The ability to enter the realm of the dead while still alive, and to return, is proof of the classical hero's exceptional status as more than mortal. The nature of the quest differs sometimes an object or the rescue of a loved one is sought, while in other stories knowledge and secret revelations is the goal. The hero or upper-world deity journeys to the underworld or to the land of the dead and returns. The trip to the underworld is a mytheme of comparative mythology found in a diverse number of religions from around the world. 5 Other examples in religious and mythological literature.One of the most famous examples is that of Odysseus, who performs something on the border of a nekyia and a katabasis in book 11 of The Odyssey he visits the border of the realms before calling the dead to him using a blood ritual, with it being disputed whether he was at the highest realm of the underworld or the lowest edge of the living world where he performed this. A katabasis is similar to a nekyia or necromancy, where someone experiences a vision of the underworld or its inhabitants a nekyia does not generally involve a physical visit, however. The term is also used in a broad sense of any journey to the realm of the dead in other mythological and religious traditions. Its original sense is usually associated with Greek mythology and Classical mythology more broadly, where the protagonist visits the Greek underworld, also known as Hades. Odysseus consults the soul of the prophet Tiresias in his katabasis during Book 11 of The Odyssey.Ī katabasis or catabasis ( Ancient Greek: κατάβασις, from κατὰ "down" and βαίνω "go") is a journey to the underworld.
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