ABSTRACT
Following on from the general picture of the landscape of Greek religion presented in Chapter 1, this chapter presents the context of the study of the Underworld in ancient Greek religion, looking at what the Underworld is, what kind of god should be considered an Underworld god and what type of religious practice should be considered an Underworld-related practice. For the former of these considerations, the literary case study of the Keres in Homer is used to talk about the theoretical considerations of ‘who counts’. For the latter, the Athenian festival of the Antheseteria, which is not an Underworld festival, but has Underworld-related elements woven though it’s practice and mythology, is considered. Finally, this chapter presents some conclusions based on how people might have used the Underworld gods in their regular religious practices in order to build relationships with them.
