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{{Short description|Afterlife in Greek mythology}}
{{Other uses|Elysium (disambiguation)}}
{{About|the place in Greek mythology|other uses|Elysium (disambiguation)|and|Elysian (disambiguation)}}
{{Redirect|Elysian}}
{{Redirect|Elysion|the luxury vehicle|Honda Elysion}}
{{Redirect|Elysion|the minivan produced by Honda|Honda Elysion|the Greek gothic-metal band|Elysion (band)|the American deathcore band|Elysia (band)}}
{{Greek underworld}}
[[File:Goethe Elysium crop.jpg|thumb|''[[Goethe]]'s Ankunft im Elysia'' by [[Franz Nadorp]]]]
'''Elysium''' ({{IPAc-en|ɪ|ˈ|l|ɪ|z|i|.|ə|m|,_|ɪ|ˈ|l|ɪ|ʒ|ə|m}}<ref>{{cite book |title=Longman Pronunciation Dictionary |url=https://archive.org/details/longman-pronunciation-dictionary/page/257/mode/2up |first=John C. |last= Wells |publisher=Longman |location=Harlow, England |year=2000 |origyear=1990 |edition=new |isbn=978-0-582-36467-7 |page=257}}</ref>), otherwise known as the '''Elysian Fields''' ({{langx|grc|Ἠλύσιον πεδίον}}, ''Ēlýsion pedíon'') or '''Elysian Plains''', is a conception of the [[afterlife]] that developed over time and was maintained by some Greek religious and philosophical sects and cults. It was initially separated from the [[Greek underworld]] – the realm of [[Hades]]. Only mortals related to the gods and other heroes could be admitted past the river [[Styx]]. Later, the conception of who could enter was expanded to include those chosen by the gods, the righteous, and the heroic. They would remain at the Elysian Fields after death, to live a blessed and happy afterlife, and indulge in whatever they had enjoyed in life.<ref name=Peck>{{cite book|last=Peck|first=Harry Thurston|title=Harper's Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities, Volume 1|year=1897|publisher=Harper|location=New York|pages=588, 589|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RacKAAAAIAAJ}}</ref><ref name=Sacks>{{cite book|last=Sacks|first=David|title=A Dictionary of the Ancient Greek World|year=1997|publisher=Oxford University Press US|isbn=0-19-511206-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofanci00sack/page/8 8, 9]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofanci00sack/page/8}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Zaidman|first=Louise Bruit|title=Religion in the Ancient Greek City|year=1992|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=United Kingdom|isbn=0-521-42357-0|page=78}}</ref><ref name=Clare>{{cite book|last=Clare|first=Israel Smith|title=Library of Universal History, Volume 2: Ancient Oriental Nations and Greece|year=1897|publisher=R. S. Peale, J. A. Hill|location=New York}}</ref><ref name=Petrisko>{{cite book|last=Petrisko|first=Thomas W.|title=Inside Heaven and Hell: What History, Theology and the Mystics Tell Us About the Afterlife|year=2000|publisher=St. Andrews Productions|location=McKees Rocks, PA|isbn=1-891903-23-3|pages=12–14}}</ref><ref name=Ogden>{{cite book|last=Ogden|first=Daniel|title=A Companion to Greek Religion|url=https://archive.org/details/companiontogreek00ogde_467|url-access=limited|year=2007|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|location=Singapore|isbn=978-1-4051-2054-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/companiontogreek00ogde_467/page/n114 92], 93}}</ref>


The Elysian Fields were, according to [[Homer]], located on the western edge of the Earth by the stream of [[Okeanos]].<ref name=Peck/> In the time of the Greek poet [[Hesiod]], Elysium would also be known as the "[[Fortunate Isles]]", or the "Isles (or Islands) of the Blessed", located in the western ocean at the end of the earth.<ref name=Peck/><ref name=Westmoreland>{{cite book|last=Westmoreland|first=Perry L.|title=Ancient Greek Beliefs|year=2007|publisher=Lee And Vance Publishing Co|isbn=978-0-9793248-1-9|page=70}}</ref><ref name=Rengel>{{cite book|last=Rengel|first=Marian|title=Greek and Roman Mythology A to Z|year=2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-60413-412-4|page=50}}</ref> The Isles of the Blessed would be reduced to a single island by the [[Thebes, Greece|Theban]] poet [[Pindar]], describing it as having shady parks, with residents indulging in athletic and musical pastimes.<ref name=Peck/><ref name=Sacks/>
{{Refimprove|date=September 2008}}


The ruler of Elysium varies from author to author: Pindar and Hesiod name [[Cronus]] as the ruler,<ref name=Evelyn-White>{{cite book|last=Evelyn-White|first=Hugh G.|title=The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation|year=1914|publisher=William Heinemann Ltd|location=London|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0132:card=140}}</ref> while the poet [[Homer]] in the ''[[Odyssey]]'' describes fair-haired [[Rhadamanthus]] dwelling there.<ref name=Ogden/><ref name=Westmoreland/><ref name=Burkert>{{cite book|last=Burkert|first=Walter|title=Greek Religion|year=1985|publisher=Blackwell|location=United Kingdom|isbn=0-631-15624-0|page=198}}</ref><ref name=Murray>{{cite book|last=Murray|first=A.T.|title=Homer, The Odyssey with an English Translation|year=1919|via=Perseus Digital Library Project|publisher=Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge, MA|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Od.+24.10&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136}}</ref> "The Isle of the Blessed" is also featured in the 2nd-century comedic novel ''[[A True Story]]'' by [[Lucian|Lucian of Samosata]].
{{Greek myth (Hades)}}
In [[Greek mythology]], '''Elysium''' ([[Greek language|Greek]]: '''{{polytonic|Ἠλύσια πεδία}}''') was a section of the Underworld (the spelling ''Elysium'' is a [[Latin Language|Latinization]] of the [[Greek language|Greek]] word '''{{polytonic|Ἠλύσιον}}''' '''''Elysion'''''). The [[Elysian Fields]], or the Elysian Plains, were the final resting places of the souls of the heroic and the virtuous.


==Etymology==
==Etymology==
The word ''Elysium'' derives via [[Latin]] from the [[Ancient Greek]] ''Ēlysion (pedion)'' "Elysian (field)", ultimately of unknown origin.<ref>{{OEtymD|Elysium}}</ref> [[Eustathius of Thessalonica]]<ref>''Commentarii ad Homerii Odisseam'', [https://archive.org/stream/commentariiadhom01eust#page/182/mode/2up IV, v. 563].</ref> [[Folk etymology|associated]] the word ''Elysion'' ({{lang|grc|Ἠλύσιον}}) with {{lang|grc|ἀλυουσας}} ''alyousas'' (itself from the verb {{lang|grc|ἀλύω}} ''alyō'', "to be deeply stirred from joy")<ref>Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. ''A Greek-English Lexicon''. revised and augmented throughout by. Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aalphabetic+letter%3D*a%3Aentry+group%3D96%3Aentry%3Da%29lu%2Fw sub voce].</ref> or from {{lang|grc|ἀλύτως}} ''alytōs'', synonymous of {{lang|grc|ἀφθάρτως}} ({{lang|grc|ἄφθαρτος}}, "incorruptible"),<ref>''A Greek-English Lexicon'' ec. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aalphabetic+letter%3D*a%3Aentry+group%3D366%3Aentry%3Da%29%2Ffqartos s. v.]</ref> referring to souls' life in this place. Another suggestion is from the stem {{lang|grc|ελυθ-}} ''elyth-'', itself from {{lang|grc|ἔρχομαι}} ("to come").<ref>''Storia vera. Dialoghi dei morti'', [[Lucian]], [[Oscar Mondadori]], Milano, 1991 (2010), p. 79.</ref>
Elysium is an obscure name that evolved from a designation of a place or person [[Thunderbolt|struck by lightning]], ''enelysion, enelysios.''<ref name=burkert198>[[Walter Burkert]], ''Greek Religion'', 1985. p. 198.</ref> This could be a reference to [[Zeus]], the god of lightning/Jupiter, so "lightning-struck" could be saying that the person was blessed (struck) by Zeus (/lightning/fortune). Egyptologist [[Jan Assmann]] has also suggested that Greek ''Elysion'' may have instead been derived from the [[Ancient Egyptian Language|Egyptian]] term ''[[Aaru|ialu]]'' (older ''iaru''), meaning "reeds," with specific reference to the "[[Reed fields]]" (Egyptian: ''[[Aaru|sekhet iaru]]'' / ''ialu''), a paradisiacal land of plenty where the dead hoped to spend eternity.<ref>Assmann, Jan (2001). ''Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt''. Cornell University Press. p. 392</ref> <!--where is this etymology discussed?It may also derive from ( e"out" + lys"extricate" as for example in the word "analyse" literally meaning "to extricate an issue from ambiguity" + the suffix -ium "usually when referring to a place "); therefore, it may mean a place where one can be totally free. Those named 'Elysia' are thought of as angles or blessed persons that have been recognised for there virtue, bravery or kind nature, ans as such have been given a placein the elysian fields, where they will tend to the resting souls and keep peace.-->

