ds, spirits and souls, however, they had the ability to communicate with the dead in a physical form. They continued to talk to the dead as if they were still living as humans on earth. The Greeks and Romans both had places where the dead would live or go after death. These common and well-known places for the dead were found in what the Greeks and Romans called the “underworld”. Although the Greeks and Romans shared a common idea of the underworld and its purpose, their names and meanings were not the same. The Romans were able to communicate with the dead in their underworld called “Dis”. In Dis there were no such thing as Heaven and Hell, all the dead went to one common place and the good and bad were separated by fields or allotted places. Dis was divided into sections (fields) with greater punishments allotted to those with greater sins. The good simply had a better place (field) called ‘The Fields of Gladness’ which was inside a huge dungeon. The worst sinners were held in what was an enormous fortress, where tortures were carried out. In this fortress the dead’s crimes, sins and confessions were heard which is similar to that of the Christian conception of “judgment after death”. In order for Aeneid to communicate with the dead he had to go into the woods and search for the golden branch. Once he received this branch he was able to travel to Dis and communicate with the dead. Once at Dis Aeneid searched for his father who was the only one that could tell him how to complete his journey. The Greeks were able to communicate with the dead by traveling to Hades - the land of the dead. Once in Hades, Odysseus conducted the rituals at the river of Okeanos as instructed by Circe. Once this ritual was completed, the dead promptly appeared and began gathering around him. This ritual had to be completed before Odysseus was able to speak with the dead. Odysseus had to allow the dead to...
