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Humans going to The Underworld

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John Stefan

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Why could Humans never go to the Underworld alive? And if they did would they be allowed back up?
 
John Stefan said:
Why could Humans never go to the Underworld alive? And if they did would they be allowed back up?
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According to the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, Orpheus (a human minstrel of the gods) went to the Underworld and returned from it. However it's true that, generally, humans did not go there, probably because of the fear that they would die there (since it is the home for the dead). Odysseus, who wanted to consult Theiresias in Hades, went as far as one of its gates [entrance caves], where he summoned that prophet to come up and talk to him. Return from Hades was not impossible in principle, since Kore does every year, though with the assistance of Hekate phosphoros and of Hermes (with a chariot -- in some pinakes, relief sculptures, like those in Western or Italic Lokroi). // It's a pity that the Demetrion at Lokroi Epizephyrioi was never restored, and neither was the one at Eleusis.
 
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