When a person dies, his soul must sail from one side of the world to the other. Aqueronte river at the underworld to be able to enter the world of the dead, the kingdom of the god hades . So the ancient Greeks tried to explain what happens to individuals after they die.
According to myths, crossing the Aqueronte river is done with the help of Charon , the ferryman of death. Upon reaching the other side, the newly dead find Cerberus a gigantic guard dog that allows souls to enter the realm of the dead and prevents them from ever returning.
Some of these mythical characters have been remembered in southern Europe in recent days. The heatwaves that hit the region, including Italy, Greece and Spain, have been getting their names.
Last week, the heat wave that raised temperatures to around 40ºC in these countries was called Cerberus (or Cerberus, in Latin). The phenomenon predicted for next week has been named Charon (or tearon).
Precisely creatures that, according to myths, take souls to the world of the dead, where there would be a river of fire, the Phlegetonte.
In other myths that try to explain death, such as those linked to Christianity, this underworld would also be a place of intense heat and fire on all sides or would have some region like that.
Among the different cultures and beliefs that narrate the “world of the dead” as a place of suffering and intense heat, there is also Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam.
“This is new. Waves are classified as cold or heat. They are usually not named. But Europe starts to do that [nomear] to identify the phenomena due to their severity, intensification and persistence”, explains Andrea Ramos, meteorologist at the National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet).
According to her, there is a direct relationship between the names given to climatic phenomena and what they cause in the surroundings and for people.
“Hurricanes, for example, were usually named after women because women are thought to be more temperamental. But that too is changing. With regard to hurricanes, the new tendency is to put names like alpha, beta, linked to mathematics, because of issues in society as a whole”, he explains.
The recent names given to heat waves, according to Ramos, are associated with bad things, such as the guard of the world of the dead or the ferryman of death.
“The association is made to get people’s attention. It is an association with catastrophe. Those who choose how a phenomenon will be called or not are the meteorological agencies, searching in the literature, what could be similar to the impacts that should be caused”, he concludes.
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
