What and Where is Tartarus? Greek mythology reveals the Tartarus definition & appearance of Tartarus, the pit of Tartarus and the prison where he is held.
Updated: 11/21/2023
Tartarus in Greek Mythology | Definition & Location
Table of Contents
- What is Tartarus: A God, a Place, or Both?
- Where is Tartarus: The Cosmic Pit
- Tartarus Greek Mythology
- Lesson Summary
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Gaia and Tartarus have kids?
Yes, Gaia and Tartarus had a child. His name was Typhoeus. He was a monster with 100 snake heads and fire.
What is the purpose of Tartarus?
Tartarus serves as the worst prison and punishment for those who commit the worst crimes. It is an eternal holding cell for monsters, gods and evil mortals.
What is the difference between Tartarus and Hades?
Hades rules the underworld and Tartarus rules the prison underneath the underworld. Hades takes the general prisoners, while Tartarus holds the worst offenders.
Who is the God of Tartarus?
Tartarus is both the abysmal pit and prison in the Underworld and he is also the god who guards and embodies the pit.
Has anyone escaped Tartarus?
There have been escaped from Tartarus before. Some of the Titans had escaped and confronted Hades. Hades reinforced it after.
Was Tartarus married?
Gaia and Tartarus were romantically involved and went on to have a child together, a loathsome monster named Typhon. He is also said to have married Echidna.
Table of Contents
- What is Tartarus: A God, a Place, or Both?
- Where is Tartarus: The Cosmic Pit
- Tartarus Greek Mythology
- Lesson Summary
What is Tartarus?
What is Tartarus? Let's define the elusive concept of Tartarus.
Tartarus is both a place as well as an ancient Greek god, lending some confusion to students.
Tartarus was the Greek Primordial god that ruled over the abyss, the deepest and darkest pit in the Underworld.
The primordial gods were the first generation of gods as detailed in Hesiod's Theogony. Four original gods were born after the creation of the cosmos. According to Hesiod, the four primordial Greek gods were:
- Tartarus
- Eros
- Chaos
- Gaia
There were two personifications of Tartarus in ancient Greek mythology. Tartarus was the dark abyss that was used as a prison for the eternally damned to the Underworld. Tartarus was also the deepest, darkest pit in the Underworld. It was so deep into the Earth that it would take an anvil 10 days to reach it if it was dropped.
The Appearance of Tartarus: Prison and Primordial God
The pit of Tartarus was the deepest and darkest pit known to the ancient Greeks and a terrifying location. It was considered the deepest part of the world. It was a place of punishment, despair, decay, and darkness. Tartarus lay underneath the Underworld and was used as a prison for the enemies of the gods. It was considered the opposite of Elysium, the Greek version of Heaven.
This area was reserved for the worst inhabitants of the Underworld and was guarded closely by an assortment of loathsome behemoths. One such monster was Hydra, a water snake with nine or more heads! Campe, referred to as the Nymph of Tartarus, was another guard. She was depicted as half-woman, half-dragon. Tartarus would hold the most deplorable inhabitants of the cosmos, so the guards would have to be equally as horrifying.
Locked bronze gates trapped the inhabitants of Tartarus into eternal darkness. The damned would have punishments that fit their crime, until the end of time. They would labor over these repetitive tasks, unable to achieve satisfaction.
Tartarus, as a deity, was as intimidating as the prison he is said to have represented.
Tartarus also has a physical representation as to the god who represented the Underworld prison. He was described as a monstrous, wicked god that towered above the rest. Tartarus was sometimes described as half of a dome, who along with Uranus, the sky god, made the complete sphere that was known as the ancient Earth. Not much is mentioned about the physical appearance of the deity Tartarus, as he is more frequently depicted as an eternal prison.
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Where is Tartarus? Tartarus is the deepest place on Earth according to the ancient Greeks. It is a domed shape that lies underneath the Underworld and is ruled by Tartarus, the deity.
Covered in an eternal mist, this wicked place of darkness was used as a prison for the most loathsome damned. This included monsters, mortals, and gods who were being punished. When the Titans were sent there by Zeus after the Titanomachy War, they were guarded by giants with one hundred hands to prevent their escape.
The pit of Tartarus was a punishment and holding cell for the following groups:
- the Titans after the Titanomachy Wars
- the Cyclops who was sent by Uranus
- Hecatonchires who was a 100 handed monster
- Lydian King Tantalus who tested the gods
- the Coridan King Sisyphus who cheated death
- Ixion a mortal who tried to seduce Hera
- Tityos an unforgivable mortal
- Typhoeus and Echidna for attempting to overthrow Zeus
- the children of Ouranos for he feared they would overthrow him
- the Hecatonchires for being too powerful
- and the Danaids, 50 sisters who murdered their husbands
Tartarus was considered the most secure prison within the underworld, and the most powerful beings were held there to prevent their escape.
