The questions dealing with the "end of life" has interested the human beings ever since, as well as the reflection of whether it is indeed the end or perhaps a new beginning. The funerary culture in ancient time took a major part of their life and occupation. In this course, we will deal with the myths and beliefs concerning the world of the dead, the various shapes of the interment and the artistic means with which they expressed their concepts of the netherworld.

            In the different cultures, there has always existed the belief that after death the deceased, in one form or another reaches the nether land. Its definite location is however not clear enough, although moves between Elysium/the Garden of Eden and Hades/hell. The location is equally debated – up above or down in the heart or the earth or perhaps in end of the cosmos. Consequently, there also arises the question of the reason to reach one place or another, the question of a possible trial, possibly according to the merits of the deceased and the like.

There also exists the question of the ruler or rulers in the eternal world, the form in which to deceased take and the like. We shall try to understand the perception of death of the different cultures, starting with the Egyptian and Mycenaean eras as the possible infrastructure and the Greek and Roman world and their possible influence on the Christian perception and iconography. We shall compare the blessed world to the doomed one and deal with the various aspects of funerary art: