Funerary Vessel with Dionysos in the Underworld (detail), South Italian, made in Apulia, 350–325 B.C. Red figure volute krater attributed to the Darius Painter. Terracotta. Toledo Museum of Art; Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, Florence Scott Libbey, and the Egypt Exploration Society, by exchange.
Imagining the Underworld: Life after Death in Ancient Greek Religion
GETTY VILLA
Auditorium
This is a past event
Ancient Greeks often imagined the souls of the dead leaving the body for another existence. Where did they think the dead were going, and what awaited them? Classicist Radcliffe Edmonds explores myth, art, and texts to reveal diverse and sometimes conflicting Greek ideas about life after death. An expert in Greek mythology, religion, and magic, Edmonds presents aspects of this continued existence, from punishment and reward in a physical underworld to a grander cosmic connection between mortals and immortals. This program complements the exhibition Underworld: Imagining the Afterlife on view through March 18. Parking fee $15.
Radcliffe G. Edmonds III is the Paul Shorey Professor of Greek in the Department of Greek, Latin, & Classical Studies at Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania. His research and books focus on Greek religion and mythology, especially ideas of the underworld and afterlife; on Platonic philosophy, ritual, and magic; and on various topics relating to Orphica, including the Derveni Papyrus and the gold tablets.
