Greek Mythology

Introduction

Once again I find myself delving into a topic that I frankly know little about. Well, that has never stopped me in the past and has proved a great way for me to gain knowledge in new areas. The present quest was brought about by my watching one of the 'Clash of The Titans' movies. I was struck by two things: the demon named Hades and the demons’ prison called Tartarus. Both these names appear in scripture, so this naturally put me on a course to determine the relationship between the Greek myths and the Bible.

Hades

In scripture, Hades is the name for the grave. This relates to the LW understanding of where mankind resides in an unconscious state in the first death (We all sleep in angelic brains). In the Old Testament (OT), the name Hades does not appear as such although the Septuagint translation does use the name despite this not being evident from the original Hebrew:

35 And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him. (Genesis 37 KJV)

35 And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down to Sheol to my son mourning. And his father wept for him. (Genesis 37 ASV)

35 And all his sons and his daughters gathered themselves together, and came to comfort him; but he would not be comforted, saying, I will go down to my son mourning to Hades; and his father wept for him. (Genesis 37 LXXb)

35וַיָּקֻמוּ כָל-בָּנָיו וְכָל-בְּנֹתָיו לְנַחֲמוֹ, וַיְמָאֵן לְהִתְנַחֵם, וַיֹּאמֶר, כִּי-אֵרֵד אֶל-בְּנִי אָבֵל שְׁאֹלָה; וַיֵּבְךְּ אֹתוֹ, אָבִיו. (Genesis 37 MM)

In the above example, I provide four versions of an OT verse containing the word for grave. The KJV translates the Hebrew word ‘שְׁאֹלָה’ as ‘grave’ for clarity. The ASV translation correctly and literally translates the Hebrew as ‘Sheol’. We can see that the Septuagint appears to be the only translation of the Hebrew into the name 'Hades'. So, what is different about the Septuagint translation? Well as we see from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septuagint, this translation was based by Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton on a Greek text stemming from the 3rd century BC. Given its Greek roots, it is probably unsurprising that the Greek word for Hades appears in the Septuagint translation rather than its original Hebrew text.

Let us now have a look at a New Testament example set of translations of a verse from the Gospel of Matthew dated around 41AD:

23 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. (Matthew 11 KJV)

23 And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted unto heaven? thou shalt go down unto Hades: for if the mighty works had been done in Sodom which were done in thee, it would have remained until this day. (Matthew 11 ASV)

23 και συ καπερναουμ η εως του ουρανου υψωθεισα εως αδου καταβιβασθηση οτι ει εν σοδομοις εγενοντο αι δυναμεις αι γενομεναι εν σοι εμειναν αν μεχρι της σημερον (Matthew 11 BYZ)

Here the KJV translates the Greek text as ‘hell’. This is not correct, in the LW understanding, since hell represents the second death as Gehenna not the grave (check out Introduction14 - What the Hell is Gehenna? Why does God permit Demon Possession? Universal Salvation: God will save each and every one of us, for God is love and love is salvation). The ASV translation correctly and literally provides the name Hades for the Greek word ‘αδου’ meaning the grave or first death. In common with the OT Septuagint, we have the Greek texts for the New Testament thereby providing the link to the use of the name Hades.

Moving on to Greek mythology, we find that Hades is the god of the underworld and the dead (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hades). From this website we find that the god Hades took his name from the Greek word for the grave. Consequently, any similarity between the Bible and Greek mythology from this perspective is non-existent, being purely a matter of their common use of the Greek language.

Tartarus

The name Tartarus only appears once in scripture where it would seem to be describing the demons’ version of hell:

4 For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; (2 Peter 2 ASV)

4 For if God did not spare sinning angels, but delivered [them] to chains of darkness, thrust down into Tartarus, having been kept to judgment; (2 Peter 2 GLT)

4 ει γαρ ο θεος αγγελων αμαρτησαντων ουκ εφεισατο αλλα σειραις ζοφου ταρταρωσας παρεδωκεν εις κρισιν τηρουμενους (2 Peter 2 WHO)

