Alot of classic myths feature proptagonists that journey to Hell and back. They kidnap maidens and try to bring back the dead. In this paper, we wil study Theseus, one who went to the otherworld to bring back a buddy. Any kind of bible verses we have will not have anyone visiting the underworld, therefore it is interesting to view what other ethnicities thought of the afterlife.
Here is the basic theme of the story. Theseus, and his long time friend, Pirithous, say that they would make it their lifelong ambition to marry daughters of Zeus. Theseus, for his part chose Helen of Troy, and together they went in and kidnapped her, and stole her away until she she came of age for relations. Pirithous chose Persephone. Next they must travel to Hell in order to retrieve Persephone. As they traversed through Tartarus, they sat down on rocks. Once they sat down they could not move their arms and legs. He tried to get off the rock but could not. He was stuck to the rock, but so was his friend Pirithous, for he was crying out too. Along strolled the Furies with snakey hair and glowing torches and painful whips. Many months they sat in twilight darkness. He was perched their with no way to move, so sad for them both. Heracles finally stopped by and rescued him. Theseus persuaded Persephone to forgive him. He was let go and he got to return to the earth. But when he tried to free his friend, he could not. When Theseus returned to Athens, he found that Helen had been taken from him.
Interesting, isn’t it the picture we have painted of the otherworld. Most would say it is like a no hold barred place. Both friends are able to gallavant in the otherworld with out any hassle. But then they are snagged and crazy monsters menace them with no thought for compassion. Bible narratives have us look at pain being inflicted in Hell. The bible verses are crystal clear within the New Testomony that there is pain with regard to the wicked. Yet the difference is in the classic stories, the pain inflicted is not neccessarily based on a judicial process. It is more fickle, based on the whims of those meting it out.
What all of us see with this story as well as any comparisons to bible verses is they agree with the truth that the underworld is definitely an undesired location, filled with despair. How that grief is doled out is vastly different.