Elysion
The Elysion ( ancient Greek Ἠλύσιον [Πεδίον] Elysion [Pedion] "the blessed [field]", Latin the Elysium or campus Elysius , plural campi Elysii ) is in Greek mythology that "island of the blessed" ( μακάρων νῆnstenesος ) mak äκσρων νῆσος West of the globe, which is surrounded by the Ocean . Those heroes who were loved by the gods or to whom they gave immortality are raptured to these “Elysian realms” . Some believed they recognized the Canary Islands in these islands . Today Madeira, the Azores, the Canaries and Cape Verde are considered as other options. In biogeography they are summarized together with the term Macaronesia , derived from the Greek name .
Later poets, like Virgil , moved the Elysion to that part of the underworld into which the pious and righteous, judged by the judges of the dead, moved. It was no longer part of the Islands of the Blessed.
Mythological meaning
In complete contrast to the Tartaros, these are paradisiacal , rose-adorned meadows, where eternal spring reigns, and where a nectar- like drink from a source of Lethe enables all earthly suffering to be forgotten forever. Menelaus and Helena , Kadmos , the founder of Thebes , as well as Peleus and Achilles are said to be there alongside other heroes and to pass the time in the shade of incense trees with horse riding and gymnastics, dice and lute games . The brother of Minos , Rhadamanthys , rules over this plane of arrival or Elysian realms , a paradisiacal place to which Kronos was also brought when he had slept intoxicated by honey and was thus able to be tied up by Zeus . According to the Orphics - who tell many things differently - he is known there as the husband of Rhea and as the king.
The poet Horace transferred the mythical idea into the political reality of his time. Desperate about the never-ending civil war, he urged the Romans in a poem to leave their unhappy city and emigrate to the "arva beata ..., divites et insulas" ("blissful fields ... and rich islands"). As these islands of the arva beata , promised by the poet in the prophetic tone , one understood the Elysian realms in the west.
Take up the topic
In urban planning
- The avenue des Champs-Élysées (German: "Allee der Elysées ") follows a line of sight to the west, starting from the Louvre - the former French royal palace - via the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel to the Arc de Triomphe .
In garden art
- In the “Neumark's Garden” area in the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm there is an Elysium that visitors can reach after successfully passing through the “labyrinth”. The cheerful and friendly design contrasts with the gloomy and eerie meanders, some of which are made of artificial rocks.
- There is also an Elysium in the Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe in Kassel , which was designed with statues and small garden spaces along a creek. The central figure is the still preserved sculpture of Flora .
In music / literature / cinematography
- 1785: In his poem An die Freude , set to music in Beethoven's 9th Symphony , Friedrich Schiller names this a "daughter from Elisium".
- 1994 Elysian Fields , song on the album Youthanasia by Megadeth
- 2003: Elysium , South Korean anime film
- 2013: Elysium , American science fiction film
- 2018: Lost Elysion , album, Herbert Pixner project
See also
- Valhalla (Germanic)
- Flathinnis (allegedly Celtic)
- Vaikuntha and Mount Kailash (Indian)
- Pure land in Buddhism, especially the Sukhavati land of Buddha Amitabha . The Nirvana , however, is no paradise, but a state which surpasses the paradise.
- Avalon (Celtic)
- Garden of eden
literature
- Karl Kerényi : The Mythology of the Greeks - The Gods and Human Stories. dtv, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-423-30030-2 .
- Michael Grant and John Hazel: Lexicon of Ancient Myths and Figures. dtv, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-423-32508-9 .
- Robert von Ranke-Graves : Greek Mythology - Sources and Interpretation. rororo, Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-499-55404-6 .
