Elysian Fields

Hesiod called Elysium – the Isle of Blessed. Those mortals who were lucky to be favoured by the gods would dwell in Elysium, or Elysian Fields, and were indeed blessed. The majority of the shades of the departed went to the Plain of Asphodel.

In The Aeneid, Virgil gave Elysium several other names such as Land of Joy, the Fortunate Wood and the Home of the Blest.

Here the shades were allowed to retain their memories of past lives. The environment in Elysium was peaceful and joyous, with the shades able to enjoy the pleasures they experienced when alive such as hunting, sports, music and feasts. The shades were able to reside in Elysium in eternal bliss. Rhadamanthys, son of Zeus and Europa, ruled the Elysian Fields.

Some said that Elysium was not located in the Underworld, but on earth. Most who wrote about it said Elysium was situated on the White Island, which was called Leuke, near the mouth of the Danube River, in the Black Sea. The Isles of the Blessed was something like Valhalla for the heroes in Norse myths. Or it was like the Otherworld or Sidhe of the Celtic myths where the region was filled with sunlight. It never rained, yet the vegetation remained green.

Among those who lived there was Achilles, who married Helen of Troy or the Colchian sorceress Medea in the afterlife. Other heroes who lived on the White Island were Achilles' cousin Ajax and his two beloved friends - Patroclus and Antiochus, son of Nestor. The hero Aeneas found his father Anchises in Elysium.

According to the Orphic Mysteries, the main goal of the believer was to reach Elysium, but it might take at least three lifetimes of living a virtuous life. The Orphic cult was influenced by the Eastern belief in reincarnation. Only by living a virtuous life, avoiding wine and eating meat, and abstinence from sex, could one gain entry to the Elysian Fields.