Description
Book SynopsisRound Trip to Hades in the Eastern Mediterranean Tradition explores how the theme of visiting the Underworld and returning alive has been treated, transmitted and transformed in the ancient Greek and Byzantine traditions. The journey was usually a descent (katabasis) into a dark and dull place, where forgetfulness and punishment reigned, but since ‘everyone’ was there, it was also a place that offered opportunities to meet people and socialize. Famous Classical round trips to Hades include those undertaken by Odysseus and Aeneas, but this pagan topic also caught the interest of Christian writers. The contributions of the present volume allow the reader to follow the passage from pagan to Christian representations of Hades–a passage that may seem surprisingly effortless.
Trade Review"The collection can serve as an introduction, particularly to Classicists unfamiliar with the rich Byzantine traditions, as a brief tour of hell, a journey there and back again in the tradition of the katabasis narratives themselves, while for specialists some of the close studies yield intriguing insights into these complex materials." - Radcliffe G. Edmonds III, in: BMCR 2019.08.04 "il volume risponde in maniera egregia agli obiettivi prefissatisi, offrendo ai lettori una serie di specimina che declinano in modo originale i motivi della catabasi e del viaggio oltremondano." - Stith Thompson, in: The Byzantine Review 04.2022
