<P> Hades itself was free from the concept of time . The dead are aware of both the past and the future, and in poems describing Greek heroes, the dead helped move the plot of the story by prophesying and telling truths unknown to the hero . The only way for humans to communicate with the dead was to suspend time and their normal life to reach Hades, the place beyond immediate perception and human time . </P> <P> The Greeks had a definite belief that there was a journey to the afterlife or another world . They believed that death was not a complete end to life or human existence . The Greeks accepted the existence of the soul after death, but saw this afterlife as meaningless . In the underworld, the identity of a dead person still existed, but it had no strength or true influence . Rather, the continuation of the existence of the soul in the Underworld was considered a remembrance of the fact that the dead person had existed, yet while the soul still existed, it was inactive . However, the price of death was considered a great one . Homer believed that the best possible existence for humans was to never be born at all, or die soon after birth, because the greatness of life could never balance the price of death . The Greek gods only rewarded heroes who were still living; heroes that died were ignored in the afterlife . However, it was considered very important to the Greeks to honor the dead and was seen as a type of piety . Those who did not respect the dead opened themselves to the punishment of the gods--for example, Odysseus ensured Ajax's burial, or the gods would be angered . </P> <P> Orpheus, a poet and musician that had almost supernatural abilities to move anyone to his music, descended to the Underworld as a living mortal to retrieve his dead wife Eurydice after she was bitten by a poisonous snake on their wedding day . With his lyre - playing skills, he was able to put a spell on the guardians of the underworld and move them with his music . With his beautiful voice he was able to convince Hades and Persephone to allow him and his wife to return to the living . The rulers of the Underworld agreed, but under one condition--Eurydice would have to follow behind Orpheus and he could not turn around to look at her . Once Orpheus reached the entrance, he turned around, longing to look at his beautiful wife, only to watch as his wife faded back into the Underworld . He was forbidden to return to the Underworld a second time and he spent his life playing his music to the birds and the mountains . </P>

Who went to the underworld in greek mythology