Elysium
Elysium originates in Greek mythology. It isalso called the Elysian Fields or the Elysian Plain. Elysium was the paradise or "heaven" to which the Greek heroes were sent once they had been given immortality by the gods. The concept of an Elysiam probably sprang from beliefs founded in the religion of the Minoans, practiced in Minoa, and that claimed, contrary to popular belief, that not all the dead dwelt together in the Underworld (Hades).
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Homer wrote, in ancient Greece, that the Elysian Plain, or Elysium, was a land of complete and perpetual happiness and harmony. He claimed it lay at the edge of the world, on the banks of the Oceanus River.
The Elysian Fields were similarly described by Hesiod of the Isles of the Blessed, or Isles of the Blest (makaron nesoi). While earlier authors had claimed that only those finding favor with the gods were granted entrance to Elysium and that upon entry, were made immortal, by Hesiod's day, Elysium had been transformed into a place for the "blessed dead," similar to the beliefs of the Egyptians. From the writings of Pindar forward (c. 500 BCE), entrance to Elysium was claimed to limit entrance to only those who had lived a righteous life.
The poets who followed, and continued the references to Elysiam, depicted it as a region in Hades, in the realm of the underworld. There, the Elysian Plain was ruled by the judge of the dead, Rhadamanthys and Cronus.
Plato claimed it to be the place where good souls temporarily rest before being reborn.
The most famous street in Paris, the Champs Elysées, takes its name from Elysium.
