Page:Greek and Roman Mythology.djvu/19

THE ORIGIN OF MYTHS 5 vanced beyond the corresponding stage of development. In Homer, on the other hand, such ideas can be recog- nized only in isolated allusions, since in his time the later doctrine was already accepted among the Achaians and lonians, whose view he represented. Simultaneously among these peoples, from the ordinary characteristics of every grave, there had grown up the idea of a common place of abode for souls, subterranean, naturally, but not accessible to human beings through the medium of prayers and offerings, an abode separated from the world above by impassable rivers, such as the Styx ('the hated 7 ), Acheron (' river of woe '), Cocy tus (' river of lamentation '), Pyriphlegethon (< stream of fire '), and Lethe ( ( forgetfulness ') from which the dead drank for- getfulness. 7. As soon as the dead had been covered with earth, their souls, lingering on the bank of the Styx or the Acheron, were ferried across by the boatman Charon. As pay for this service he received an obolus (a small coin worth 3^ cents), which customarily was laid under the tongue of the deceased. Once down in the lower world, the dead, according to Homer's belief, lived a gloomy, empty, shadowy sort of life. Their previous tastes and occupations were, indeed, unchanged; but their life was without consciousness and the power to effect any actual results. A few individuals, however, who were especially loved or hated by the gods, retained consciousness and sensation, that they might be rewarded or punished for their deeds done upon earth. From this realm of death there could be no return ; to this end the three-headed dog Cerberus kept watch at the entrance, which the ancients believed they had discovered in vari-