==Ruler==
The ruler of Elysium varies from author to author; [[Pindar]] names the ruler as [[Cronus|Kronos]], released from [[Tartarus]] and ruling in a palace:

{{quote|And those that have three times kept to their oaths,

Keeping their souls clean and pure,

Never letting their hearts be defiled by the taint

Of evil and injustice,

And barbaric venality,

They are led by Zeus to the end:

To the palace of Kronos}}

Other authors claim that Kronos remained in Tartarus for all eternity, and the judge was another, sometimes [[Rhadamanthys]].


==Classical literature==
==Classical literature==
[[File:Base of a ancient greek vase - NAMA 4502.JPG|thumb|Ancient Greek funerary vase (5th century BC). On the face a young woman and a young man pick fruit from a tree. This depicts the afterlife in the Elysian Fields, where the blessed dead enjoyed golden fruits.]]
Two [[Homer]]ic passages in particular established for Greeks the nature of the [[Afterlife]]: the dreamed apparition of the dead [[Patroclus]] in the ''[[Iliad]]'' and the more daring boundary-breaking visit in Book 11 of the ''[[Odyssey]]''. Greek traditions concerning funerary ritual were reticent, but the Homeric examples encouraged other heroic visits, in the myth cycles centered around [[Theseus]] and [[Heracles]].<ref>[[Joseph Campbell]], ''The Hero with a Thousand Faces'', 1948.{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref><ref>Carl A.P. Ruck and Danny Staples, ''The World of Classical Myth'', 1994.{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref>
In Homer's ''Odyssey'', Elysium is described as a paradise:
{{Blockquote|to the Elysian plain...where life is easiest for men. No snow is there, nor heavy storm, nor ever rain, but ever does Ocean send up blasts of the shrill-blowing West Wind that they may give cooling to men.|2=Homer, ''Odyssey'' (4.560–565)<ref name=Murray/>|source=}}


The Greek poet Hesiod refers to the "Isles of the Blest" in his [[didactic]] poem ''[[Works and Days]]''. In his book ''Greek Religion'', Walter Burkert notes the connection with the motif of far-off [[Dilmun]]: "Thus Achilles is transported to the [[Snake Island (Black Sea)|White Isle]] and becomes the Ruler of the [[Black Sea]], and [[Diomedes]] becomes the divine lord of an [[Adriatic]] island".<ref name=Burkert/>
The Elysian Fields lay on the western margin of the earth, by the encircling stream of [[Oceanus]], and there the mortal relatives of the king of the gods were transported, without tasting death, to enjoy an immortality of bliss (''Odyssey'' 4.563). Lesser spirits were not quite as fortunate: an eerie passage describes the twittering bat-like ghosts of Penelope's slain suitors, led by [[Hermes]]:


{{Blockquote|And they live untouched by sorrow in the islands of the blessed along the shore of deep-swirling Ocean, happy heroes for whom the grain-giving earth bears honey-sweet fruit flourishing thrice a year, far from the deathless gods, and Cronos rules over them|2=Hesiod, ''Works and Days'' (170)<ref name=Evelyn-White/>}}
{{quote|down the dank


Writing in the 5th century BCE, Pindar's ''Odes'' describes the reward waiting for those living a righteous life:
mouldering paths and past the [[Oceanus|Ocean]]'s streams they went
{{Blockquote|The good receive a life free from toil, not scraping with the strength of their arms the earth, nor the water of the sea, for the sake of a poor sustenance. But in the presence of the honored gods, those who gladly kept their oaths enjoy a life without tears, while the others undergo a toil that is unbearable to look at. Those who have persevered three times, on either side, to keep their souls free from all wrongdoing, follow Zeus' road to the end, to the tower of Cronus, where ocean breezes blow around the island of the blessed, and flowers of gold are blazing, some from splendid trees on land, while water nurtures others. With these wreaths and garlands of flowers they entwine their hands according to the righteous counsels of Rhadamanthys, whom the great father, the husband of Rhea whose throne is above all others, keeps close beside him as his partner|2=Pindar, ''Odes'' (2.59–75)<ref>{{cite book |last=Svarlien |first=Diane |title=Odes |year=1990 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0162:book=O.:poem=2}}</ref>}}


In [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'', [[Aeneas]], like [[Heracles]] and [[Odysseus]] before him, travels to the underworld. Virgil describes those who will travel to Elysium, and those who will travel to [[Tartarus]]:
and past the White Rock and the Sun's Western Gates and past


{{Blockquote|Night speeds by, And we, Aeneas, lose it in lamenting. Here comes the place where cleaves our way in twain. Thy road, the right, toward Pluto's dwelling goes, And leads us to Elysium. But the left Speeds sinful souls to doom, and is their path To Tartarus th' accurst.|2=Virgil, ''Aeneid'' (6.539)<ref>{{cite book |last=Williams |first=Theodore C. |year=1910 |publisher=The Perseus Digital Library |title=Verg. A. 6.539 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0054%3Abook%3D6%3Acard%3D535}}</ref>}}
the Land of Dreams, and soon they reached the [[Asphodel Meadows|fields of asphodel]]


Virgil goes on to describe an encounter in Elysium between Aeneas and his father [[Anchises]]. Virgil's Elysium knows perpetual spring and shady groves, with its own sun and lit by its own stars: ''solemque suum, sua sidera norunt''.
where the dead, the burnt-out wraiths of mortals make their home|''Odyssey'' 24.5-9|translation by [[Robert Fagles]]}}


{{Blockquote|In no fix'd place the happy souls reside. In groves we live, and lie on mossy beds, By crystal streams, that murmur thro' the meads: But pass yon easy hill, and thence descend; The path conducts you to your journey's end." This said, he led them up the mountain's brow, And shews them all the shining fields below. They wind the hill, and thro' the blissful meadows go. |2=Virgil, ''Aeneid'' (6.641)<ref>{{cite book |last=Dryden |first=John |title=Verg. A. 6.641 |publisher=The Perseus Digital Library Project |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Verg.+A.+6.641&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0052}}</ref>}}
[[Hesiod]] refers to the [[Fortunate Isles|Isles of the Blessed]] (''makarôn nêsoi'') in the Western Ocean (''[[Works and Days]]''). Walter Burkert notes the connection with the motif of far-off [[Dilmun]]: "Thus Achilles is transported to the [[Snake Island (Black Sea)|White Isle]], which may refer to [[Mount Teide]] on [[Tenerife]], whose volcano is often snowcapped and as the island was sometimes called the white isle by explorers, and becomes the Ruler of the [[Black Sea]], and [[Diomedes]] becomes the divine lord of an [[Adriatic]] island."<ref name=burkert198/>


