Elysian Fields
mutant_bunny 2010/08/24 11:27
mutant_bunny 2010/08/24 11:27
Hesiod called the Elysium – the Isle of Blessed. Those mortals, who were lucky to be favoured by the gods, will dwell in the Elysium, or Elysian Fields, were indeed blessed. The majority of the shades of the departed go to Plain of Asphodel.
In The Aeneid, Virgil gave several other names, such as Land of Joy, the Fortunate Wood and the Home of the Blest.
Here the shades were allowed to retain their memories of past lives. The environment in Elysium was peaceful and joyous, able to enjoy the pleasures they experience when alive, such as hunting, sports, music and feasts. The shades were able to reside in Elysium in eternal bliss. Rhadamanthys, son of Zeus and Europa, ruled the Elysian Fields.
Some say that Elysium, was not located in the Underworld, but on earth. Most who wrote about it, says Elysium was situated on the White Island, which was called Leuke, near the mouth of the Danube River, in the Black Sea. The Isles of the Blessed was something like the Valhalla for the heroes, in Norse myths. Or it was like the Otherworld or Sidhe of the Celtic myths, where the region was filled with sunlight, it never rain, yet the vegetation remained green.
Among those who lived there was Achilles, who married to Helen of Troy or to the Colchian sorceress Medea, in the afterlife. Other heroes, who lived in White Island, were his Achilles' cousin Ajax, and his two beloved friends - Patroclus and Antiochus, son of Nestor. The hero Aeneas found his father, Anchises in Elysium.
According to the Orphic Mysteries, the main goal of the believer is that to reach the Elysium, but it may take at least three lifetimes of living a virtuous life. The Orphic cult was influence by the Eastern belief of reincarnation. Only by living virtuous life, avoiding wine and eating meat, and abstinence from sex, could one gain entry to Elysian Fields.
In The Aeneid, Virgil gave several other names, such as Land of Joy, the Fortunate Wood and the Home of the Blest.
Here the shades were allowed to retain their memories of past lives. The environment in Elysium was peaceful and joyous, able to enjoy the pleasures they experience when alive, such as hunting, sports, music and feasts. The shades were able to reside in Elysium in eternal bliss. Rhadamanthys, son of Zeus and Europa, ruled the Elysian Fields.
Some say that Elysium, was not located in the Underworld, but on earth. Most who wrote about it, says Elysium was situated on the White Island, which was called Leuke, near the mouth of the Danube River, in the Black Sea. The Isles of the Blessed was something like the Valhalla for the heroes, in Norse myths. Or it was like the Otherworld or Sidhe of the Celtic myths, where the region was filled with sunlight, it never rain, yet the vegetation remained green.
Among those who lived there was Achilles, who married to Helen of Troy or to the Colchian sorceress Medea, in the afterlife. Other heroes, who lived in White Island, were his Achilles' cousin Ajax, and his two beloved friends - Patroclus and Antiochus, son of Nestor. The hero Aeneas found his father, Anchises in Elysium.
According to the Orphic Mysteries, the main goal of the believer is that to reach the Elysium, but it may take at least three lifetimes of living a virtuous life. The Orphic cult was influence by the Eastern belief of reincarnation. Only by living virtuous life, avoiding wine and eating meat, and abstinence from sex, could one gain entry to Elysian Fields.
#34 Myth&Mystery
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