M Y JOURN EY TO THE LAN D OF THE DEAD - AN D TH E PEOPLE I EN COUN TERED Homer 's Odyssey 11.568-600
REPORT BY ODYSSEUS This is m y experience t raveling all t he way t o t he Land of t he Dead: Circe had t old m e t o go t o t he Land of t he Dead near t o t he hom es of t he Cim m erians. The area is covered in m ist and t hey don't see t he light of t he sun, t hey m ust be rat her pale. Circe had given m e inst ruct ions t o get t here so I followed t hem regardless of how weird som e of t hem were. First I dug a t rench right at t he spot she t old m e t o, and t hen I poured in som e m ilk, honey, wine and wat er. It m ade m e rat her t hirst y but I had t o pour t hem all away. The next st ep was t o sprinkle barley around so I could sacrifice a ram and an ewe and let t he blood flow int o t he t rench t o at t ract t he dead. I guess t his worked because sure enough t hey were at t ract ed.
Anyway, once I finally got t o t he Land of t he Dead, I saw Minos (son of Zeus), and he was t he one delivering judgm ent s t o t he dead, quit e a responsilit y he has. He had a
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very fancy looking gold scept re t hat m ade him look royal and powerful, com plet ely t he part . He sat t here in t he House of Hades and everyone surrounded him wit hin t he
2 giant gat es t hat are needed t o keep people in I assum e. I st ayed long enough t o hear som e of his judgm ent s he gave out and I m ust say, t hey were rat her harsh, t hough I guess t hat 's t he point .
Aft er I left t here, I could see t hat big guy, Orion, where he was in t he field of asphodel chasing aft er wild beast s, t he very ones t hat he had killed on t he lonely m ount ains. He was holding a bronze m ace t hat never seem ed t o break, it seem s t his was his judgm ent t o carry out in his deat h.
Tit yus was also t here, he's t he son of t he goddess Eart h, and I encount ered him st ret ched out on t he ground. That 's when I saw t he t wo vult ures next t o him who were eat ing his lit eral gut s right out of his body, just nibbling away happily. Tit yus looked like he had no way of fight ing t hem off t o t ry and save what was left of his liver. Poor
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guy. ThoughI know t his was his punishm ent for assult ing one of Zeus' m ist resses, Let o, so I guess it was fair. Just not very nice t o look at , m aybe should have a t rigger
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warning near him for squeam ish people.
Tant alus was really going t hrough it in his punishm ent . He was st anding up t o his chin in cryst al clear wat er, clearly absolut ely parched, but every t im e he bent down t o t ry and drink som e, t he wat er level would lower and lower unt il all t hat was left was dry ground. If t hat 's not bad enough, t here were am azing t rees dangling ripe fruit right above his head, I'm t alking pears, pom egranat es, apples, figs, olives, everyt hing you could im agine, but anyt im e he reached up t o grab anyt hing, it would ret ract right away from his reach. He really looked st arving t oo. Respect t o Minos for t his judgm ent t hough, it did look very t orm ent ing which m eans he did a good job.
The next person I saw t orm ent ed was Sisyphus. He was rolling a giant rock up a st eep hill, and it looked really heavy, Sisyphus looked on t he brink of collapsing. Every t im e he got t o t he t op and it should have st opped, t he st one would be forced all t he way back t o t he bot t om and he had t o st art from t he beginning again. He was just const ant ly heaving t his heavy rock up t he hill. It looked like really hard work, he was drenched in sweat and covered in dust and dirt from t he endless st ruggle. I wish i could have given a hand but alas it wasn't m y punishm ent t o deal wit h and coincident ally I had t o dip.
From t hen on I cont inued wit h m y journey t hrough t he Land of t he Dead, but I just t hought it would be nice t o docum ent t he people I saw as I t raveled. - Odysseus, Son of Laert es and Ant iclea