There seems to be quite an interest in many of the primordial deities that existed in ancient Greece and one of the most requests that seems to be Tartarus. Now as of all of the primordial deities there has always been this debate as to whether they were actual physical beings or manifestations and personifications of ideas and places. one exactly Tartarus came to exist is something that changes depending on the source that you’re using has he had himself buddies that Tartarus was a third primordial deity following chaos and Gaea you also believe that Tartarus was the father of the monster – in the ancient Norfolk tales Tartarus was considered with a deity and a place located in the underworld he was also considered to be the first ad to have existed it was then from him that light and the cosmos were born. Tartarus the place can be found deep under the earth even deeper than Hades.
Collison Tartarus and the underwater confused at the same place but Tartarus can almost be described as the abyss below the underworld which does in fact emerge of Hades in certain places. The easiest way to distinguish between Tartarus and Hades is that Hades is the place of the Dead where they go to rest or be punished once they have been judged by a course Minos and Rhadamanthus know according to Plato these three judges amongst us harden the fate of those in Hades also decided which of them would be sent to Tartarus. Over the years Tartarus would serve as a place for those who committed unspeakable acts against the gods or humanity Tartarus essentially became a prison. The earliest account of this beam when Cronus rose to power as the king of the Titans he immediately imprisoned Hackett on quarries in the Cyclops within Tartarus because he felt they could possibly ever throw him.
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Cronus would then place a dragon outside the entrance of Tartarus to act as a guard but Zeus would later kill this dragon when he traveled to Tartarus to free its prisoners and ask for their assistance during the war. Ironically enough Tartarus would then serve as a prison for many of the Titans when Zeus a nice fellow Olympians would eventually emerge victorious with the people of ancient Greece unable to punish their own Kings that task would then fall to the gods and goddesses who would intervene sending the guilty to Tartarus. These fallen Kings included Tantalus who killed his own son and later served him to the gods during a feast King exile who pushed his father-in-law into a bed of burning coal and then attempted to rape Zeus his wife Hera and of course King Sisyphus who was known for killing guests and travelers breaking the cardinal rule of hospitality we can simplify Tartarus to a dungeon or prison for those who are too powerful to have conventional methods of punishment forced upon them.
My personal interpretation of Tartarus is as the fiery pit below the underworld I’ve never really seen Tartarus as a physical deity just as I’ve never really imagined Gaia to have been a woman more so symbolic of the earth and mother nature. I see Tartarus not as the deity of the pit or the prison but the prison itself much like the rest of the primordial beings there is no real correct answer as most of it just comes down to personal interpretation some people view Tartarus as a deepest region in the world the prison of the Damned and others see him as a deity that represents the region itself but in the end they refer to the same thing a deep dark abyss that few will ever return from. Tartarus is definitely an interesting point of discussion and one that I’d like to hear your thoughts on do you consider him to be a deity or a place or perhaps both of them let me know in the comments below.
