Elysian – Lost City of Atlantis or a Greek Myth

 

Elysian, is a word from Greek Mythology relating to Elysium, meaning, blissful, blessed, celestial, heavenly and ethereal, an adjective describing something peaceful and perfect; something divinely inspired something beautifully creative.

 “Being of such surpassing excellence as to suggest inspiration by the gods”

 

What is Elysium?

 

According to Greek mythology Elysium was, to some extent, paradise, a resting place for pure souls but a paradise reserved only for heroes, or for those chosen by the Gods for their righteousness.

 

What does this magical place look like?

 

To some, it maybe a sunny beach, a carefree place, to others the heights of a solitary mountain, peaceful and still.

Here these heroes would remain, after death, in Elysium, in this Utopia, composing poetry, singing and dancing, basically having the time of their life!

The lucky ones allowed entrance into this mythical wonderland, were reincarnated three times, and had to be judged three times by the three judges of death;

 Aeacus, Minos and Rhadamanthus

 

 

Homer, in the Odyssey, names Rhadamanthus, one of these three judges, as the ruler of Elysium, while Pindar and Hesiod, state that the ruler is Cronus, ruler of the heavens and King of the Gods, son of Zeus and Europa.

Take your pick, I’ll go with Cronus!

 

 

How did these righteous souls reach this heavenly place called Elysium?

 

How did the souls of the ancient Greek heroes reach Elysium, were they ferried across the Styx by Charon?

Did they pass through the gates of Hades, (Rumoured to be found in Epirus, Northern Greece, on the River Acheron ) into this glorious underworld, thankful not to be arriving in Tartarus, the most horrifying, darkest and deepest corner of Hades?

 

 

Where is this idyllic place, where are these Elysian Fields ?

 

For some it truly could be Paris! “Paris” you say, “Why Paris?”

The most famous of all Elysian Fields in the world, is right at the heart of Paris; we all know it, but maybe by another name, the French version: The Champs-Élysées!

 

 

Amazing as the city is, this city of light, Paris is not the Elysian Fields mentioned in Greek mythology.

Homer liked to think that Elysium could be found on the Western edge of Earth, by the stream of Okeanos, situated at the Equator, in which floated the habitable hemisphere.

The Stream of Okeanos takes its name from the Greek word; ecumene or oecumene meaning habitable, this is an ancient Greek term for the known world, later, in Roman times, the civilized world.

Elysium or Elysian fields were also known as The Fortunate Islands or Isles of the Blessed, located in the Atlantic sea, and said to be two in number.

Could the Elysian Fields be the Aeolian Islands? (A volcanic archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea, north of Sicily, named after the demigod of the winds Aeolus).

Or maybe the Aegadian Islands (meaning the islands of goats, a group of five small mountainous islands in the Mediterranean Sea, off the northwest coast of Sicily, near the cities of Trapani and Marsala).

More locations mentioned in connection with Elysium or Atlantis are:  Sicily, Canary Islands, Azores, Cape Verde and Bermuda.

 

Are Elysium and Atlantis one and the same?

 

 

 

In Greek mythology, (According to Hesiod, the ancient Greek poet), these legendary, winter-less, heavenly islands are said to be inhabited only by heroes.

Are we looking for the lost city of Atlantis, the Sea of Atlas, in Greek mythology, Atlas being the Titan God who held up the sky, standing at the ends of the Earth, in the West?

Atlas, a true hero indeed, has been connected with many places, but, he is mostly associated with the Atlas Mountains, in Northwest Africa, modern day Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

 

Is Tenerife Elysium?

 

 

In his book “Greek Religion” Walter Burkert connects Elysium with Mount Teide on Tenerife, called the White Isle by explorers, owing to the mountain’s snow covered peak.

Walter Burkert makes the connection of Elysium to Tenerife and the White Isle as a result of a reference to an Elysium, in a tale set in Mesopotamia (Modern day Iraq), “The Epic of Gilgamesh”.

Dilmun is mentioned in this epic, “A place where the sun rises in the land of the living, where heroes were taken by Gods to live forever”.

Dilmun is associated with a white isle, could this be Elysium?

 

 

All the hundreds and thousands of holiday makers, having the time of their lives, living it up on heavenly Tenerife, thinking that they have found paradise, where they never really feel the chill of winter, are they really holidaying on Atlantis or maybe in Elysium?

I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions.

 

Related links:

Interesting ‘untranslatable’ Greek words