In the Greek historian [[Plutarch]]'s ''Life of Sertorius'', Elysium is described as:
[[Pindar]] makes it a single island:
{{Blockquote|These are two in number, separated by a very narrow strait; they are ten thousand [[furlong]]s distant from Africa, and are called the Islands of the Blest. They enjoy moderate rains at long intervals, and winds which for the most part are soft and precipitate dews, so that the islands not only have a rich soil which is excellent for plowing and planting, but also produce a natural fruit that is plentiful and wholesome enough to feed, without toil or trouble, a leisured folk. Moreover, an air that is salubrious, owing to the climate and the moderate changes in the seasons, prevails on the islands. For the north and east winds which blow out from our part of the world plunge into fathomless space, and, owing to the distance, dissipate themselves and lose their power before they reach the islands; while the south and west winds that envelope the islands sometimes bring in their train soft and intermittent showers, but for the most part cool them with moist breezes and gently nourish the soil. Therefore a firm belief has made its way, even to the Barbarians, that here is the Elysian Field and the abode of the blessed, of which Homer sang. |2=Plutarch, ''Life of Sertorius, VIII, 2''<ref>{{cite book |last=Perrin |first=Bernadotte |title=Plutarch's Lives |year=1919 |via=Perseus Digital Library Project |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, MA |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plut.+Sert.+8&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0062 |access-date=25 June 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Thayer |first=Bill |title=The Life of Sertorius |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Sertorius*.html |work=The Parallel Lives Plutarch |publisher=The Loeb Classical Library |access-date=19 June 2011}}</ref>}}

Diodorus, in his first book, suggested that the Elysian fields which were much celebrated in ancient Greek poetry, corresponded to the beautiful plains in the neighborhood of Memphis which contained the tombs of that capital city of Egypt.<ref>Seymer, John Gunning. (1835) [https://archive.org/details/romanceanciente00unkngoog/page/n88 <!-- pg=72 quote=elysian fields memphis egypt. --> The Romance of Ancient Egypt: Second Series]. p 72.</ref><ref>Priestley, Joseph. [https://archive.org/stream/matterandspirit01prieuoft#page/208/mode/2up Disquisitions on Matter and Spirit]. p. 209</ref> He further intimated that the Greek prophet Orpheus composed his fables about the afterlife when he traveled to Egypt and saw the customs of the Egyptians regarding the rites of the dead.<ref>Toland, John. [https://archive.org/stream/letterstoserena00tolagoog#page/n91/mode/2up Letters to Serena], History of the Immortality of the Soul. pp. 46–52</ref>
{{quote|And those that have three times kept to their oaths,

Keeping their souls clean and pure,

Never letting their hearts be defiled by the taint

Of evil and injustice,

And barbaric veniality,

They are led by Zeus to the end:

To the palace of Kronos,

Where soothing breezes off the Ocean

Breathe over the Isle of the Blessed:

All around flowers are blazing with a

Dazzling light:

Some springing from the shining trees,

Others nourished by the water from the sea:

With circlets and garlands of flowers they

Crown their hands,

Ruled by the steadfast councils of

Rhadamanthys:

Rhadamanthys,

The great Judge,

Whom the Father,

The husband of Rhea,

Whose throne is higher than all:

The great Father keeps him by his side,

His loyal advisor.

Peleus and Kadmos both are there,

And Akhilleus, brought there by his mother,

After she had conquered the heart of Zeus with her

Prayers}}

In Elysium where fields of the pale liliaceous [[asphodel]], and [[poplar]]s grew, there stood the gates that led to the house of ''Ais'' (in Attic dialect "[[Hades]]").

In [[Virgil|Virgil's]] [[Aeneid]], [[Aeneas]], like [[Heracles]] and [[Odysseus]] before him, travels to the underworld. [[Virgil]] describes an encounter in Elysium between [[Aeneas]] and his father [[Anchises]]. Virgil's Elysium knows perpetual spring and shady groves, with its own sun and lit by its own stars: ''solemque suum, sua sidera norunt'' (''Aeneid'', 6.641).

Hades is the ruler of the underworld, which includes the Elysian Fields, [[Tartarus]], and [[Asphodel Meadows|Asphodel]].


==Post-classical literature==
==Post-classical literature==
Elysium was a pagan expression that passed into the usage of the [[Christian]] [[patristic]] writers as a synonym for [[paradise]].
Elysium as a pagan expression for paradise would eventually pass into usage by early [[Patristic|Christian]] writers.


In [[Dante]]'s epic ''[[The Divine Comedy]]'', Elysium is mentioned as the abode of the blessed in the lower world; mentioned in connection with the meeting of Aeneas with the shade of Anchises in the Elysian Fields.<ref name=Toynbee>{{cite book|last=Toynbee|first=Paget|title=A Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante|year=1968|publisher=Oxford University Press|url=http://etcweb.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/dante/DispToynbeeByTitOrId.pl?INP_ID=215059|access-date=2011-06-26|archive-date=2019-12-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191210073653/http://etcweb.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/dante/DispToynbeeByTitOrId.pl?INP_ID=215059|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In [[Dante|Dante's]] epic ''[[The Divine Comedy]]'', [[Limbo]] is purposefully described to much resemble the Elysian Fields. This is due in large part to Limbo's being described as the resting place of, among others, virtuous pagans who lived before the time of [[Christ]]. Being the first and uppermost layer of Hell, Limbo is closed off from [[God]]; the mood is one of sadness, since heaven is close yet unattainable.
{{Blockquote|With such affection did Anchises' shade reach out, if our greatest muse is owed belief, when in Elysium he knew his son.|2=Dante, ''Divina Commedia'' (Par Canto XV Line 25–27)<ref>{{cite web|last=Hollander|first=Robert|title=The Divine Comedy|url=http://etcweb.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/dante/campuscgi/mpb/GetCantoSection.pl?LANG=2&INP_POEM=Par&INP_SECT=15&INP_START=20&INP_LEN=15|publisher=Princeton Dante Project|access-date=26 June 2011}}</ref>}}


In the [[Renaissance]], the heroic population of the Elysian Fields tended to outshine its formerly dreary pagan reputation; the Elysian Fields borrowed some of the bright allure of [[paradise]]. In [[Paris]], the [[Champs-Élysées]] retain their name of the Elysian Fields, first applied in the late 16th century to a formerly rural outlier beyond the formal [[parterre]] gardens behind the royal [[France|French]] palace of the [[Tuileries]].
In the [[Renaissance]], the heroic population of the Elysian Fields tended to outshine its formerly dreary pagan reputation; the Elysian Fields borrowed some of the bright allure of [[paradise]]. In [[Paris]], the [[Champs-Élysées]] retain their name of the Elysian Fields, first applied in the late 16th century to a formerly rural outlier beyond the formal [[parterre]] gardens behind the royal [[France|French]] palace of the [[Tuileries]].


After the [[Renaissance]], an even cheerier Elysium evolved for some poets. Sometimes it is imagined as a place where heroes have continued their interests from their lives. Others suppose it is a location filled with feasting, sport, song; Joy is the "daughter of Elysium" in [[Friedrich Schiller]]'s [[Ode to Joy|ode "To Joy"]]. <!--(''Examples of this other picture of Elysium are needed here, if available'')-->
After the [[Renaissance]], an even cheerier Elysium evolved for some poets. Sometimes it is imagined as a place where heroes have continued their interests from their lives. Others suppose it is a location filled with feasting, sport, song; Joy is the "daughter of Elysium" in [[Friedrich Schiller]]'s "[[Ode to Joy]]". The poet [[Heinrich Heine]] explicitly parodied Schiller's sentiment in referring to the [[Shabbat|Jewish Sabbath]] food [[cholent]] as the "daughter of Elysium" in his poem "Princess Shabbat".<ref>{{cite web|last=Friedlander|first=Joseph|title=Princess Sabbath|url=http://www.bartleby.com/98/237.html|work=The Standard Book of Jewish Verse|access-date=3 January 2016}}</ref> <!--(''Examples of this other picture of Elysium are needed here, if available'')-->


Christian and classical attitudes to the afterlife are contrasted by [[Christopher Marlowe]]'s ''[[Doctor Faustus (play)|Doctor Faustus]]'' saying, "This word 'damnation' terrifies not me, For I confound hell in elysium."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xUqluJnAlsAC&pg=PA38|title=The Heart of His Mystery: Shakespeare and the Catholic Faith in England Under Elizabeth and James|first1=Waterfield John|last1=Waterfield|first2=John|last2=Waterfield|date=1 December 2016|publisher=iUniverse|isbn=9781440143434|via=Google Books}}</ref>
When in [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Twelfth Night]]'' shipwrecked Viola is told "This is Illyria, lady.", "And what should I do in Illyria? My brother he is in Elysium." is her answer: "Elysium" for her and her first Elizabethan hearers simply means [[Paradise]]. Similarly, in [[Mozart]]'s opera ''[[The Magic Flute]]'', Elysium is mentioned in Act II during Papageno's solo while he describes what it would be like if he had his dream girl: "Des Lebens als Weiser mich freun, Und wie im Elysium sein." ("Enjoy life as a wiseman, And feel like I'm in Elysium.")


