The Classical Greeks were creative with their tales. Yes, they layered onto their myths in song and poems, yet the core of their beliefs held strong. Let’s take a look at a few and compare with the Bible.
We shall begin as we survey the terrain of the Underworld and then we will talk to some of its inhabitants. First things first, to enter the realm of the dead you would go through the Taenarus cave. The cave is near Marmari, a village on an island in the southern Peloponnese. What is weird is that even the dead, every once and a while can go to the upper world at the very edge of the world. The great boundary between our world and theirs is the river Styx. It has for its tributaries the rivers Acheron, Aornis, Cocytus, Phlegethon, and Lethe. The names of the rivers mean hated, woe, burning, wailing, bridles, forgetfulness. The names of the rivers themselves let you know just what they thought of the underworld. What I find intriguing is that the tributaries were normally cut down to four when recorded, but not always the same names were given.
This makes me scratch my head. Thebible verses we currently have for your Paradise in Eden demonstrate that there were 1 primary river which well watered the paradise with 4 feeder rivers. It is interesting to note that the river Styx also had, as an mean average four tributaries. What if the fabled Garden that was in Eden is everlasting, but due to the Fall is not decaying as Hell. What if it is our ancestral home and the place were all souls gravitate to after death. Biblical quotes provide us with no clue, it is only an interesting theory.
And now for some of the figure that haunt Hell, the first is the ferryman of Hell. He is the one who ferries the dead across the river Styx, if you can pay him. If you have no coin, you could be spending eternity looking from the outside in. Cerberus is the guard dog of Hell. Hades, the guy who runs the place, and his wife who is Queen of the Otherworld they keep the place running. And also we have the Titan who reside there. The Titans are chained in lower Tartarus, where they spend all of eternity. Oddly enough, the bible verses express those who sinned way back when that stand in depressing jails. The Greek word used in the passage is Tartarus. It seems that the Bible itself could be suggesting that this tale is somewhat credible. The Greek tale may have a few grains of truth that was later layered upon.