otherworld

Dolmen Celtic Artifact Menhir Ireland Poulnabrone

Otherworld

Otherworld The concept of an otherworld in historical Indo-European religion is reconstructed in comparative mythology. Its name is a calque of orbis alius (Latin for “other Earth/world”), a term used by Lucan in his description of the Celtic Otherworld. Comparable religious, mythological or metaphysical concepts, such as a realm of supernatural beings and a realm of the dead, are found in cultures throughout the world. Spirits...

Trundholm sun chariot pictured, Nordic Bronze Age, c. 1600 BC

Proto-Indo-European Mythology

Proto-Indo-European Mythology Proto-Indo-European mythology is the body of myths and deities associated with the Proto-Indo-Europeans, the hypothetical speakers of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language. Although the mythological motifs are not directly attested, since Proto-Indo-European-speakers lived In pre-literate societies, they have been reconstructed by scholars of comparative mythology from inherited similarities among Indo-European languages, which...

"Souls on the Banks of the Acheron", oil painting depicting Hermes in the underworld. Adolf Hirémy-Hirschl, 1898.

Greek Underworld

Greek Underworld In mythology, the Greek underworld is an otherworld where souls go after death. The original Greek idea of afterlife is that, at the moment of death, the soul is separated from the corpse, taking on the shape of the former person, and is transported to the entrance of the...