In Greek mythology, Elysium, or The Elysian Fields, is the abode of the souls of heroes. It is a region in the far west where there is neither snow nor storm, heat nor cold. Gentle zephyrs and balmy breezes blow continually, and healing odors are spread abroad. Hesiod describes these Islands of the Blessed as located in the far Atlantic. The climate is so mild and propitious that the soil yields three crops a year, a description not inappropriate to the Bermudas. It is thought that the idea of an Elysium was suggested to the Greek mind by the glories of a western sunset. The conception of Elysium is mingled with ideas of the spotless purity of heaven, cloud islands tinged with gold and floating in a deep blue sky, and asphodel meadows, which none but the pure in heart may tread. To this blissful abode, warriors who had deserved well of the gods might pass without encountering death, and live in perpetual happiness. The idea has its parallel in the happy hunting ground of the American Indians. The words Elysium and Elysian are in common use in literature. Elysium is used often as synonymous with heaven, or to designate any delightful abode; Elysian to describe that which is superlatively pleasant or beatific.
Who, as they sung, would take the prison'd soul,And lap it in Elysium. —Milton.
There is no death! what seems so is transition ;
This life of mortal breath Is but a suburb of the life Elysian,
Whose portal we call Death. —Longfellow.
