
blessed along the shore of deep-swirling
Ocean, happy heroes for whom the
grain-giving earth bears honey-sweet fruit
flourishing thrice a year, far from the
deathless gods, and Cronos rules over them; for the
father of men and gods released him from
his bonds."
Pindar, Olympian Odes 2.51-85:
"… the reckless souls of those who have died on earth immediately pay the penaltyand for the crimes committed in this realm of Zeus there is a judge below
the earth; with hateful compulsion he
passes his sentence. But having the sun
always in equal nights and equal days, the
good receive a life free from toil, not
scraping with the strength of their arms
the earth, nor the water of the sea, for
the sake of a poor sustenance. But in the
presence of the honored gods, those who
gladly kept their oaths enjoy a life
without tears, while the others undergo a
toil that is unbearable to look at. Those
who have persevered three times, on either
side, to keep their souls free from all
wrongdoing, follow Zeus' road to the end, to the
tower of Cronos, where ocean breezes blow
around the island of the blessed, and
flowers of gold are blazing, some from
splendid trees on land, while water
nurtures others. With these wreaths and
garlands of flowers they entwine their
hands according to the righteous counsels
of Rhadamanthys, whom the great father,
the husband of Rhea whose throne is above all
others, keeps close beside him as his
partner. Peleus and Cadmus are counted among them,
and Achilles who was brought there by
his mother, when she had persuaded the
heart of Zeus with her prayersAchilles, who laid low Hector, the irresistible,
unswerving pillar of Troy, and who consigned to
death Memnon the Ethiopian, son of the Dawn. I have many swift arrows
in the quiver under my arm, arrows that
speak to the initiated. But the masses
need interpreters. The man who knows a
great deal by nature is truly skillful,
while those who have only learned chatter
with raucous and indiscriminate tongues in
vain like crows."
The DIOSCURI to Theoclymenus 2, in Euripides, Helen 1676:
"And it is destined
by the gods that the wanderer Menelaus will dwell in the islands of the blessed …"
Herodotus 3.26.1:
"So fared the
expedition against Ethiopia. As for those
who were sent to march against the
Ammonians, they set out and journeyed
from (Egyptian). Thebes with guides; and it
is known that they came to the city of
Oasis, inhabited by Samians said to be of
the Aeschrionian tribe, seven days' march
from Thebes across sandy desert; this
place is called, in the Greek language,
Islands of the Blest."
The above passage of Herodotus may be
compared with the following of Lycophron,
who says that "Islands of the Blest" were
a place near Boeotian Thebes, not in
Egyptian Thebes; Cassandra prophesies to her brother Hector 1:
Lycophron, Alexandra 1204ff.:
"And in the Islands
of the Blest thou shalt dwell, a mighty
hero, defender of the arrows of
pestilence, where the sown folk (that is, the SPARTI). of Ogygus (see for example Pau.9.5.1). …(etc.). … And the chiefs of the Ectenes (subjects of Ogygus, that is, Boeotians). shall
with libations celebrate thy glory in the
highest, even as the immortals."
Plato, Gorgias 523a:
"Socrates: Give ear
then, as they say, to a right fine story,
which you will regard as a fable, I fancy,
but I as an actual account; for what I am
about to tell you I mean to offer as the
truth. By Homer's account, Zeus, Poseidon, and Pluto divided the sovereignty
amongst them when they took it over from
their father. Now in the time of Cronos there was a law
concerning mankind, and it holds to this
very day amongst the gods, that every man
who has passed a just and holy life
departs after his decease to the Isles of
the Blest, and dwells in all happiness
apart from ill; but whoever has lived
unjustly and impiously goes to the dungeon
of requital and penance which, you know,
they call Tartarus. Of these men there
were judges in Cronos' time, and still of late
in the reign of Zeusliving men to judge the living upon the day when each was to breathe his last; and thus the cases were being decided amiss. So Pluto and the overseers from
the Isles of the Blest came before Zeus with the report that they found men passing over to either abode undeserving …"
Plato, Gorgias 526c:
"Sometimes, when he
discerns another soul that has lived a
holy life in company with truth, a private
man's or any othersespecially, as I
claim, Callicles, a philosopher's who has
minded his own business and not been a
busybody in his lifetimehe is struck
with admiration and sends it off to the
Isles of the Blest. And exactly the same
is the procedure of Aeacus: each of these two holds
a rod in his hand as he gives judgement;
but Minos sits as supervisor,
distinguished by the golden scepter that
he holds, as Odysseus in Homer tells how he saw
him'Holding a golden scepter,
speaking dooms to the dead.'"
