Abstract

In this thesis the different notions of Hades that appear in the heterogeneous works of gre co-roman literature are in quired and interpreted with enormous scrutiny. The philosophical texts are written mostly by Plato and the Platonists (in particular Heraclides Ponticus, Plutarchus, and Proclus). They have to be compared with Christian ideas of purgatory originating in the early Middle Ages. Eschatology must be explained not only with regard to the cosmologies, that change during the centuries, but also on a solid base of astronomical and astrological knowledge.