In Greek mythology the Elysian Fields was paradise in the afterlife, and therefore the area where those that believed would want to spend eternity. Whilst the concept of the Elysian Fields is easy to explain, a description of it is more troublesome, as throughout the writings of ancient Greece and ancient Rome it evolved, with more details added.

Today the Elysian Fields, or Elysium as it is also known, is today most commonly thought of as a region of the underworld; a third area alongside Tartarus and the Asphodel Meadows. It is said to be the area where the righteous and the heroic go to in the afterlife, and as such is mentioned in many of the most important historic sources.

The concept of the Elysian Fields though was not one which was universally talked about throughout Greece’s history, and Homer, arguably the most famous of Greek writers did not mention it by name. Homer equates paradise to the House of Hades.

Later writings split the idea of Paradise, or the Elysian Fields into two regions, an area of Hades that lay adjacent to the River Lethe. This was an area where the judges of the dead would send the virtuous. A second area, that of the White Island, or the Islands of the Blessed, was an area given over to the heroes of Greek mythology, the likes of Achilles and Ajax.

The Island associated with the Elysian Fields was originally not part of Hades, being instead an island located far to the western extremes of the Oceanus River. It was in many ways a realm like many other mortal realms, being ruled over by a king, either Rhadamanthys (one of the judges of the dead) or Kronos (Zeus’ once defeated father). Heroes could partake in things that had made them happy in life for eternity.

By the time of Virgil, and other Roman writers, the two areas of the Elysian Fields had been once again joined, and were positioned with Hades’ realm.

Many of the most famous individuals from Greek mythology would be named as being resident within the Elysian Fields, and not just the heroes. Odysseus’ wife Penelope and Heracles’ mother Alcmene, were two of the women said to reside there. Some sources also claim that the mortal half of the demi-god Heracles was also present within the Elysian Fields; the immortal part being with his father in Mount Olympus.