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If you were to try and dig a hole to the centre of the earth, what would you find?
According to Jules Verne's 1864 science fiction novel Journey to the Centre of the Earth (check out the article I wrote about Verne for the science blog Devilled Toads here), an entire ocean exists beneath the earth's surface, as well as a dinosaur-infested ecosystem that can only be accessed via volcanic tunnels. Meanwhile, more recent scientific research tells us that the Earth consists of four layers - the crust, mantle, outer core, and inner core - so if you started digging and didn't stop, all you'd have to look forward to is a very big ball of iron and nickel.
However, it was the belief of many citizens of ancient Greece that a realm existed far beneath their feet: the underworld. They believed that the underworld - also known as Hades - was the place an individual's spirit (which they referred to as psyche) would go after they died.
You wouldn't find any dinosaurs in the ancient Greek underworld, but you would find beings that were known as 'chthonic' deities. The term 'chthonic deity' (or 'khthonic' if you want to stick closer to the original ancient Greek than an anglicisation) broadly refers to all the gods and spirits that either inhabited the underworld or lived in or under the earth. These deities were usually associated, oxymoronically, with either death or fertility.
Broadly speaking, gods in the ancient Greek pantheon fit into one of three categories:
Chthonic deities, who inhabit either the underworld or the earth.
Ouranic deities, who rule over humanity from Mount Olympus.
Einalic deities, who are associated with the sea.
Chthonic, ouranic, and einalic deities would be worshipped in different ways, would receive different kinds of sacrifice, and were thought about in different ways by their worshippers. For example, sacrifices to ouranic deities would usually take place during the day, and were performed on high altars. They would often involve the sacrifice of an animal, the offering of wine, or the burning of incense. On the other hand, chthonic offerings would be directed towards the earth where it was believed those deities resided. Sacrifices to chthonic gods were performed on low altars, or in pits dug into the ground. Honey was also a common libation used in place of wine when making offerings to chthonic deities.
Above: One of the best-known Greek myths involving the underworld and chthonic deities is the abduction of Persephone. Most of what we know about this story comes from the Theogony, a poem by the ancient Greek poet Hesiod, and the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, which is one of the thirty-three Homeric Hymns. These hymns, which are usually attributed to the enigmatic ancient Greek poet Homer, praise ancient Greek deities and tell mythological stories.
According to the myth of Persephone, Hades fell in love with the young goddess and asked Zeus if he would promise her to him. The famously rational Zeus suggested that Hades kidnap Persephone, since her mother, Demeter, was unlikely to allow her daughter to marry Hades. Following the abduction, Demeter was understandably enraged. As the goddess of the harvest and agriculture, she was so unhappy without her daughter, the crops began to wither and plants started to die off.
Demeter demanded that Persephone be returned to her. Once Hades found out about this, he agreed to it, but fed Persephone some pomegranate seeds. This may seem like a bad time to offer your departing spouse a fruit snack, but he had a good (albeit highly manipulative) reason: once Persephone had tasted the food of the underworld, she was bound to it. So, she could only return to her mother for half of each year, residing in Olympus with Demeter during the summer months, and ruling the underworld with her husband during the winter.
Image credit: Ad Meskens - sarcophagus depicting the abduction of Persephone, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland
Arguably the most famous chthonic deity is the ruler of the underworld himself, Hades. When he wasn't feeding his wife cursed pomegranate seeds, Hades supervised the dead that dwelt in his domain. He wasn't usually depicted as a cruel torturer (although the Erinyes were, and we'll discuss them in a moment) but instead as a stern and pitiless ruler, representing the inevitability of death. He was also a dog person, and was aided in his godly duties by his three-headed hound, Cerberus, who would prevent the inhabitants of the underworld from returning to the land of the living.
The nature of Persephone's yearly schedule - spending half of the year in the land of the living, and the other half in the underworld - means that she is usually considered to be both a chthonic and a vegetation goddess. (She isn't thought of as an ouranic deity, because she isn't one of the twelve Olympians.) In mythology and literature, she was often referred to as 'dread(ed) Persephone', and in Homer's epics (the Iliad and the Odyssey) she always appears alongside her husband, suggesting that she and Hades ruled the underworld together.