In [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Twelfth Night]]'' when Viola says "My brother he is in Elysium", she and Elizabethan audiences understood this as [[Paradise]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Hylton|first=Jeremy|title=Twelfth Night, Act 1, Scene 2|url=http://shakespeare.mit.edu/twelfth_night/twelfth_night.1.2.html|work=The Complete Works of William Shakespeare|publisher=MIT|access-date=26 June 2011}}</ref> In [[Mozart]]'s ''[[The Magic Flute]]'' Papageno compares being in Elysium to winning his ideal woman: "Des Lebens als Weiser mich freun, Und wie im Elysium sein." ("Enjoy life as a wiseman, And feel like I'm in Elysium.")
In [[John Ford]]'s 1633 tragedy ''[['Tis Pity She's a Whore]]'' Giovanni, after sealing his requited love for his sister Annabella with twin oaths, states' "I would not change this minute for Elyzium."


[[Miguel de Cervantes]]' ''[[Don Quixote]]'' describes [[Dulcinea del Toboso]] as "beauty superhuman, since all the impossible and fanciful attributes of beauty which the poets apply to their ladies are verified in her; for her hairs are gold, her forehead Elysian fields".
The [[New Orleans]] neighborhood of Elysian Fields in [[Tennessee Williams]]' ''[[A Streetcar Named Desire (play)|A Streetcar Named Desire]]'' is the déclassé purgatory where Blanche Dubois lives with Stanley and Stella Kowalski. New Orleans' Elysian Fields provides the second act setting of [[Elmer Rice]]'s ''[[The Adding Machine]]''.


In [[John Ford (dramatist)|John Ford's]] 1633 tragedy ''[['Tis Pity She's a Whore]]'' Giovanni seals his requited love for his sister Annabella, stating "And I'de not change it for the best to come: A life of pleasure in Elyzium".<ref>{{cite book|last=Ford|first=John|title='Tis Pity She's a Whore and The Broken Heart|year=1915|publisher=D.C. Heath & Co|location=Boston|pages=[https://archive.org/details/tispityshesawho01fordgoog/page/n166 105]|url=https://archive.org/details/tispityshesawho01fordgoog}}</ref>
In the fiction of [[J. R. R. Tolkien]], the Elysian [[Undying Lands]], the home of the gods, elves, and a select few others, can only be reached by crossing the western sea, much as one would have to cross the stream of [[Oceanus]] to reach the [[Fortunate Isles]].


==Modern influence==
In his poem [[Middlesex]], [[John Betjeman]] describes how the heroine Elaine hurries
[[File:Cabinet de cire, Musée de la Révolution française.jpg|thumb|Wax cabinet with the three fathers of the French Revolution, [[Benjamin Franklin|Franklin]], [[Voltaire]] and [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau|Rousseau]], installed at Elysium, 1792, ([[Musée de la Révolution française]])]]
"... Out into the outskirt's edges,
[[File:Schwabe Carlos Elysian Fields.jpg|thumb|right|''Elysian Fields'' by [[Carlos Schwabe]], 1903]]
Where a few surviving hedges
Keep alive our lost Elysium - rural [[Middlesex]] again".
The poem, considered by many to be one of his best, harks back to a time when the suburbs of modern [[London]] ([[Perivale]] and [[Harrow-on-the-Hill]], for example) were fields and meadows, with all the pastoral imagery that they convey.


The term and concept of Elysium has had influence in modern popular culture; references to Elysium can be found in literature, art, film, and music. Examples include the [[New Orleans]] neighbourhood of Elysian Fields in [[Tennessee Williams]]' ''[[A Streetcar Named Desire (play)|A Streetcar Named Desire]]'' as the déclassé purgatory where Blanche Dubois lives with Stanley and Stella Kowalski. New Orleans' Elysian Fields also provides the second-act setting of [[Elmer Rice]]'s ''[[The Adding Machine]]'' and [[Adding Machine (musical)|the musical adaptation]]. In his poem "Middlesex", [[John Betjeman]] describes how a few hedges "Keep alive our lost Elysium – rural Middlesex again". In his poem ''[[An Old Haunt]]'', [[Hugh McFadden (poet)|Hugh McFadden]] sets an Elysian scene in [[Dublin]]'s [[St. Stephen's Green]] park "Very slowly solitude slips round me in St. Stephen's Green. I rest: see pale salmon clouds blossom. I'm back in the fields of Elysium".<ref>{{cite book|last=McFadden|first=Hugh|title=Cities of Mirrors|year=1984|publisher=Beaver Row Press|location=Dublin|isbn=0-946308-08-X}}</ref> In ''[[Spring and All]]'', [[William Carlos Williams]] describes a dying woman's "elysian slobber/upon/the folded handkerchief".
In [[Spring and All]], [[William Carlos Williams]] describes a dying woman's "elysian slobber/upon/the folded handkerchief".


The ''[[Champs-Élysées]]'' in [[Paris]] is [[French language|French]] for "Elysian Fields". The nearby [[Élysée Palace]] houses the [[President of the French Republic]], for which reason "l'Élysée" frequently appears as a [[metonym]] for the French presidency, similar to how "the White House" can metonymically refer to the American presidency, and "No.10 Downing Street" the British prime minister. ''Elysium'' and ''Elysian'' are also used for numerous other names all over the world - examples include [[Elysian Fields (Hoboken, New Jersey)|Elysian Fields, Hoboken, New Jersey]]; [[Elysian Park, Los Angeles]]; [[Elysian Valley, Los Angeles, California]]; [[Elysian, Minnesota]]; and [[Elysian Fields, Texas]].
In his poem [[An Old Haunt]], [[Hugh McFadden]] sets an Elysian scene in [[Dublin]]'s [[St. Stephen's Green]] park.<ref>[[Hugh McFadden]], ''Cities of Mirrors (Beaver Row Press, Dublin), 1984''.{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref>


In [[Siegfried Sassoon]]'s ''[[Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man]]'', Sassoon writes "The air was Elysian with early summer". Its use in this context could be [[Foreshadowing|prolepsis]], as the British countryside he is describing would become the burial ground of his dead comrades and heroes from [[World War I]].
{{quote|Very slowly solitude slips round me


Elysium is referenced in the [[Schiller]] poem which inspired [[Beethoven]]'s "[[Ode to Joy]]" ([[Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)|9th symphony]], 4th movement) - notably in the excerpt used as the [[Anthem of Europe|European Anthem]]. Elysium is also referenced in Mozart's opera ''[[Die Zauberflöte]]'' (''The Magic Flute''). It is in Act II when Papageno is feeling very melancholy because he does not have a sweetheart or wife and he is drunk singing the song "Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen" (A Girl or a Wife).
in St. Stephen's Green. I rest:


The 2012 opera "[[Dolls of New Albion]]", written by [[Paul Shapera]], and its sequels, reference Elysium as an afterlife somewhat accessible to the living, though the living in Elysium are hunted by horrid creatures who guard Elysium.
see pale salmon clouds blossom.


