Myth & LegendGreek → English
Tartarus
/ˈtɑːrtərəs/noun
The lowest region of the Greek underworld, a prison beneath the land of the dead.
The Greek roots
Τάρταρος
Tártaros
the abyss below Hades
Literally: “the deep pit”
Follow a root:Τάρταρος1 word
The story of the word
Hesiod gives the measurement. A bronze anvil would fall nine days and nights from heaven to earth, and nine more from earth to Tartarus, which lies behind bronze gates with the defeated Titans inside. Later writers turned it into the punishment quarter, where Tantalus reaches for water that drains away and Sisyphus keeps pushing. The word itself is not Greek in origin, and nobody has traced it convincingly.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
In a sentence
Zeus threw the Titans into Tartarus and set the Hundred-Handers to guard the gate.
The poem sends its villain down to Tartarus in the last stanza.