Imagery of such myths and journeys can be found in both ancient and modern art, and the descend itself has been described as "the single most important myth for Modernist authors."ĭespite popular beliefs, the Realm of the Dead appears as a seemingly endless metropolitan city formed of numerous skyscrapers and buildings built of gleaming obsidian, all built around a giant pit where the core of the Realm of the Dead and the entrance to the Kokytos Prison is located.Īccording to Nico, the actual size of the realm is unknown, as it continuously grows each and every year without any warning, forming new territories for the chthonic pantheons to snatch in countless political and military struggles, as well as to accommodate the endlessly growing human population living on Earth. Other myths reinforce traditions that entrance of souls to the afterlife requires a proper observation of ceremony and/or funeral rites and offerings.Ī number of mythologies incorporate the concept of the souls of the dead making its own journey to the afterlife, with the dead needing to be taken across a defining obstacle such as a lake or a river to reach this destination. Common features of underworld myths are accounts of living people making journeys to the underworld, often for some heroic purposes.
The concept of a life after death is found in almost every civilization and "may be as old as humanity itself".