===Books===
I'm back in the fields of Elysium.}}
In [[David Gemmell]]'s Parmennion series (''Lion of Macedon'' and ''Dark Prince'') and his Troy trilogy, his characters refer to Elysium as the "Hall of Heroes".


In [[Masami Kurumada]]'s mythologically themed ''[[Saint Seiya]]'' comic books, the Elysium is the setting of the final chapters of the ''Hades'' arc. In it, the Saints, the warriors of [[Athena]]'s army, traverse the Underworld to defeat its ruler, the ruthless Hades and rescue their kidnapped goddess. The Saints discover that the only way to kill Hades is to destroy his true body, which has rested in Elysium since the ages of myth. The Saints then invade Elysium, which Kurumada depicts as described in Greek mythology, and carry on their mission after a difficult battle with the deity.
In [[David Gemmell]]'s Parmennion series (''Lion of Macedon'' and ''Dark Prince'') and his Troy trilogy, his characters refer to Elysium as the "Hall of Heroes," a [[Valhalla]]-like connotation.


In the novel, ''This Ruler'', the story takes place at Elysium Hills High School. It is a reference to the mythology that surrounds American education and in particular high school. It also alludes to the teenagers, in the book, being Greek heroes.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Duff |first1=Mark |title=This Ruler |date=2019 |publisher=Mark Duff |location=USA |isbn=9780578476315}}</ref>
In [[Siegfried Sassoon]]'s "[[Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man]]", Sassoon writes "The air was Elysian with early summer". Its use in this context could be [[prolepsis]], as the British countryside he is describing would become the burial ground of his dead comrades and heroes from [[World War I]].


===Film and television===
In [[Jean Genet]]'s ''[[The Balcony]]'', the Judge, who is equating himself with [[Minos]] during his session at the brothel, cites that some souls he "consigns to the boredom of the Elysian fields" while others to the flames.
* Elysium is briefly mentioned in Ridley Scott's film ''[[Gladiator (2000 film)|Gladiator]]'', wherein the general Maximus addresses his troops thus: "If you find yourself alone, riding in the green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled. ''For you are in Elysium'', and you're already dead!"
* In ''[[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]'' and its spin-off ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'', the actual Elysian Fields appears several times as a happy afterlife, with the families of the title characters dwelling there; [[Heaven]] appears as a separate location in the same universe.
* The name Elysium was used in a [[Star Trek (franchise)|Star Trek]] novel, ''Before Dishonor'', as the name of the fourth moon of Pluto.
* The 2013 [[dystopia]]n film ''[[Elysium (film)|Elysium]]'', starring [[Matt Damon]], used the name Elysium to describe the orbital space station of luxury that the rich live on in contrast to the ravaged Earth that the poor live on.<ref>{{Citation|last=Blomkamp|first=Neill|title=Elysium|date=2013-08-09|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1535108/|others=Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley|access-date=2017-10-28}}</ref>
* In Season 5 Episode 8 of ''[[House of Cards (American TV series)|House of Cards]]'', a secret society for powerful men is named "Elysian Fields".
* In ''[[Beetlejuice Beetlejuice]]'', one of the four listed destinations where the afterlife sends the souls of the dead is called "Elysium Fields".


===Video games===
In the movie '''''[[w:Gladiator_(2000_film)|Gladiator]]''''', Maximus (played by [[Russell Crowe]]) spoke to his soldiers saying, "If you find yourself alone, riding in green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled; for you are in Elysium, and you're already dead!"
Elysium appears in the ''Fate of Atlantis'' DLC of the 2018 video game, ''[[Assassin's Creed Odyssey]]''. In the first part of this DLC, ''The Fields of Elysium'', the misthios travels to Elysium which is ruled by members of the precursor civilisation known as the Isu which were then worshipped as the gods of the Greek pantheon.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gamespot.com/articles/assassins-creed-odyssey-goes-mythical-in-new-fate-/1100-6466324/|title=Assassin's Creed Odyssey Goes Mythical In New Fate Of Atlantis DLC|website=Gamespot|language=en|access-date=2020-10-28}}</ref>


In 2021, the video game [[Honkai Impact 3rd]] added a roguelike gameplay mode called Elysian Realm. The player follows the character of Raiden Mei as she visits the Realm, known as the underworld where the memories of the last thirteen Flame-Chasers of the Previous Era rest.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ai-chan's Newsflash 3 - New permanent activity [Elysian Realm] unfolds! |url=https://honkaiimpact3.hoyoverse.com/global/en-us/news/14596?cate= |access-date=2022-05-22 |website=honkaiimpact3.hoyoverse.com}}</ref>
In the 2009 movie Pandorum, the Elysium is the ship that holds the last of humanity.


===Music===
==Modern Place Names==
Elysian fields are mentioned in "West of the Fields", a song on R.E.M.'s debut album ''[[Murmur (album)|Murmur]]'' (1983).<ref name=":022">{{Cite book |last=Hogan |first=Peter |title=The Complete Guide to the Music of R.E.M. |publisher=[[Omnibus Press]] |year=1995 |isbn=0-7119-4901-8 |pages=8}}</ref>
The ''[[Champs-Élysées|Avenue des Champs-Élysées]]'', the most prestigious avenue in [[Paris]] and one of the most famous streets in the world, is [[French language|French]] for "Elysian Fields." The nearby [[Élysée Palace]] houses the [[President of the French Republic]], for which reason "l'Élysée" frequently appears as a [[metonym]] for the French presidency.


US [[Heavy metal music|heavy metal]] band [[Megadeth]] have a song called "Elysian Fields" on their 1994 album, [[Youthanasia]], which is from a Christian perspective. The singer/writer, [[Dave Mustaine]] details a war against the heavens, which will enable the victors to "ascend to [their] destiny... to the Elysian fields".<ref>https://genius.com/Megadeth-elysian-fields-lyrics</ref>
In [[Los Angeles]], [[California]], [[Elysian Park]] is the name of a {{convert|600|acre|km2|sing=on}} public open space area—the second largest park in [[Los Angeles]] -- established in 1781, the year of the city's founding. It retains much of the idyllic natural [[chaparral]] and coastal sage scrub present in the area since prehistoric times, in addition to hiking trails, picnic areas, barbecue pits, a small man-made lake, a children's play area, and baseball diamonds referred to as, "The Elysian Fields".


[[Mary Chapin Carpenter]]'s 2004 album ''[[Between Here and Gone]]'' includes a track titled "Elysium".<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdgWqKVF72g |title=Elysium |language=en |access-date=2024-04-12 |via=www.youtube.com}}</ref> The lyrics describe a drive that Carpenter and her former husband Timmy Smith took on the day they met and fell in love.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mary Chapin Carpenter Journeys 'Between Here and Gone' |url=https://www.cmt.com/news/7o5i11/mary-chapin-carpenter-journeys-between-here-and-gone |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221021001046/https://www.cmt.com/news/7o5i11/mary-chapin-carpenter-journeys-between-here-and-gone |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 21, 2022 |access-date=2024-04-12 |website=[[CMT (American TV channel)|CMT]] |language=en}}</ref>
In [[Mexico City]], Campos Eliseos (Spanish: [[Elysian Fields]]) is a street in the [[Polanco]] neighborhood where several of the city's embassies, luxury hotels and restaurants are located.


==Honours==
[[Elysian Fields Avenue|Elysian Fields]] is a street in New Orleans. It is the only one that goes from the Mississippi River to Lake Pontchartrain.
[[Elysian Beach]] in [[Antarctica]] and [[Elysium Mons]] on [[Mars]] are named after the Elysian Fields, as is the aforementioned ''[[Champs-Élysées|avenue des Champs-Élysées]]''.

ELYSIAN FIELDS, TEXAS. Elysian Fields is at the junction of Farm roads 31 and 451, a mile north of the Panola county line in Harrison County.

==Science==
* Elysium is the name given to a volcanic region of [[Mars]] and one of its volcanoes.
* ''[[Elysia (genus)|Elysia]]'' is a genus of sea slugs.