Tartarus is translated as ‘hell’ in the American Standard Version (ASV) but more correctly and literally transcribed in Jay Green's Literal Translation (GLT) from the Greek word ‘ταρταρωσας’. In the LW understanding, Tartarus is specifically reserved as the prison for the punishment of the demons. It was regarded by the ancient Greeks as the abode of the wicked dead, where they suffer punishment for their evil deeds; it answers to the Gehenna of the Jews. So, let us have a look at Gehenna for a comparison:

28 And be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10 ASV)

28 'And be not afraid of those killing the body, and are not able to kill the soul, but fear rather Him who is able both soul and body to destroy in gehenna. (Matthew 10 YLT)

28 και μη φοβεισθε απο των αποκτενοντων το σωμα την δε ψυχην μη δυναμενων αποκτειναι φοβηθητε δε μαλλον τον δυναμενον και [την] ψυχην και [το] σωμα απολεσαι εν γεεννη (Matthew 10 WHO)

‘Hell’ or ‘Gehenna’ is correctly translated from the Greek word ‘γεεννη’ from the Hebrew meaning ‘the valley of Hinnom’. This is the second death (Introduction14 - What the Hell is Gehenna? Why does God permit Demon Possession? Universal Salvation: God will save each and every one of us, for God is love and love is salvation). This was a valley immediately outside Jerusalem between the Valley Gate and the Gate of the Ash Heaps - where refuse was burned with sulphur, hence the connection to Gehenna. It was also used for the ungodly sacrifice of some Israelite children by their unfaithful parents:

31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which [is] in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded [them] not, neither came it into my heart.
32 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place. (Jeremiah 7 KJV)

Probably the best scripture to bring out the relationship of the Valley of Hinnom with Gehenna, in terms of the burning of sulphur, is from the description of the latter from Revelation 14:

9 And another angel, a 3rd, followed them, saying in a loud voice: If anyone worships the wild beast and its image, and receives a mark on his forehead or upon his hand,
10 he will also drink of the wine of the anger of God that is poured out undiluted into the cup of his wrath, and he shall be tormented with fire and sulphur in the sight of the holy angels and in the sight of the Lamb.
11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, and day and night they have no rest, those who worship the wild beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name. (Revelation 14 NWT)

Let us have a look at an informative website on the subject of Tartarus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartarus. First off, Tartarus is mentioned in the writings of Plato (Giorgias) around 380BC. Clearly Tartarus was a mythological concept well before it was mentioned in Peter’s second epistle. Apparently, the Greek god Zeus asserts that Tartarus is ‘far beneath Hades’ which supports the view that it represents the second death whereas Hades represents the first death. In common with the rest of the New Testament, Peter’s writing was in the Greek language that was brought to the Middle East by Alexander The Great around 330BC (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_of_the_New_Testament). It would seem reasonable that Alexander’s exploits also introduced Greek customs and mythology to the region thereby handing the concept of Tartarus to Peter.

Conclusion

Whilst the concepts of Hades and Tartarus bare marked similarities with Sheol and Gehenna respectively, I think this suggests the Greek myths had some divine inspiration behind their writings rather than the Bible having copied the concepts. Numerous writers on the subject attempt to place a much stronger relationship between the Bible and Greek mythology. However from my perspective, both names appear in the Greek language thereby providing the sole linkage between the two sets of writings. I rest my case.

Synopsis

This quest began by recognising that the names 'Hades' and 'Tartarus' had some commonality between the Bible and Greek mythology.
'Hades' is the Greek word for the grave or first death but does not appear in the Old Testament Hebrew; the Hebrew word for the grave is ‘Sheol’.
The use of the name ‘Hades’ in the New Testament scriptures would appear to be down solely to the common use of the Greek language rather than any divine connection with Greek mythology.
The name ‘Tartarus’ only appears once in the New Testament scriptures and not at all in the Old Testament.
In that one iteration, Tartarus is described as the hell or Gehenna for the demons.
The relationship between 'Hades' and 'Tartarus' in Greek mythology mirrors that of 'Sheol' and 'Gehenna', i.e. the relationship between the first and second deaths in the LW understanding.

Date of Publication: 13th January 2025

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