The Classical vision of the underworld evolved over time, with different doctrines and ideas entering the tradition of the underworld. Heroes like Hercules and Orpheus travel to the underworld, a journey parodied by the adventure of Dionysus in Aristophanes’ Frogs in his search for a decent poet, show the heroic endeavour of attempting to return from ‘the other side’ and the perils death entails for gods and mortals alike (see also the immortality achieved by the Dioscuri in Chelsea’s article). By contrast, in the tale of Oedipus (see the retellings by Amani and Veeva) whose children are the products of incest and who cannot bear the thought of facing the father he killed or the mother who committed suicide, Oedipus opts to blind himself so he cannot look on any of his crimes. Of course, this is only a temporary solution and it is his refusal to be interred on the land of either of his warring sons that leads to both their deaths and the forbidding of Polyneices’ burial a punishment which Elizabeth observes is reserved for the very worst criminals. By Virgil’s time, the underworld has a clearer geography with an entry point at Cumae and different places where fates await the sinful, while the virtuous await reincarnation in Elyisum (see Maaira’s article), while still maintaining the Odyssean overtones as Aeneas meets characters he regrets losing (see Maaira’s translation). This would influence the subsequent discourses with the likes of Dante overtly taking his cue from Virgil by having him as his guide through the circles of Hell in the Inferno and subsequent writers (see Veeva’s article on literature), philosophers and even religions (see Nishka’s article on Raëlism) have continued this most timeless of themes.