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Egyption drawings in tombs.
Ancient Egypt was very different from the other different civilizations. The person wouldn’t be cremated; the person would be wrapped in a cloth and was put into a sarcophagus. When the person was trying to obtain eternal life they would have to go on a quest to win that. Sorcerers would leave scrolls with spells on them; this was so that the person would be able to complete the quest much faster. These spells came from the “book of the dead”. The spirit would begin its journey by crossing a wide river and then pass a gate guarded by monsters, then go through the two “halls of truth” to be judged. As the spirit is answering the charges, they put its heart on a scale against a feather, if the spirits heart weighs more than the feather then it is devoured by a monster. If the heart weighed less than the feather then the spirit would obtain immortal life.
EGYPT
GREECE
In ancient Greece, it was custom to lay the body out so that people could mourn them. Richer people would stay out for days, but other people who poor would only lie out for a day. After this they would carefully dress the person and put a coin their mouth to pay their way across the river Styx. Then they would either be cremated or buried. In the underworld, the soul would pay Chiron to row them across the river Styx. Then the soul would be judged by Minos, Rhadamanthy, and Aeacus on how they acted in their first life. If the soul had been evil in their first life then they would be sent to Tartarus to be tortured for eternity. If the soul had been good then they would be sent to the Elysian Fields, this place was joyful and happy. Most people had been both good and bad, they would be sent to the Asphodel Fields, a gray boring place. This was what funerals and the underworld was like for Greeks.
The underworld was surrounded by a series of rivers. In the book The Everything Classical Mythology (Bolton 2002) describes the following rivers surrounding the Greek underworld: Acheron: The River of Woe Cocytuys: The River of Wailing Lethe: The River of Forgiveness Pyriphlegethon: The River of Fire Styx: The river of Hate To enter the underworld it was required to cross one of the rivers. A ferryman named Charon ferried the spirits of the dead across the rivers to the underworld. Both the Greeks and Romans buried their dead with a coin in the mouth to pay Charon for the trip. After crossing the river, the dead would pass gates guarded by a three-headed dog. Next the spirits came before one of the judges of the dead (one of the three sons of Zeus) who directed the soul to one of three areas of the underworld Elysium, the Asphodel Fields or Tartarus. Though in practice, it was only the gods or goddess who directed a person wither to Elysium or Tartarus. Elysium Elysium was the island for a chosen few. The gods permitted only heroes or very good people to enter into this area. Asphodel Fields The Asphodel Fields were for the spirits of the common Greek. The majority of the population would be directed to here after death. Those who went to the Asphodel Fields were people who were neither particularly good or evil during their lives. Tartarus Tartarus was an area for those who were to be punished. In this place punishments were severe and unending. It was to Tartarus that Zeus sent the Titans after winning the battles against them. Mortals also could end up in Tartarus for crimes such as raping a daughter, hording wealth, committing fraud, and other more severe crimes.
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Rome
Cybereus, the three headed dog prevented any living to enter the underworld.
