In Greek mythology, Tartarus (/ˈtɑːrtərəs/; Ancient Greek: Τάρταρος, romanized: Tártaros)[ is the deep abyss that is used as a dungeon of torment and suffering for the wicked and as the prison for the Titans. Tartarus is the place where, according to Plato’s Gorgias (c. 400 BC), souls are judged after death and where the wicked received divine punishment. In Hesiod’s Theogony, Tartarus is described as one of the earliest beings to exist, alongside Chaos, Gaia (Earth) and Eros (Love).

In Greek mythology, Tartarus is both a deity and a place in the underworld.

Hesiod asserts that a bronze anvil falling from heaven would fall nine days before it reached the earth. The anvil would take nine more days to fall from earth to Tartarus. In the Iliad (c. 8th century BC), Zeus asserts that Tartarus is “as far beneath Hades as heaven is above earth.” Similarly the mythographer Apollodorus, describes Tartarus as “a gloomy place in Hades as far distant from earth as earth is distant from the sky.”

While according to Greek mythology the realm of Hades is the place of the dead, Tartarus also has a number of inhabitants. When Cronus came to power as the King of the Titans, he imprisoned the one-eyed Cyclopes and the hundred-armed Hecatonchires in Tartarus and set the monster Campe as its guard. Zeus killed Campe and released these imprisoned giants to aid in his conflict with the Titans. The gods of Olympus eventually triumphed. Cronus and many of the other Titans were banished to Tartarus, though Prometheus, Epimetheus, and female Titans such as Metis were spared. Other gods could be sentenced to Tartarus as well. Apollo is a prime example, although Zeus freed him. The Hecatonchires became guards of Tartarus’s prisoners. Later, when Zeus overcame the monster Typhon, he threw him into “wide Tartarus”.

Residents

Originally, Tartarus was used only to confine dangers to the gods of Olympus. In later mythologies, Tartarus became a space dedicated to the imprisonment and torment of mortals who had sinned against the gods, and each punishment was unique to the condemned. For example:

References

Modified from Tartarus. Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Aug. 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartarus.