Elysium

In Greek mythology, an afterworld or paradise, originally identified with the Islands of the Blessed, for those who found favour with the gods. Later poets depicted Elysium as a region in Hades, the underworld. It was ruled over by Rhadamanthys, a judge of the dead.

According to Homer in the 8th century BC, Elysium lay in the far west on the banks of Oceanus (the river believed to encircle the Earth); favoured heroes were carried there alive and endowed with immortality. In Hesiod's era, around 700 BC, it had become a place for the blessed dead, and by the time of Pindar, 552-442 BC, admission could only be achieved through a good life.