Transcription
[Applause] The way down to awareness is easy. The door to Black dis lies open day and night. But to retrace your steps and escape to the air above, this is the challenge and the [Music] burden. [Music] In hero mythologies around the world, one of the most difficult challenges that a hero faces is to go down to the underworld and return while still alive. This journey is called a catabasis. The word comes from ancient Greek, from katabo, meaning to go down. If the hero is successful, he can undertake an anabasis, a return to the light and the world of the living.
Like other parts of the hero's journey, the katabasis represents an obstacle that you need to face in your life. In the underworld, the hero will face death itself, and fear, and grief, and sorrow, and all of the darker elements of life. It won't be easy, but if the hero is successful, he'll be able to use his experience in the underworld to help him on the rest of his journey. He'll learn things about himself and the world that he had no concept of prior to going. He'll confront and overcome, hopefully, the negative aspects of himself and his life that are holding him back from what he truly wants to do in the world. This is the purpose of the katabasis.
The katabasis isn't for everyone. To attempt this journey, there needs to be something special about the person, something that sets them apart. In most katabasis mythology, this means a hero. This is different from gods who travel to the underworld, Dionysus, Juno, even Anana, because the gods are immortal. There really isn't much danger for them in going to the underworld. At best, it'll be unpleasant or difficult, but there is no danger that they won't make it back. This is also different from gods who travel back and forth between the different realms, Olympus, the world of the living, and the underworld regularly and without any trouble, like Hermes. One of Hermes's functions is, in fact, to bring the souls of the dead to the underworld. He goes down and comes back all the time. He is immortal, so this isn't really a katabasis.
Embedded in the narrative of katabasis is an element of danger. There must be a possibility that the person undertaking the katabasis might not make it out alive. And so, for this reason, it's primarily heroes who undertake this kind of journey. This isn't always the case. For example, the mortal woman Psyche undertakes a catabasis, even though in the rest of the stories we hear about her, she is not written as a hero. Nevertheless, she does attempt this. For the most part, though, katabasis journeys are for heroes.
The question of what makes a hero is too broad to cover in this video, but essentially, a hero must have something that marks them out as different from regular people. They have extraordinary qualities. Often times, they're royal, kings in their own right, or the sons of kings. They may even be the children or grandchildren of the gods themselves. Oh, goddess mother, don't abandon me in these uncertain times. Often times, heroes have a special skill or ability that sets them apart. Odysseus has an exceptional mind, and he uses it to his advantage, making disguises for himself, telling lies where it's advantageous for him. Achilles is the best fighter by far on the Greek side, and thanks to his mother's efforts, he's almost immortal. Jason, the leader of the Argonauts, spent his entire youth studying with the centaur Chiron. And heroes are people in whom the gods take a particular interest, either for the advantage of the hero, like the privileges and favor that Odysseus, or to their detriment, like the wrath of Poseidon, which delays Odysseus's destiny or extraordinary mission that they're seeking to carry out. And likewise, they're unique in the level of hardship that they are expected to face. Most importantly, heroes are mortal. This is what sets them apart from the immortal gods. Heroes are exceptional. They are favored by the gods. They are godlike, but they're not gods, and this is what makes confronting death so frightening. You shouldn't go in there through those dim shadows not empty-handed.
A katabasis is a specific mission with a defined purpose. Sometimes the katabasis is compelled, like with Heracles. The goddess Hera hated Heracles so much that she drove him mad, and as a result, he murdered his family. Stricken with grief and guilt, Heracles went to the Temple of Delphi, where the Oracle told him to serve King Eurystheus for 10 years. Eurystheus gave Heracles 12 Labors, 12 tasks that he needed to complete, the last of which was stealing Cerberus from the underworld and bringing him back. The beautiful mortal woman Psyche incurred the wrath of Venus by marrying her son Cupid. Venus thought Psyche was unworthy of her son, and she punished Psyche by giving her tasks that she needed to complete, the last of which was to take a box to the underworld and collect some of Persephone's beauty to bring it back to Venus.
But in other cases, a hero may choose to undertake this task by themselves. Odysseus and Diomedes are both seeking information, crucial information that they can only get in the underworld after being lost at sea for 10 years and under the wrath of Poseidon. Diomedes wants to know when, if ever, he and his crew will make it home. As a last resort, he goes to the underworld to consult the seer Tiresias, who has died. He can still deliver prophecies, but to gain access to his ghost, Odysseus needs to meet him in the underworld itself. Odysseus also seeks information from his father, Anchises, after fleeing Troy and finally landing in Italy. Odysseus needs to know what his destiny is, what he's meant to do, what the gods want from him. And after being beaten by wind and storms, encountering so much hostility and trouble, Odysseus just wants to see his father again. "Show me the way, open the holy gates, let me go and see the face of my dear father. I stole him away from flames and a thousand pursuing arrows and carried him back from the heart of the enemy on these shoulders. He was my companion on the journey all over the oceans. He shared in my dangers that came from sea and sky, although he was infirm with strength beyond what old age allows." For someone like Orpheus, his goals are more direct. When his wife Eurydice dies, Orpheus can't bear to live without her, but rather than end his own life, he decides to try and retrieve hers by traveling to the underworld to bring her back.
