Death completes the cycle of human existence, so Greek myth must address it in some way.

After this chapter you should:

• Know the nature and stories of Hades, the Olympian god of the underworld.
• Know some of the Greek customs associated with death, burial, and tending to the spirits of the dead.
• Be familiar with Odysseus's descent into the underworld as told by Homer.
• Be able to recount Plato's Myth of Er.
• Know the main events of Aeneas's trip to the underworld.
• Know the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.
• Be familiar with the religious myths of Orphism and Pythagoras's theory of metempsychosis.