Asphodel Fields

The Asphodel Meadows is the location in the underworld where the majority of the deceased dwell. The name appears as far back as Homer's Odyssey (11.359), where it features in Odysseus' survey of the underworld (technically referred to here as the field of asphodel: ἀσφοδελὸς λειμών). It is unclear exactly what the ancients understood this "field" to be, with scholars divided between either associating it with the flower asphodel (genus, Asphodelus L.) or with a field of ash (basing this on the etymological construction of σφοδελὸς > σποδός, "ash").