Later, Uranus’ son Cronus imprisoned the terrible Hecatoncheires and the Cyclopes (his brothers) in Tartarus until they were freed by Zeus and helped defeat Cronus. In some traditions, the practice of using Tartarus as a prison can be traced back even earlier, almost to the dawn of creation: Uranus, the first ruler of the cosmos, cast his children into Tartarus, where they remained for some time before finally breaking free and castrating him. Zeus, for example, cast his defeated foes into Tartarus-first Cronus and the Titans, and later the monster Typhoeus (Tartarus’ own son, perversely enough). Tartarus, a dark primordial landscape below the earth and even Hades, was the home of a handful of sinners and hated enemies of the gods. But in another version of the cosmogony, Tartarus was the child of Gaia and Aether (“Upper Air”). Instead, he came into existence spontaneously at the beginning of the cosmos, together with Gaia and Eros (and after Chaos). FamilyĪccording to Hesiod’s Theogony, Tartarus did not have any parents. In addition to imprisoned monsters and sinners, Tartarus was inhabited by a handful of grim gods associated with the Underworld, including Nyx (“Night”), Hemera (“Day”), Hypnos (“Sleep”), Thanatos (“Death”), Hades, and Persephone. These barriers helped to enclose the monsters and sinners imprisoned in Tartarus. Some said it was further separated from the rest of creation by the fiery river Phlegethon. Dark and grim, Tartarus was said to be far below the earth-lower even than Hades.Īccording to Homer, Tartarus was located in “the deepest gulf beneath the earth…as far beneath Hades as heaven is above earth.” Hesiod similarly located Tartarus “in the depth of the wide-pathed Earth,” so remote that “a brazen anvil falling down from heaven nine nights and days would reach the earth upon the tenth: and again, a brazen anvil falling from earth nine nights and days would reach Tartarus upon the tenth.” įar below the roots of the earth, Tartarus was surrounded by a bronze wall with iron gates. Tartarus was a primordial god but also a location. ![]() The darkness of Tartarus was sometimes emphasized through its epithets, which included words like ēeroeis, “murky.” Attributes Though technically a distinct part of the Underworld, the name “Tartarus” was sometimes used interchangeably with other names for the Underworld, such as “Hades” or “Erebus.” Titles and Epithets ![]() The etymology of “Tartarus” (Greek Τάρταρος, translit.
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