Above: The Erinyes - also known as the Eumenides - were a trio of merciless chthonic goddesses of vengeance. Their Roman counterparts were the Furies. In this painting, they are tormenting Orestes, a man who murdered his mother, Clytemnestra.
Image credit: Orestes Pursued by the Furies, painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, (1862)
Another famous chthonic deity is Hecate, the Greek goddess of magic, spells, the moon, the night, and crossroads. As well as having chthonic associations, she was often worshipped in ancient Athens as a protector of the household, alongside Zeus, Hestia, Hermes, and Apollo. Hecate was often represented as 'triple-bodied', and images and alters of her in her triplet form were often placed at three-way crossroads. Her chthonic identity comes from the fact that she was the bearer of the keys that could unlock the gates between worlds, which gave her access to the underworld.
Melinoë was the daughter of Persephone and Zeus, and the chthonic goddess of nightmares and madness. She shares some similarities with Hecate, who was also associated with nightmares, and the Erinyes, who often drove their victims mad by hunting them relentlessly. In fact, her name is sometimes considered to be an epithet (a descriptive term, which often accompanies or replaces the name of someone, something, or somewhere) of Hecate.
The Erinyes were minor chthonic goddesses of vengeance, charged with punishing people who had committed crimes against the natural order, especially children who had committed crimes against their parents (looking at you, Orestes). The Roman poet Virgil recognised the existence of three Erinyes: Alecto ("endless anger"), Megaera ("jealous rage") and Tisiphone/Tilphousia ("vengeful destruction"). They were commonly associated with the night and darkness, and were sometimes described as daughters of Nyx, the goddess of the night and another chthonic deity.
Above: While some deities had other associations beyond the chthonic, Charon, the ferryman of the dead, was almost exclusively seen as a chthonic entity. He carried the souls of the dead across the rivers Acheron and Styx, which separated the land of the living from the underworld.
Archaeological explorations have confirmed that, in some burials, low-value coins were placed in, on, or near the mouth of the deceased. It is believed that this coin would be used to pay Charon's ferry fare. In Virgil's epic poem, the Aeneid, the dead who could not pay the fee were doomed to wander the riverbank of the Styx for one hundred years before they were allowed to cross the river with Charon.
Image credit: George E. Koronaios
When discussing chthonic deities, many scholars urge us to recognise that the modern use of 'chthonic' to describe gods in the ancient Greek pantheon is more binary and concrete than it was in ancient Greece. Chthonic and ouranic/Olympian are not mutually exclusive terms, and several ouranic deities also had chthonic associations.
The epithets 'chthonios' and 'chthonia' were sometimes used when referring to ouranic deities in the context of their underworld-related duties. Most notably, the Olympian God Hermes, who was considered the herald of the gods, had the epithet Hermes Chthonios. This epithet was used to refer to his role as an underworld escort, helping to guide souls to the underworld. Demeter also had the epithet Demeter Chthonia, which was typically used in stories of her attempting to rescue Persephone from the underworld.
A colourful collection of deities ruled and resided in the ancient Greek underworld, from goddesses of witchcraft, crossroads, nightmares, and madness, to relentless goddesses of vengeance. And presiding over them all were Hades and his dread Persephone, keeping a watchful eye on the dead.
SOURCES:
Craig, Sarah, 'Persephone and the Seasons', Hellenic Museum, (2017)
Fatica, Marta, 'Who Were The Chthonic Greek Gods? 5 Gods & Their Myths', The Collector, (2021)
'Hades', Britannica, (1999)
'Hecate (Hekate) - Greek Goddess of Witchcraft, Magic, and Ghosts', Theoi Greek Mythology
Henrichs, A., 'Hecate', Oxford Classical Dictionary, (2015)
Hewitt, Joseph William, 'The Propitiation of Zeus', Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, (1908), Vol. 19, pp. 61-120
Kapach, Avi, 'Cerberus', Mythopedia, (2023)
'Persephone: Queen of the Underworld', Greek Mythology
'The Erinyes in Greek Mythology', Greek Legends and Myths
'The Greek Underworld: A Comprehensive Exploration of Hades', Greek Myths - Greek Mythology
'The Underworld', Greek Mythology
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