tartarus

Tartarus is a term from ancient Greek cosmology that denotes a deep, dark abyss far below the earth. In classical sources it functions both as a place and, in some traditions, as a primordial region or entity associated with the underworld.

In Greek mythology, Tartarus is described as the nethermost part of the world, deeper than Hades. In Hesiod’s Theogony, it is a vast, shadowy pit that serves as a prison for the Titans after their defeat by Zeus. The realm is imagined as a place of confinement and guardian darkness, rather than a normal part of the mortal world. The gods themselves are said to have descended there only with difficulty, underscoring its extreme remoteness.

Later Greek literature and Roman adaptations treat Tartarus as the deepest portion of the underworld, a location associated with punishment and the execution of divine justice. The term is used to convey a sense of ultimate imprisonment or infernal severity, sometimes extending beyond the Titans to other rebellious beings or wicked souls.

The concept of Tartarus also influenced Christian and medieval writers, who adopted it as a symbol of the deepest hell or pits of punishment. In modern culture, Tartarus appears in literature, film, and games as a name for hellish dungeons, prisons, or realms that evoke ancient mythic associations with torment and confinement.

Etymology of the name is ancient and not definitively agreed upon; Tartarus remains one of the oldest Greek terms for the remotest, most foreboding region of the underworld.