9
votes
Accepted
How was it decided which warriors would go to Fólkvangr and which to Valhalla?
The poetic Eddas say that Freya chose half of the dead in battle and the other half went to Odin in Valhalla, the Valkyries take the slain only after Freya chooses her half. Odin gave this right to ...
7
votes
How was it decided which warriors would go to Fólkvangr and which to Valhalla?
Leaving aside speculation about relative status, start with the fact that there's a lot we don't know about Norse mythology, and there's no central canon that makes everything match up. So, the ...
- 5,878
4
votes
How was it decided which warriors would go to Fólkvangr and which to Valhalla?
The Halls of Vallhalla and Folkvangr are not halls of the dead eternal. They are merely training grounds and housing of those deemed worthy by the Vanir and Aesir to defend them at Ragnarok. Where ...
- 57
4
votes
How was it decided which warriors would go to Fólkvangr and which to Valhalla?
I am a member of a practicing and well-established Coven. Though we are eclectic and welcome many paths, our head crone follows the Asatru (Nordic Heathenism) path and has studied it for many years. ...
- 57
4
votes
Why were the lungs left inside the mummy of Herakleides, instead of the heart?
The only explanation that comes to mind for me is that the traditional religion and it's methods were not as present anymore during the later ptolemaic years. It might have been an “accident“ rather ...
- 141
4
votes
Accepted
What sources describe the rivers of the Underworld?
The description of Acheron and Styx in Aeneid 6 appears to be fairly clearly based on the somewhat ambiguous Underworld structure supplied by Circe in Homer's Odyssey 10. Other mythography subsequent ...
- 9,772
4
votes
What sources describe the rivers of the Underworld?
One source mentioning the rivers is Book X of the Odyssey:
So I spoke, and the beautiful goddess straightway made answer: ‘Son of Laertes, sprung from Zeus, Odysseus of many devices, let there be ...
- 1,400
4
votes
Accepted
Did anyone make it to the Isles of the Blessed?
Yes, there are several specifically named characters in this role.
Aaron Atsma's website The Theoi Project has a page thereon entitled Elysion [Elysium], detailing the geography (or, actually, ...
- 9,772
4
votes
Was Aaru considered part of the Duat (underworld) in ancient Egypt?
There is no uniform answer to this, since the concept of Duat varies between different textual sources. What is known of the Duat derives principally from funerary texts such as the Book of Gates, the ...
- 5,354
3
votes
What is the Native American term for Happy Hunting Ground?
I'm afraid there probably isn't one.
Growing up with some Native family myself, I gathered "Happy Hunting Ground" was not an actual native term they used, but rather one of those phrases ...
- 1,183
3
votes
Do all (or most) religions believe in the existence of an afterlife?
Buddhism and Hinduism believe in many lives, and do have heavens and hells.
Naraka (a Hindu hell)
Vaikuntha (a Hindu heaven)
At a high level, a distinction between these two religions is that in ...
- 14.1k
3
votes
What is the ancient Egyptian name for "The Book of Gates"?
"Book" is a rather imprecise term which to us implies a title. The "Books" are loose collections of funerary texts. There is no "standard" table of contents and the texts ...
- 5,354
3
votes
Why are the three Judges of the Underworld Zeus's sons?
Why These Persons?
Within the story the explanation is that these men, when they were alive in the upper world, conducted their affairs with especial attention to fairness. Minos and Rhadamanthys in ...
- 9,772
3
votes
How did Christianity come to equate the place of punishment and the place of demons?
If anything early Christianity was well influenced by ancient Jewish culture of the day, including both Jewish laws, traditions, scriptures and mythology. For the most part both the New and Old ...
- 2,842
3
votes
How was it decided which warriors would go to Fólkvangr and which to Valhalla?
Valhalla: home of the heros who did not yield, the valiant dead, Eitenjar the first into the fight when ragnarok begins. Folkvangr is where the other "half" goes. This might just be a way of saying ...
3
votes
Why are the "Fields of Reeds" the Egyptian paradise?
The Fields of Reeds were a PERFECT version of mortal reed fields. Egyptians who went there were immune to hunger, fatigue, and the temperature. They lived in eternal happiness, while never being bored....
- 281
2
votes
Traditional beliefs regarding guardians of burial grounds
That's the legend of the Church Grim. They're from English and Scandinavian lore, and they protect cemeteries and churchyards.
https://enacademic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/1233957
From the website:
The ...
2
votes
Mythologies with a warrior afterlife, similar to Valhalla?
The Aztecs seem to have had a comparable afterlife. While some warriors are said to have gone on to paradise, others join Huitzilopochtli, the god of war and human sacrifice, for endless war.
From ...
- 7,156
2
votes
How did Christianity come to equate the place of punishment and the place of demons?
An interesting idea adding up to what was said already:
Making a little "comparative hells and abysses" attempt:
Tracing the idea of the Netherworld from the Epic of Gilgamesh: Humanity or humans ...
2
votes
Do humans become angels when they die?
As the above says, the Bible does not equate humans as angels in either the current or afterlife. In fact it says this of angels: “Therefore, angels are only servants--spirits sent to care for people ...
- 19
1
vote
Accepted
What is the ancient Egyptian name for "The Book of Gates"?
I have found the answer to this question. On page 175 of the book The Gods of the Egyptians, or Studies in Egyptian Mythology Vol. 1, by E.A. Wallis Budge on page 175: šꜥt n sbꜣw (𓏛𓏏𓏤𓍼𓏤𓈖𓋴𓃀𓇼𓄿�...
- 631
1
vote
Do all (or most) religions believe in the existence of an afterlife?
well I don't really know more than those couple you listed above but I do know that in norse mythology the viking who died bravely in battle went to valhalla while the unhonorable dead (the people ...
1
vote
How did Christianity come to equate the place of punishment and the place of demons?
The Sumerian tradition has a hell with demons.
Although this material predates the time of Jesus by millennia, unlike the ancient Greek religion which was contemporaneous, it is surely an influence ...
- 14.1k
1
vote
How did Christianity come to equate the place of punishment and the place of demons?
My understanding is that the Christian idea of the underworld is more influenced by Greek mythology than Jewish. (In the New Testament, three terms are used for Hell, two Greek: Hades, Tartarus; and ...
- 14.1k
1
vote
Why is the ferry toll for Charon placed in the dead person's mouth?
Death does not occur in an instant. There is an interval between the cessation of all signs of life and the separation of the soul of the deceased from his or her body. Often, if the newly deceased ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible