Why Odysseus Must Descend into the Underworld

The article argues that Odysseus’s descent into the underworld in Book 11 of Homer’s Odyssey—often called the katabasis—functions as a crucial confrontation with mortality rather than just a monster-filled adventure. Odysseus cannot simply sail home to Ithaca; he must consult the dead prophet Tiresias, a paradox the piece links to nekyia, or necromancy, and contrasts with the biblical prohibition found in Deuteronomy 18:10-12. In Hades, Odysseus meets figures including his mother Anticleia, Agamemnon, Ajax, and especially Achilles, who says he would rather be a hired servant among the living than rule the dead. The article also traces how Virgil later adapts this pattern in Aeneid Book 6, turning Odysseus’s personal homecoming into a civilizational mission for Rome.