A key element in the katabasis story is the presence of a guide, someone who will help the hero by telling him where he needs to go and how he needs to proceed down into and through the underworld. Sometimes the guide will accompany the hero, but not always. Sometimes they simply deliver information and then allow the hero to proceed on his own. Odysseus learns about his katabasis from the nymph Circe, who tells him to seek out Tiresias and points him in the direction of the underworld, laying out everything he'll need to do to arrive there and to propitiate Tiresias's ghost. Aeneas's guide is the Sibyl of Cumae, a seer who warns Aeneas of the danger he faces in undertaking this journey and who ultimately, maybe reluctantly, accompanies him as he goes. In a parody of the catabasis guide, Psyche is instructed by a sentient tower that comes to life when she's attempting to throw herself off of it in despair. "Why, wretched thing, do you want to destroy yourself, leaping to your death like this? Why, when faced with this most recent danger and coming to your final task, are you giving up? When your spirit does inevitably separate from your body, you certainly go straight to the depths of Tartarus, but from there you'll never be able to return."
Before going to the underworld, the hero needs to be prepared. Odysseus needs to carry out certain sacrifices and rituals. Aeneas makes sacrifices as well with the Sibyl's help, but he also needs something else, something very special. "Hidden in a shady tree is a bough, gold in its leaves and tender stem. They say it's sacred to infernal Juno. A grove covers it completely in the shade of dark valleys conceals it. Only when one has plucked the golden leaf Cho from the tree are they allowed to go down into the hidden regions of the earth. Beautiful Proserpina decreed that this bough be brought to her as a gift. Once it's plucked, another appears in its place, and the fresh branch puts out leaves of the same metal. And so look deeply, search for it with your eyes, and once it has been found in the appropriate manner, take it with your hand, for it is willing and goes with you easily if the fates say so. Otherwise, you won't be able to conquer it by any force, nor tear it away with hard iron." When searching for the golden bough, Aeneas comes across two white doves sent by his mother, Venus, who guide him to it. "Rum, lead the way if there is a way, and direct me to the groves where the precious branch covers over fertile ground." The bough acts as a test of worthiness. It's one thing to find it; it's another for the fates to allow you to take it from the tree. Only those worthy of undertaking a katabasis journey will be able to break the bough off of the tree. Heracles finds his worth by being initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries before he goes. On Psyche's journey, she brings cakes as an offering for Cerberus and coins as an offering for Charon, the ferryman, as she goes. She needs to avoid temptations and traps designed to make her lose these items. Without these preparations, the hero doesn't stand a [Music] chance.
"Royal son of Laertes, Odysseus, and sit. Let the north wind lead the [Music] way." You need to understand, in the Greco-Roman cosmology, the underworld is a real place. It's a place that you can access, just like Mount Olympus is a real place. The afterlife is not an abstract plane separate from that of the living. Rather, it's a physical location that can be accessed through caves and other dark places of the world. These are places set apart. They're accessible, but to reach them is challenging. Psyche and Orpheus both access the underworld at Tainaron, modern-day Cape Matapan. Aeneas reaches it through Avernus, a volcanic crater located at Cumae in Italy. And Odysseus reaches the underworld via Lake Acheron. All of these places exist there, real places in the Mediterranean that can still be visited and accessed today. In the ancient world, they were difficult to get to, and they developed a reputation for being dangerous and even deadly. These types of dark and dangerous places are the perfect settings to be the gates of [Music] hell.
"When you cross to the other side of Oceanus in your ship, where there's a promontory and a fertile grove of pany tall pops and willows which drop their fruit, beach the ship near deep eddying Oceanus, and you yourself go to the moldering house of Hades." Next week, we'll explore the underworld with our heroes, examine its features, and meet some of its residents. I hope you enjoyed this video. I hope that you found it useful. If you did, you can let me know by leaving a thumbs up down below. I really do appreciate that. And if you have anything to contribute to the conversation about katabasis, I would love to know your thoughts in the comment section. And if you don't want to miss part two and you're not already subscribed to the channel, feel free to do so. Thank you so much for watching. I truly appreciate you being here, and I will see you in the next video.