==Classical music==
* Elysium is referenced in the [[Schiller]] poem which inspired [[Beethoven]]'s [[Ode to Joy]] ([[Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)|9th symphony]], 4th movement)
:{{quote|Freude, schöner Götterfunken,

Tochter aus Elysium,

wir betreten feuertrunken,

Himmlische, dein Heiligtum!

Deine Zauber binden wieder,

was die Mode streng geteilt:

alle Menschen werden Brüder,

wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.}}
: Approximate English Translation:

:{{quote|Joy, beautiful spark of the gods,

Daughter of Elysium,

Touched with fire, to the portal,

Of thy radiant shrine, we come.

Your sweet magic frees all others,

Held in Custom's rigid rings.

All men on earth become brothers,

In the haven of your wings.}}
* Elysium is also referenced in Mozart's well known Opera "Die Zauberflöte" (The Magic Flute). It is in Act II when Papageno is feeling very melancholy because he doesn't have a sweetheart or wife and he is drunk singing the song that could be called "Den Mädchen" (The Girls). The lyrics in German for the verse referring to Elysium are:
:{{quote|Dann schmeckte mir Trinken und Essen;

Dann könnte' ich

Mit Fürsten mich messen,

Des Lebens als Weiser mich freun,

Und wie im Elysium sein.}}
: In English:

{{quote|Then drink and food would taste good to me;

Then I could

Measure myself with princes,

Enjoy life as a wiseman,

And feel like I'm in Elysium.}}
* Elysium is the name of a female vocal ensemble for medieval music. [http://www.elysium-sings.net Elysium] Most well-known for their cross-over CD "Auvergne Chants" Decca 2000

Samuel Barber set part of the text of American poet James Agee's ''Description of Elysium'' to music in the well-known piece ''Sure on this Shining Night.'' The excerpted text of the Barber piece is as follows:

Sure on this shining night<br />
Of star-made shadows round,<br />
Kindness must watch for me<br />
This side the ground.<br />
<br />
The late year lies down the north.<br />
All is healed, all is health.<br />
High summer holds the earth.<br />
Hearts all whole.<br />
<br />
Sure on this shining night<br />
I weep for wonder<br />
Wandering far alone<br />
Of shadows on the stars.


==See also==
==See also==
* [[Fortunate Isles]], mythical islands associated with Elysium
{{Commons category}}
* The other divisions of the Greek underworld, [[Asphodel Meadows|Asphodel]] and [[Tartarus#Place|Tartarus]]
* [[Elysium in popular culture]]
* [[Golden Bough (mythology)]]
* [[Elysium Artwork - Premier Brand of Artistry]]
* Related ideas of [[paradise]] like [[Aaru]] and [[Utopia|Illiyin]]


==Footnotes==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist|35em}}


==External links==
{{No footnotes|date=September 2008}}
* {{Commons category-inline}}
* {{Wikiquote-inline}}
* {{cite EB9 |wstitle = Elysium |volume= VIII | page=156 |short=1 }}


{{Heaven}}
{{Heaven}}
{{Hell}}
{{Authority control}}


[[Category:Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Conceptions of heaven]]
[[Category:Concepts of Heaven]]
[[Category:Locations in the Greek underworld]]
[[Category:Locations in Greek underworld]]
[[Category:Works about coups d'état]]

[[bg:Елисейски полета]]
[[ca:Camps Elisis]]
[[cs:Elysium]]
[[da:Elysium]]
[[de:Elysion]]
[[et:Elysioni väljad]]
[[el:Ηλύσια Πεδία]]
[[es:Campos Elíseos (mitología)]]
[[eo:Elizeo]]
[[eu:Zelai Eliseo]]
[[fa:الوسیون]]
[[fr:Champs Élysées (mythologie)]]
[[hsb:Elyzion]]
[[id:Elisian]]
[[it:Campi Elisi]]
[[he:שדות אליסיום]]
[[ka:ელისეს მინდვრები]]
[[la:Elysium]]
[[lt:Eliziejaus laukai]]
[[hu:Élüszion]]
[[nl:Elysese velden]]
[[ja:エーリュシオン]]
[[no:Elysion]]
[[pl:Elizjum]]
[[pt:Campos Elísios]]
[[ro:Câmpiile Elizee]]
[[ru:Элизиум (мифология)]]
[[sl:Elizij]]
[[fi:Elysion]]
[[sv:Elyséiska fälten]]
[[th:เอลิเซี่ยม]]
[[tr:Elysion]]
[[uk:Елісій]]

Latest revision as of 22:46, 21 November 2024

Goethe's Ankunft im Elysia by Franz Nadorp

Elysium (/ɪˈlɪzi.əm, ɪˈlɪʒəm/[1]), otherwise known as the Elysian Fields (Ancient Greek: Ἠλύσιον πεδίον, Ēlýsion pedíon) or Elysian Plains, is a conception of the afterlife that developed over time and was maintained by some Greek religious and philosophical sects and cults. It was initially separated from the Greek underworld – the realm of Hades. Only mortals related to the gods and other heroes could be admitted past the river Styx. Later, the conception of who could enter was expanded to include those chosen by the gods, the righteous, and the heroic. They would remain at the Elysian Fields after death, to live a blessed and happy afterlife, and indulge in whatever they had enjoyed in life.[2][3][4][5][6][7]

The Elysian Fields were, according to Homer, located on the western edge of the Earth by the stream of Okeanos.[2] In the time of the Greek poet Hesiod, Elysium would also be known as the "Fortunate Isles", or the "Isles (or Islands) of the Blessed", located in the western ocean at the end of the earth.[2][8][9] The Isles of the Blessed would be reduced to a single island by the Theban poet Pindar, describing it as having shady parks, with residents indulging in athletic and musical pastimes.[2][3]

The ruler of Elysium varies from author to author: Pindar and Hesiod name Cronus as the ruler,[10] while the poet Homer in the Odyssey describes fair-haired Rhadamanthus dwelling there.[7][8][11][12] "The Isle of the Blessed" is also featured in the 2nd-century comedic novel A True Story by Lucian of Samosata.

Etymology

[edit]

The word Elysium derives via Latin from the Ancient Greek Ēlysion (pedion) "Elysian (field)", ultimately of unknown origin.[13] Eustathius of Thessalonica[14] associated the word Elysion (Ἠλύσιον) with ἀλυουσας alyousas (itself from the verb ἀλύω alyō, "to be deeply stirred from joy")[15] or from ἀλύτως alytōs, synonymous of ἀφθάρτως (ἄφθαρτος, "incorruptible"),[16] referring to souls' life in this place. Another suggestion is from the stem ελυθ- elyth-, itself from ἔρχομαι ("to come").[17]

Classical literature

[edit]
Ancient Greek funerary vase (5th century BC). On the face a young woman and a young man pick fruit from a tree. This depicts the afterlife in the Elysian Fields, where the blessed dead enjoyed golden fruits.

In Homer's Odyssey, Elysium is described as a paradise:

to the Elysian plain...where life is easiest for men. No snow is there, nor heavy storm, nor ever rain, but ever does Ocean send up blasts of the shrill-blowing West Wind that they may give cooling to men.

