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Afterlife In The Odyssey

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Let’s explore the afterlife in the Odyssey, Aeneid, and Inferno. In the book the Odyssey, Odysseus goes into the afterlife to find his way back home. In the book Aeneid, Aeneas goes into the afterlife to talk to his father. In the book Inferno, Dante goes on a journey with guide Virgil through hell. Each of these books have their own take on the afterlife. Each character meets a familiar face in the afterlife. When Odysseus arrived at the Kingdom of the Dead he runs into Elpenor one of his fallen companions. Elpenor told Homer to go buried his body in full armor or he will curse him (Homer, 251). Odysseus has been away for twenty years and the next person he saw was his dead mother, who died from grief waiting for his return. Odysseus meets …show more content…

The first circle of Hell is Limbo and that where Virgil is from. They do not suffer any physical torment, but they will never see God’s presence. A few people actually left Limbo when Jesus came, which were Abel, Noah, Moses, Abram, David, Israel with his father and children, and Rachel. He saw poets like Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan. He saw Electra, Hector, Aeneas, Caesar, Camilla, Penthesilea, and Latian King with Lavinia. He saw Brutus, Lucretia, Julia, Marcia, Cornelia, and Saladin. He saw Socrates, Plato, Diogenes, Thales, Anaxagoras, Empedocles, Zeno, Heraclitus, Dioscorides, Orpheus, Tully, Linus, Seneca, Euclid, Ptolemy, Hippocrates, Galen, Avicenna, and Averroes. The Second circle of Hell is Lustful and their punishment forever being whirled around in the dark in a stormy wind. Minos judges how far down the sinner goes just like in Aeneid. He saw Semiramis, Dido, Cleopatra, Helen of Troy, Paris, Tristan, Francesca, and Paolo. Inferno is different from the Aeneid because Dido does not have a punishment for her actions. The Third circle of Hell is Gluttons and their punishment is being consistently rain on with filth and excrement and horrible stench fills the air. A monster called a Cerberus guards the Gluttons. He saw Ciacco who tells him about the political future of Florence. The fourth circle of Hell is Avaricious and Prodigal and their punishment is being forced to push stones against each other, saying on one side “Why hoard” and the other side “Why waste”. Just like the book Odyssey, Charybdis who crashes its waves against each other to make these folks go around in circles. Just like the book Aeneid the river Styx is mention. The fifth circle of Hell is Wrathful and Slothful. The Wrathful punishment is constantly tear and mangle each other. The Slothful, who are beneath the slime of the Styx, punishment is forever choking. Dante saw Filippo Argenti getting

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