By god, I'd rather slave on earth for another man-
Some dirt poor tenant farmer who scrapes to keep alive-
Than rule down here over the breathless dead."
-Achilles, The Odyssey, Book 11
In many religions around the world, there is a sense of justice exercised in the afterlife. Good, deserving people are allowed admittance to a utopia of sorts where all their benevolence on earth will be rewarded; evil people with dark pasts are sent to a hell where they pay for their sins. However, this was not the case for the Greeks, who saw no paradise awaiting them after they breathed their last breath. Death was an equalizer, and a dark one at that. Not even heroes like the great Achilles could find honour in the afterlife, which he expresses in the quote above. Death was not a comfort; there was no talk of going to a "better place". Achilles' vehement decree that he would rather live as the lowliest being on earth than rule in death reflects the importance the Greeks saw in life, greatly contrasting other religions' concern with devoting their days on earth to readying their immortal soul for the afterlife.
Achilles' quote is fascinating in the sense that it was said well before a time when it would be widely agreed with. For centuries people have looked at the afterlife as a paradise and a place for salvation. Philosophers such as Plato and his follower Plotinus even believed that life is simply a waiting room for the afterlife, and we can only gain true knowledge after death. On the contrary, today's secular society values life much more than preparing for the afterlife and I think most people on this blog would agree with Achilles' quote.
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