— Homer, Odyssey (4.560–565)[12]

The Greek poet Hesiod refers to the "Isles of the Blest" in his didactic poem Works and Days. In his book Greek Religion, Walter Burkert notes the connection with the motif of far-off Dilmun: "Thus Achilles is transported to the White Isle and becomes the Ruler of the Black Sea, and Diomedes becomes the divine lord of an Adriatic island".[11]

And they live untouched by sorrow in the islands of the blessed along the shore of deep-swirling Ocean, happy heroes for whom the grain-giving earth bears honey-sweet fruit flourishing thrice a year, far from the deathless gods, and Cronos rules over them

— Hesiod, Works and Days (170)[10]

Writing in the 5th century BCE, Pindar's Odes describes the reward waiting for those living a righteous life:

The good receive a life free from toil, not scraping with the strength of their arms the earth, nor the water of the sea, for the sake of a poor sustenance. But in the presence of the honored gods, those who gladly kept their oaths enjoy a life without tears, while the others undergo a toil that is unbearable to look at. Those who have persevered three times, on either side, to keep their souls free from all wrongdoing, follow Zeus' road to the end, to the tower of Cronus, where ocean breezes blow around the island of the blessed, and flowers of gold are blazing, some from splendid trees on land, while water nurtures others. With these wreaths and garlands of flowers they entwine their hands according to the righteous counsels of Rhadamanthys, whom the great father, the husband of Rhea whose throne is above all others, keeps close beside him as his partner

— Pindar, Odes (2.59–75)[18]

In Virgil's Aeneid, Aeneas, like Heracles and Odysseus before him, travels to the underworld. Virgil describes those who will travel to Elysium, and those who will travel to Tartarus:

Night speeds by, And we, Aeneas, lose it in lamenting. Here comes the place where cleaves our way in twain. Thy road, the right, toward Pluto's dwelling goes, And leads us to Elysium. But the left Speeds sinful souls to doom, and is their path To Tartarus th' accurst.

— Virgil, Aeneid (6.539)[19]

Virgil goes on to describe an encounter in Elysium between Aeneas and his father Anchises. Virgil's Elysium knows perpetual spring and shady groves, with its own sun and lit by its own stars: solemque suum, sua sidera norunt.

In no fix'd place the happy souls reside. In groves we live, and lie on mossy beds, By crystal streams, that murmur thro' the meads: But pass yon easy hill, and thence descend; The path conducts you to your journey's end." This said, he led them up the mountain's brow, And shews them all the shining fields below. They wind the hill, and thro' the blissful meadows go.

— Virgil, Aeneid (6.641)[20]

In the Greek historian Plutarch's Life of Sertorius, Elysium is described as:

These are two in number, separated by a very narrow strait; they are ten thousand furlongs distant from Africa, and are called the Islands of the Blest. They enjoy moderate rains at long intervals, and winds which for the most part are soft and precipitate dews, so that the islands not only have a rich soil which is excellent for plowing and planting, but also produce a natural fruit that is plentiful and wholesome enough to feed, without toil or trouble, a leisured folk. Moreover, an air that is salubrious, owing to the climate and the moderate changes in the seasons, prevails on the islands. For the north and east winds which blow out from our part of the world plunge into fathomless space, and, owing to the distance, dissipate themselves and lose their power before they reach the islands; while the south and west winds that envelope the islands sometimes bring in their train soft and intermittent showers, but for the most part cool them with moist breezes and gently nourish the soil. Therefore a firm belief has made its way, even to the Barbarians, that here is the Elysian Field and the abode of the blessed, of which Homer sang.

— Plutarch, Life of Sertorius, VIII, 2[21][22]

Diodorus, in his first book, suggested that the Elysian fields which were much celebrated in ancient Greek poetry, corresponded to the beautiful plains in the neighborhood of Memphis which contained the tombs of that capital city of Egypt.[23][24] He further intimated that the Greek prophet Orpheus composed his fables about the afterlife when he traveled to Egypt and saw the customs of the Egyptians regarding the rites of the dead.[25]

Post-classical literature

[edit]

Elysium as a pagan expression for paradise would eventually pass into usage by early Christian writers.

In Dante's epic The Divine Comedy, Elysium is mentioned as the abode of the blessed in the lower world; mentioned in connection with the meeting of Aeneas with the shade of Anchises in the Elysian Fields.[26]

With such affection did Anchises' shade reach out, if our greatest muse is owed belief, when in Elysium he knew his son.

— Dante, Divina Commedia (Par Canto XV Line 25–27)[27]

In the Renaissance, the heroic population of the Elysian Fields tended to outshine its formerly dreary pagan reputation; the Elysian Fields borrowed some of the bright allure of paradise. In Paris, the Champs-Élysées retain their name of the Elysian Fields, first applied in the late 16th century to a formerly rural outlier beyond the formal parterre gardens behind the royal French palace of the Tuileries.

After the Renaissance, an even cheerier Elysium evolved for some poets. Sometimes it is imagined as a place where heroes have continued their interests from their lives. Others suppose it is a location filled with feasting, sport, song; Joy is the "daughter of Elysium" in Friedrich Schiller's "Ode to Joy". The poet Heinrich Heine explicitly parodied Schiller's sentiment in referring to the Jewish Sabbath food cholent as the "daughter of Elysium" in his poem "Princess Shabbat".[28]

Christian and classical attitudes to the afterlife are contrasted by Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus saying, "This word 'damnation' terrifies not me, For I confound hell in elysium."[29]

In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night when Viola says "My brother he is in Elysium", she and Elizabethan audiences understood this as Paradise.[30] In Mozart's The Magic Flute Papageno compares being in Elysium to winning his ideal woman: "Des Lebens als Weiser mich freun, Und wie im Elysium sein." ("Enjoy life as a wiseman, And feel like I'm in Elysium.")

Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote describes Dulcinea del Toboso as "beauty superhuman, since all the impossible and fanciful attributes of beauty which the poets apply to their ladies are verified in her; for her hairs are gold, her forehead Elysian fields".

In John Ford's 1633 tragedy 'Tis Pity She's a Whore Giovanni seals his requited love for his sister Annabella, stating "And I'de not change it for the best to come: A life of pleasure in Elyzium".[31]

Modern influence

[edit]
Wax cabinet with the three fathers of the French Revolution, Franklin, Voltaire and Rousseau, installed at Elysium, 1792, (Musée de la Révolution française)
Elysian Fields by Carlos Schwabe, 1903

The term and concept of Elysium has had influence in modern popular culture; references to Elysium can be found in literature, art, film, and music. Examples include the New Orleans neighbourhood of Elysian Fields in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire as the déclassé purgatory where Blanche Dubois lives with Stanley and Stella Kowalski. New Orleans' Elysian Fields also provides the second-act setting of Elmer Rice's The Adding Machine and the musical adaptation. In his poem "Middlesex", John Betjeman describes how a few hedges "Keep alive our lost Elysium – rural Middlesex again". In his poem An Old Haunt, Hugh McFadden sets an Elysian scene in Dublin's St. Stephen's Green park "Very slowly solitude slips round me in St. Stephen's Green. I rest: see pale salmon clouds blossom. I'm back in the fields of Elysium".[32] In Spring and All, William Carlos Williams describes a dying woman's "elysian slobber/upon/the folded handkerchief".

The Champs-Élysées in Paris is French for "Elysian Fields". The nearby Élysée Palace houses the President of the French Republic, for which reason "l'Élysée" frequently appears as a metonym for the French presidency, similar to how "the White House" can metonymically refer to the American presidency, and "No.10 Downing Street" the British prime minister. Elysium and Elysian are also used for numerous other names all over the world - examples include Elysian Fields, Hoboken, New Jersey; Elysian Park, Los Angeles; Elysian Valley, Los Angeles, California; Elysian, Minnesota; and Elysian Fields, Texas.

In Siegfried Sassoon's Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Sassoon writes "The air was Elysian with early summer". Its use in this context could be prolepsis, as the British countryside he is describing would become the burial ground of his dead comrades and heroes from World War I.

Elysium is referenced in the Schiller poem which inspired Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" (9th symphony, 4th movement) - notably in the excerpt used as the European Anthem. Elysium is also referenced in Mozart's opera Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute). It is in Act II when Papageno is feeling very melancholy because he does not have a sweetheart or wife and he is drunk singing the song "Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen" (A Girl or a Wife).

The 2012 opera "Dolls of New Albion", written by Paul Shapera, and its sequels, reference Elysium as an afterlife somewhat accessible to the living, though the living in Elysium are hunted by horrid creatures who guard Elysium.

Books

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In David Gemmell's Parmennion series (Lion of Macedon and Dark Prince) and his Troy trilogy, his characters refer to Elysium as the "Hall of Heroes".

