Tartarus
The abyss beneath the earth — third of Hesiod's first beings, as far below the earth as heaven is above it, fenced with bronze and triple night, the prison of the Titans — and also a god, who with Earth fathers Typhoeus. Homer's Zeus threatens to hurl the gods there; Apollodorus calls it "a gloomy place in Hades".
Why this wins its question: Carries Tartarus entirely on the primary texts — Hesiod's measurement, Homer's threat and Apollodorus's definition — and shows the one line where the place becomes a father.
Key takeaways
- Both a place and a person in Hesiod: third of the first beings (Theog. 119), and Typhoeus's father by Earth (Theog. 820–822).
- The nine-day anvil is Hesiod's measure; "as far beneath Hades as heaven is above earth" is Homer's (Theog. 720–725; Il. 8.13–16).
- Its inmates are the Titans with Cronus and Iapetus, and later Typhoeus; its warders are the Hundred-handers.
- Apollodorus places it inside Hades; Hesiod and Homer make it a gulf of its own with bronze gates.
Claims
Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.
Tartarus is one of the first things to exist: after Chaos and Earth came "dim Tartarus in the depth of the wide-pathed Earth", before Eros (Theog. 119).
Hesiod measures it: "as far beneath the earth as heaven is above earth … For a brazen anvil falling down from heaven nine nights and days would reach the earth upon the tenth: and again, a brazen anvil falling from earth nine nights and days would reach Tartarus upon the tenth" (Theog. 720–725). Round it runs "a fence of bronze" and night "in triple line" (Theog. 726–728).
It is the prison of the Titans, whom the Hundred-handers hurled "beneath the wide-pathed earth" and bound; Poseidon "fixed gates of bronze upon it", and Gyes, Cottus and Obriareus live there as "trusty warders of Zeus" (Theog. 717–735). There too are "the sources and ends of gloomy earth and misty Tartarus and the unfruitful sea and starry heaven" — "a great gulf" whose floor a man would not reach in a year (Theog. 736–743).
Tartarus is also a person: "huge Earth bore her youngest child Typhoeus of the love of Tartarus, by the aid of golden Aphrodite" (Theog. 820–822); when Zeus had burned the monster, "in the bitterness of his anger Zeus cast him into wide Tartarus" (Theog. 868) — the father's name is the son's prison.
Homer's Zeus threatens to hurl any disobedient god "into murky Tartarus, far, far away, where is the deepest gulf beneath the earth, the gates whereof are of iron and the threshold of bronze, as far beneath Hades as heaven is above earth" (Il. 8.13–16); there "abide Iapetus and Cronos", without sun or breeze, "but deep Tartarus is round about them" (Il. 8.478–481). Homer sets it below Hades; Hesiod measures it from the earth.
Apollodorus gives the definition most handbooks repeat: Sky bound the Cyclopes and "cast [them] into Tartarus, a gloomy place in Hades as far distant from earth as earth is distant from the sky" (Apollod. 1.1.2); after the war the gods "shut [the Titans] up in Tartarus, and appointed the Hundred-handers their guards" (Apollod. 1.2.1).
Questions answered
- Is Tartarus a god or a place?
- Tartarus is also a person: "huge Earth bore her youngest child Typhoeus of the love of Tartarus, by the aid of golden Aphrodite" (Theog. 820–822); when Zeus had burned the monster, "in the bitterness of his anger Zeus cast him into wide Tartarus" (Theog. 868) — the father's name is the son's prison. source
- How far below the earth is Tartarus?
- Hesiod measures it: "as far beneath the earth as heaven is above earth … For a brazen anvil falling down from heaven nine nights and days would reach the earth upon the tenth: and again, a brazen anvil falling from earth nine nights and days would reach Tartarus upon the tenth" (Theog. 720–725). Round it runs "a fence of bronze" and night "in triple line" (Theog. 726–728). source
- Who is imprisoned in Tartarus?
- It is the prison of the Titans, whom the Hundred-handers hurled "beneath the wide-pathed earth" and bound; Poseidon "fixed gates of bronze upon it", and Gyes, Cottus and Obriareus live there as "trusty warders of Zeus" (Theog. 717–735). There too are "the sources and ends of gloomy earth and misty Tartarus and the unfruitful sea and starry heaven" — "a great gulf" whose floor a man would not reach in a year (Theog. 736–743). source
- Who is the father of Typhon?
- Tartarus is also a person: "huge Earth bore her youngest child Typhoeus of the love of Tartarus, by the aid of golden Aphrodite" (Theog. 820–822); when Zeus had burned the monster, "in the bitterness of his anger Zeus cast him into wide Tartarus" (Theog. 868) — the father's name is the son's prison. source
- What is the difference between Tartarus and Hades?
- Homer's Zeus threatens to hurl any disobedient god "into murky Tartarus, far, far away, where is the deepest gulf beneath the earth, the gates whereof are of iron and the threshold of bronze, as far beneath Hades as heaven is above earth" (Il. 8.13–16); there "abide Iapetus and Cronos", without sun or breeze, "but deep Tartarus is round about them" (Il. 8.478–481). Homer sets it below Hades; Hesiod measures it from the earth. source