Plato, Symposium 180b:
"This is the reason
why they honored Achilles above Alcestis, giving him his abode in
the Isles of the Blest."
Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 15.695:
"Dearest Harmodius,
thou art not dead, I ween, but they say
that thou art in the Islands of the Blest,
where swift-footed Achilles lives, and, they say, the
brave son of Tydeus, Diomedes."
Flavius Philostratus, Life of
Apollonius 5.2:
" … the Islands of the Blest are to be fixed by the limits of Libya where they rise towards the uninhabited promontory."
Elysian Plain
Proteus 2 to Menelaus.
Homer, Odyssey 4.561ff.:
"But for thyself, Menelaus, fostered of Zeus, it is not ordained that
thou shouldst die and meet thy fate in
horse-pasturing Argos, but to the Elysian plain
and the bounds of the earth will the
immortals convey thee, where dwells
fair-haired Rhadamanthys, and where life
is easiest for men. No snow is there, nor
heavy storm, nor ever rain, but ever does
Ocean send up blasts of the shrill-blowing
West Wind that they may give cooling to
men; for thou hast Helen to wife, and art in their
eyes the husband of the daughter of Zeus."
Hera to Thetis.
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4.811:
"When thy son shall come to the Elysian plain … it is fated that he be the husband of Medea, Aeetes' daughter …"
Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of
Troy 2.648:
"… and they scatter dust
Down on his grave, still shrill the
battle-cry,
In memory of Memnon, each to each.
But he in Hades' mansions, or
perchance
Amid the Blessed on the Elysian Plain Laugheth …"
Helen to Polyxena 1.
Seneca, Troades 942:
" … poor Polyxena, whom Achilles bids be given to him, and be sacrificed in presence of his ashes, that in the Elysian fields he may wed with thee …"
White Isle
Aethiopis 1:
"The Achaeans … lay out the body of Achilles, while Thetis, arriving
with the Muses and her sisters, bewails
her son, whom she afterwards catches away
from the pyre and transports to the White
Island."
Pausanias, Description of Greece 3.19.11:
"In the Euxine at
the mouths of the Ister is an island
sacred to Achilles. It is called White
Island, and its circumference is twenty
stades. It is wooded throughout and
abounds in animals, wild and tame, while
on it is a temple of Achilles with an image of
him."
Apollodorus, Epitome 5.5:
"The death of Achilles filled the army with
dismay, and they buried him with Patroclus in the White Isle, mixing
the bones of the two together. It is said
that after death Achilles consorts with Medea in the Isles of the
Blest." ().
The White Isle mentioned above by
Apollodorus and Pausanias should be the
same that Poseidon promised Thetis that he would give Achilles:
Quintus Smyrnaeus, The
Fall of Troy 3.770:
"Refrain from
endless mourning for thy son.
Not with the dead shall he abide, but
dwell
With Gods, as doth the might of Heracles,
And Dionysus ever fair. Not him
Dread doom shall prison in darkness
evermore,
Nor Hades keep him. To the light of Zeus
Soon shall he rise; and I will give to
him
A holy island for my gift: it lies
Within the Euxine Sea: there evermore A God thy son shall be …"
Yet Neoptolemus sees in a dream how the soul of his father Achilles leaves for the Elysian Plain:
Quintus Smyrnaeus, The
Fall of Troy 14.223:
"Then as a
wind-breath swift he (Achilles). fleeted thence,
And came to the Elysian Plain, whereto
A path to heaven reacheth, for the
feet
Ascending and descending of the
Blest." |
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Related sections |
Underworld, Map of the Underworld |
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Sources
Abbreviations |
See text above. Further reading: MARCOS MARTINEZ HERNANDEZ: Canarias en la Mitología (Cabildo Insular de Tenerife, 1992), and "Las Islas de los Bienaventurados …" in JUAN ANTONIO LÓPEZ FÉREZ (ED.): Mitos en la literatura griega arcaica y clásica (Ediciones Clásicas, 2002, Madrid).
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