In Masami Kurumada's mythologically themed Saint Seiya comic books, the Elysium is the setting of the final chapters of the Hades arc. In it, the Saints, the warriors of Athena's army, traverse the Underworld to defeat its ruler, the ruthless Hades and rescue their kidnapped goddess. The Saints discover that the only way to kill Hades is to destroy his true body, which has rested in Elysium since the ages of myth. The Saints then invade Elysium, which Kurumada depicts as described in Greek mythology, and carry on their mission after a difficult battle with the deity.

In the novel, This Ruler, the story takes place at Elysium Hills High School. It is a reference to the mythology that surrounds American education and in particular high school. It also alludes to the teenagers, in the book, being Greek heroes.[33]

Film and television

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  • Elysium is briefly mentioned in Ridley Scott's film Gladiator, wherein the general Maximus addresses his troops thus: "If you find yourself alone, riding in the green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled. For you are in Elysium, and you're already dead!"
  • In Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and its spin-off Xena: Warrior Princess, the actual Elysian Fields appears several times as a happy afterlife, with the families of the title characters dwelling there; Heaven appears as a separate location in the same universe.
  • The name Elysium was used in a Star Trek novel, Before Dishonor, as the name of the fourth moon of Pluto.
  • The 2013 dystopian film Elysium, starring Matt Damon, used the name Elysium to describe the orbital space station of luxury that the rich live on in contrast to the ravaged Earth that the poor live on.[34]
  • In Season 5 Episode 8 of House of Cards, a secret society for powerful men is named "Elysian Fields".
  • In Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, one of the four listed destinations where the afterlife sends the souls of the dead is called "Elysium Fields".

Video games

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Elysium appears in the Fate of Atlantis DLC of the 2018 video game, Assassin's Creed Odyssey. In the first part of this DLC, The Fields of Elysium, the misthios travels to Elysium which is ruled by members of the precursor civilisation known as the Isu which were then worshipped as the gods of the Greek pantheon.[35]

In 2021, the video game Honkai Impact 3rd added a roguelike gameplay mode called Elysian Realm. The player follows the character of Raiden Mei as she visits the Realm, known as the underworld where the memories of the last thirteen Flame-Chasers of the Previous Era rest.[36]

Music

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Elysian fields are mentioned in "West of the Fields", a song on R.E.M.'s debut album Murmur (1983).[37]

US heavy metal band Megadeth have a song called "Elysian Fields" on their 1994 album, Youthanasia, which is from a Christian perspective. The singer/writer, Dave Mustaine details a war against the heavens, which will enable the victors to "ascend to [their] destiny... to the Elysian fields".[38]

Mary Chapin Carpenter's 2004 album Between Here and Gone includes a track titled "Elysium".[39] The lyrics describe a drive that Carpenter and her former husband Timmy Smith took on the day they met and fell in love.[40]

Honours

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Elysian Beach in Antarctica and Elysium Mons on Mars are named after the Elysian Fields, as is the aforementioned avenue des Champs-Élysées.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Wells, John C. (2000) [1990]. Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (new ed.). Harlow, England: Longman. p. 257. ISBN 978-0-582-36467-7.
  2. ^ a b c d Peck, Harry Thurston (1897). Harper's Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities, Volume 1. New York: Harper. pp. 588, 589.
  3. ^ a b Sacks, David (1997). A Dictionary of the Ancient Greek World. Oxford University Press US. pp. 8, 9. ISBN 0-19-511206-7.
  4. ^ Zaidman, Louise Bruit (1992). Religion in the Ancient Greek City. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 78. ISBN 0-521-42357-0.
  5. ^ Clare, Israel Smith (1897). Library of Universal History, Volume 2: Ancient Oriental Nations and Greece. New York: R. S. Peale, J. A. Hill.
  6. ^ Petrisko, Thomas W. (2000). Inside Heaven and Hell: What History, Theology and the Mystics Tell Us About the Afterlife. McKees Rocks, PA: St. Andrews Productions. pp. 12–14. ISBN 1-891903-23-3.
  7. ^ a b Ogden, Daniel (2007). A Companion to Greek Religion. Singapore: Blackwell Publishing. pp. 92, 93. ISBN 978-1-4051-2054-8.
  8. ^ a b Westmoreland, Perry L. (2007). Ancient Greek Beliefs. Lee And Vance Publishing Co. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-9793248-1-9.
  9. ^ Rengel, Marian (2009). Greek and Roman Mythology A to Z. Infobase Publishing. p. 50. ISBN 978-1-60413-412-4.
  10. ^ a b Evelyn-White, Hugh G. (1914). The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation. London: William Heinemann Ltd.
  11. ^ a b Burkert, Walter (1985). Greek Religion. United Kingdom: Blackwell. p. 198. ISBN 0-631-15624-0.
  12. ^ a b Murray, A.T. (1919). Homer, The Odyssey with an English Translation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press – via Perseus Digital Library Project.
  13. ^ Harper, Douglas. "Elysium". Online Etymology Dictionary.
  14. ^ Commentarii ad Homerii Odisseam, IV, v. 563.
  15. ^ Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by. Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940. sub voce.
  16. ^ A Greek-English Lexicon ec. s. v.
  17. ^ Storia vera. Dialoghi dei morti, Lucian, Oscar Mondadori, Milano, 1991 (2010), p. 79.
  18. ^ Svarlien, Diane (1990). Odes.
  19. ^ Williams, Theodore C. (1910). Verg. A. 6.539. The Perseus Digital Library.
  20. ^ Dryden, John. Verg. A. 6.641. The Perseus Digital Library Project.
  21. ^ Perrin, Bernadotte (1919). Plutarch's Lives. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Retrieved 25 June 2011 – via Perseus Digital Library Project.
  22. ^ Thayer, Bill. "The Life of Sertorius". The Parallel Lives Plutarch. The Loeb Classical Library. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
  23. ^ Seymer, John Gunning. (1835) The Romance of Ancient Egypt: Second Series. p 72.
  24. ^ Priestley, Joseph. Disquisitions on Matter and Spirit. p. 209
  25. ^ Toland, John. Letters to Serena, History of the Immortality of the Soul. pp. 46–52
  26. ^ Toynbee, Paget (1968). A Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 2019-12-10. Retrieved 2011-06-26.
  27. ^ Hollander, Robert. "The Divine Comedy". Princeton Dante Project. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  28. ^ Friedlander, Joseph. "Princess Sabbath". The Standard Book of Jewish Verse. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  29. ^ Waterfield, Waterfield John; Waterfield, John (1 December 2016). The Heart of His Mystery: Shakespeare and the Catholic Faith in England Under Elizabeth and James. iUniverse. ISBN 9781440143434 – via Google Books.
  30. ^ Hylton, Jeremy. "Twelfth Night, Act 1, Scene 2". The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. MIT. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  31. ^ Ford, John (1915). 'Tis Pity She's a Whore and The Broken Heart. Boston: D.C. Heath & Co. pp. 105.
  32. ^ McFadden, Hugh (1984). Cities of Mirrors. Dublin: Beaver Row Press. ISBN 0-946308-08-X.
  33. ^ Duff, Mark (2019). This Ruler. USA: Mark Duff. ISBN 9780578476315.
  34. ^ Blomkamp, Neill (2013-08-09), Elysium, Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, retrieved 2017-10-28
  35. ^ "Assassin's Creed Odyssey Goes Mythical In New Fate Of Atlantis DLC". Gamespot. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
  36. ^ "Ai-chan's Newsflash 3 - New permanent activity [Elysian Realm] unfolds!". honkaiimpact3.hoyoverse.com. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
  37. ^ Hogan, Peter (1995). The Complete Guide to the Music of R.E.M. Omnibus Press. p. 8. ISBN 0-7119-4901-8.
  38. ^ https://genius.com/Megadeth-elysian-fields-lyrics
  39. ^ Elysium. Retrieved 2024-04-12 – via www.youtube.com.
  40. ^ "Mary Chapin Carpenter Journeys 'Between Here and Gone'". CMT. Archived from the original on October 21, 2022. Retrieved 2024-04-12.
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