Time and Timelessness in Greek Afterlives

Abstract

Greek constructions of the afterlife are characterized by the absence or perversion of conventional markers of time among the living. Whereas the living measure time by changes in the seasons and in themselves – within the narrative of their lives – the dead, like the gods, are characterized by their immunity to change. In the underworld of the Odyssey, eternity is defined by cyclical and repetitive tasks or else simply by monotony, since there is not even day or night. Even in the Isles of the Blest, where day and night may exist, an absence of seasons results in a landscape of timelessness. The isolation of the dead is emphasized through their lack of awareness of the passing of living time. The pattern may be disrupted by the arrival of living visitors, whose narrative may briefly involve the dead, and thereby give them a fleeting awareness of time.