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To: Publius

Technically, Tartarus, a mythological hellish region deep beneath the earth, not connected with the Judeo-Christian concept of hell. Tartarus is where those who offended the (polytheistic) gods, went to be punished.


135 posted on 09/06/2012 6:05:56 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (let me ABOs run loose, lew (or is that lou?))
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To: HiTech RedNeck

Correct. It was shorthand for those who don’t know their Greek mythology.


139 posted on 09/06/2012 6:07:49 PM PDT by Publius (Leadership starts with getting off the couch.)
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To: HiTech RedNeck
I owe you a better answer than last night.

Back when I was a young whippersnapper, there were actually high school courses that covered Greek mythology. I even remember being introduced to it in grade school in the Fifties! Today you're lucky if some basic college humanities course covers even a part of it. I'm not sure if Bullfinch is still in print. Maybe they're using Graves, who does a fine job linking anthropology to mythology.

FReepers are among the most erudite people on the Internet, but I doubt most would know their Hades from their Tartarus, or their Styx from their Lethe. (Most people think Styx is a rock band.)

The word "hell" struck me as a barely acceptable sustitute for Tartarus. With so many Evangelicals on this site, that word resonates, even if it is not completely accurate.

468 posted on 09/07/2012 3:52:11 PM PDT by Publius (Leadership starts with getting off the couch.)
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