| Hades
Greek/ROman
Hades was not, in the mind of the ancients, the same as Hell: All the dead went there. Passage into the land of the dead required the crossing of the River Styx. The infamous ferry man, Charon, demanded tolls of arriving shades. Those who could not pay had to wander the banks of the river for a century before he took pity on them and brought them across. The gods could arrange for eternal punishment of those who annoyed them. Most souls, however, merely wandered about the place, bored for all of eternity. Hades may have inspired the Christian Limbo. [See Elysium, Isles of the Blessed, Tartaros]
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