Tartarus in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Tartarus

13 passages from 7 ancient authors that tell of Tartarus, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. In Greek mythology, Tartarus was both a primordial deity that existed before the Olympians, as well as a name to describe a region of the Underworld. ... For the story in one place, read our article on Tartarus.

Hesiod (4)

Hesiod, Theogony 700–739The Titans buried; the approach to Tartarus (700-739)The heat of battle seems to bring heaven and earth together, and the Hundred-Handers hurl three hundred rocks at a time at the Titans, overwhelm them and bind them beneath the earth. Hesiod then describes Tartarus, as far beneath the earth as heaven is above it, with its bronze fence and gates, where the Titans lie hidden and the Hundred-Handers stand guard.
Hesiod, Theogony 820–869Zeus and Typhoeus (820-869)Gaia bears her youngest child, Typhoeus, with a hundred snake heads and every kind of voice, and he would have come to rule gods and men had Zeus not noticed. Zeus's thunder shakes heaven and earth, and he strikes the monster down and burns his heads; earth melts in the heat. Typhoeus is hurled to Tartarus, and from him come the harmful winds, except Notus, Boreas and Zephyrus.
Hesiod, Theogony 100–129Invocation of the Muses; Chaos, Gaia and the first gods (100-129)The proem closes with an invocation: the Muses are asked to tell how the gods and the world first came to be. The cosmogony begins with Chaos, broad-breasted Gaia (Earth), murky Tartarus and Eros, fairest of the gods. Erebus and Night come from Chaos and bear Aether and Day, and Gaia bears Uranus (Heaven) and the hills.
Hesiod, Theogony 740–779The house of Night, Sleep and Death; Hades and Styx (740-779)In the great gulf beyond Tartarus' gates stands the home of Night, where Atlas holds up the sky and Night and Day greet one another as they cross a bronze threshold. Sleep and Death, children of Night, live there, followed by the halls of Hades and Persephone, guarded by a fearful hound, and the house of Styx.

Homer (1)

Homer, Iliad 8.1–77Zeus forbids the gods to intervene; the scales of fateAt dawn Zeus calls the gods to an assembly and forbids them to help either side, threatening to hurl any who disobey into Tartarus. He boasts that he could draw up the whole earth and sea on a golden chain and that all the gods together could not pull him down. He then drives to Ida, weighs the fates in his golden scales so that the Achaeans' sink to the earth and the Trojans' rise, and sends a flash of lightning into the Achaean host.

Apollodorus (2)

Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 1.1.1–7Uranus, the Titans and the birth of ZeusSky (Uranus) and Earth have the Hundred-handers, the Cyclopes and the Titans, and Sky casts the Cyclopes into Tartarus. At Earth's urging the Titans attack their father, and Cronus mutilates him with an adamantine sickle, so that the Furies are born from the blood. Cronus takes the sovereignty, binds his brothers again, marries Rhea and swallows his children at birth, until Rhea hides the infant Zeus in a cave in Crete among the Curetes and nymphs and gives Cronus a stone to swallow.
Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 1.2.1–7Zeus and the Titanomachy; the children of the TitansZeus takes Metis as his ally, and she gives Cronus a drug that makes him disgorge the stone and his swallowed children. In the ten-year war the gods win once Zeus frees the prisoners in Tartarus and the Cyclopes give him thunder and lightning, Pluto a helmet and Poseidon a trident; the Titans are shut in Tartarus and the three brothers draw lots for sky, sea and the underworld. The rest of the section lists the offspring of the Titans, of Styx, and of Sea and Earth, ending with the Nereids.

Aeschylus (2)

Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 196–278First episode: why Zeus punishes PrometheusAt the Chorus's request Prometheus tells his story. He says that when Zeus rebelled against Cronus he advised the Titans, and when they refused he went over to Zeus, whose new rule then threw the Titans into Tartarus. Zeus wished to destroy mankind and Prometheus saved them by giving them blind hopes and fire. The Chorus warn him that he has done wrong, and he answers that those who are not in trouble find it easy to give advice.
Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 1007–1093Exodos: Hermes' threat and the earthquakeHermes tells Prometheus that Zeus will split the rock with thunder and bury him, and that after a long time he will be brought back to the light, when an eagle will tear his liver every day. The Chorus urge him to yield, but refuse to leave him, and as the earth shakes and the thunder rolls, Prometheus calls on heaven and earth to see the wrongs that he suffers.

Aristophanes (1)

Aristophanes, Birds 682–722Parabasis: Chaos, Love and the birth of the birdsThe Chorus call on frail, short-lived men to listen to the birds and learn about Chaos, Darkness, Night and Tartarus. They sing that Love was hatched from an egg laid by Night and gave birth to the birds, who are therefore older than the gods. They add that the birds assist lovers, mark the seasons for the farmer and the sailor, and are the true oracles of men, since a sneeze, a rumour or a servant may all be called a bird.

Ovid (1)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.338–461Typhoeus; the rape of PersephoneCalliope sings for the Muses of the giant Typhoeus buried under Sicily, whose struggles shake the island, and of how Aphrodite (Venus) asks Eros (Cupid) to wound Hades (Pluto) with love. Hades, driving through Sicily, sees Persephone (Proserpina) gathering flowers by the lake of Pergus and carries her off in his chariot. The nymph Cyane tries to stop him and is changed into a pool, and Hades drives through the earth to his own kingdom. Demeter (Ceres) begins her search for her daughter, and turns the boy Stellio, who mocks her thirst, into a lizard.

Orpheus (attributed) (2)

Orpheus (attributed), Orphic Hymns 52–56Hymns 52-56: Trietericus, Amphietus Bacchus, Silenus and the Priestesses of Bacchus, Venus, AdonisThree more Dionysiac hymns address the triennial Bacchus, Amphietus Bacchus, who is called to rise with the nymphs, and Silenus, the Satyrs and the priestesses of Bacchus. Venus is hailed as the sea-born, laughter-loving queen, and Adonis as the best of daemons, who sinks into Tartarus and shines again in the heavens.
Orpheus (attributed), Orphic Hymns 17–21Hymns 17-21: Neptune, Pluto, Thundering Jove, Jove the Author of Lightning, the CloudsNeptune is invoked as the dark-haired, earth-shaking ruler of the sea, and Pluto as the lord of the underworld, whose realm lies in Tartarus among the pale shades of the dead. Two hymns address Zeus as the thunderer and the author of lightning, calling on his fiery light and his roaring storm. The group closes with the Clouds, the aerial parents of fertile rains.