While in Tartarus, these prisoners had unique punishments that would continue every day into eternity. One example is King Tantalus, who killed his son to see if the gods could monitor the actions of every mortal. He was sent to Tartarus for eternity. Part of his punishment was eternal hunger and thirst that he could not satisfy. He was forced to stand within water that he could not quench his thirst from, and under a fruiting tree, from which he could not eat. Tartarus was a particularly miserable place and reserved for the worst offenders.
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Tartarus was one of the first Greek gods to exist, making him a primordial god. He was one of four gods given this title.
The four primordial gods were:
- Chaos
- Tartarus
- Gaia
- Eros
Out of the gods, he ranked third in power and importance, after Chaos and Gaia. In some versions of Greek mythology, Chaos is the father of Tartarus.
Tartarus would go on to have children: the giants and Typhoeus.
Tartarus and Gaia, the primordial goddess of Earth, had a child together, Typhoeus. Typhoeus was a monster who towered above the gods and mortals. He had 100 snakeheads with eyes that sprang fire from them. Typhoeus was immensely powerful.
Typhoeus would go on to marry Echidna in some myths, and they would become the parents of all future monsters. Echidna and Typhoeus were so bold and wicked as to battle Zeus over control of the heavens. They lost, and Zeus imprisoned them within Tartarus.
Tartarus was the prison guard of Tartarus, the most disciplined and intense segment of the underworld. Tartarus had a few unique strengths and powers in Greek mythology. Tartarus had extreme strength, immortality, and the ability to control souls and demons. He could also beckon souls to Tartarus. Overall, the deity and the abyss were powerful representations of evil in Greek mythology.
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Tartarus is both a fearsome primordial Greek god as well as the worst, deepest section of Hades. Tartarus was born at the beginning of time and was a powerful force. With his sister, Gaia, he had Typhoeus, a troublesome monster who would end up locked in the hell his father helped control.
Tartarus, the abyss, was the deepest, darkest place of punishment on Earth. Guarded by horrifying monstrosities of the ancient Greeks, the powerful and wicked were punished eternally here for their crimes. Enemies of the gods, wicked mortals, and powerful monsters were all trapped in Tartarus.
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Additional Info
Worse Than Prison
For most Americans, prison is a pretty scary place. Full of cells with barred doors, armed guards, and food that would make your high school cafeteria look like a 5-star restaurant, America's prisons are used to house our most dangerous and destructive members of society.
A normal prison like ours, however, would do little to contain the gods, monsters, and Titans of ancient Greek mythology. In order to protect Greece and the rest of Earth from the worst of the immortal world, the Greeks had Tartarus, a pit so low that the Greek historian Hesiod claimed it would take an anvil ten days falling from Earth to reach Tartarus!
What Was Tartarus?
The pit of Tartarus - as one might guess from Hesiod's measurements above - was the lowest region of the world in the Greek model. According to myth, it was walled in impenetrable bronze and its bronze gates were guarded by giants each with 100 hands.
Tartarus was where the worst ancient deities were held. For example, when Zeus and his siblings defeated the Titans, the Titans were chained in the pit.
Although Tartarus is the name of the pit itself, Tartarus is also the name of the god which symbolizes the pit in ancient Greek mythology. Although this deity is rarely present in ancient Greek mythology, Tartarus did have a child, Typhoeus, with the goddess of the earth, Gaia. Zeus was forced to battle Typhoeus when the monster attempted to conquer the heavens. When Zeus defeated him, Zeus cast him into the pit, as well. According to mythology, hurricanes and gale force winds are caused by Typhoeus when Zeus momentarily opens the gates of Tartarus.
Tartarus Over Time
The pit of Tartarus changed meaning over time in ancient Greek mythology. Originally used only to house immortal beings such as the Titans or Typhoeus, it evolved to become the lowest ring of Hades, a dungeon of tormented souls separated from the rest of the underworld. Some historians have drawn parallels between this later version of Tartarus and the Christian Hell.
Learning Outcomes
When you are done, you should be able to:
- Explain what Tartarus was
- Recall what Tartarus was built for and who lived in it
- Discuss the versions of Tartarus in Greek mythology
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Tartarus in Greek Mythology | Definition & Location
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