Tartarus and Elysium

Tartarus in ancient Greek mythology is the deep abyss that is used as a dungeon of torment and suffering for the wicked and as the prison for the Titans.

As far below Hades as the earth is below the heavens, Tartarus is the place where, according to Plato, souls were judged after death and where the wicked received divine punishment. Tartarus was also considered to be a primordial force or deity.

According to Greek mythology, the realm of Hades is the place of the dead, but Tartarus also has a number of inhabitants. When Cronus came to power as the King of the Titans, he imprisoned the one-eyed Cyclopes and the hundred-armed Hecatonchires in Tartarus and set the monster Campe as its guard. Zeus killed Campe and released these imprisoned giants to aid in his conflict with the Titans. The gods of Olympus eventually triumphed. Cronus and many of the other Titans were banished to Tartarus.

Aegaeon the Hekantonkheires

Another Titan, Atlas, was sentenced to hold the sky on his shoulders to prevent it from resuming its primordial embrace with the Earth.

Heracles ends up building a large pillar that holds up the sky eventually freeing Atlas from his torment. Originally, Tartarus was used only to confine dangers to the gods of Olympus. In later mythologies, Tartarus became the place where the punishment fits the crime. Mythical figures such as Sisyphus, Tantalus, Ixion, Tityos and the Titan Prometheus met their fates in Tartarus. Tantalus was given eternal punishment where he was condemned to stand in a lake with fruits, but without being able to satisfy his thirst or his hunger.

In Greek mythology Elysium, also called Elysian Fields or Elysian Plain, was the paradise to which heroes on whom the gods conferred immortality were sent.

In Homer’s writings the Elysian Plain was a land of perfect happiness at the end of the Earth, on the banks of the Oceanus. Earlier, only those favored by the gods entered Elysium and were made immortal. Later Elysium was a place for the blessed dead and entrance was gained by a righteous life.

Evolution of Lipstick

While there's no evidence, historians say it’s likely that lipstick evolved from prehistoric times when humans started to smear plant juices on their faces for religious ceremonies.

As early as 2500 BC, and certainly by 1000 BC, Sumerian men and women in southern Mesopotamia invented and wore lipstick. They are thought to have crushed gemstones and used them to decorate their faces, mainly on the lips and around the eyes. Egyptians also adopted this fashion craze. According to records, they mixed a red dye extracted from seaweed with iodine and bromine mannite, which can be highly toxic. Over time a safer lipstick made from crushed carmine beetles and ants was used.

In ancient Greece only prostitutes were allowed to flaunt scarlet lip paint. This led to the first known law related to lipstick, which dictated that prostitutes could be punished for improperly posing as ladies if they appeared in public without their designated lip paint.

In ancient Rome both genders used lipstick to distinguish social class and rank. Around 1000 AD famed physician and chemist Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi perfected a formula for solid lipsticks. These perfumed sticks became the basis for today’s cosmetics.

For the next 1,000 years lipstick was both revered and despised. During the Middle Ages religious groups condemned makeup for “challenging God and his workmanship.”

In the 1500s, English pastors denounced lip painting as “the devil’s work,” but that didn’t stop Queen Elizabeth I from using a mix of cochineal, gum Arabic, egg white and fig milk to produce crimson lips that became the rage. In 1770, Britain passed a law that condemned lipstick on the grounds that “women found guilty of seducing men into matrimony by cosmetic means could be tried for witchcraft.”

It wasn’t until the late 1800s that lipstick started coming out of the closet. Famed actress Sarah Berhardt shocked the world by daring to apply lipstick in public. By 1912, suffragettes marched down the streets of New York proudly wearing their bright red lipstick. Red lipstick became the 'it' symbol of female rebellion. According to various studies and surveys, the average woman today will use 9 pounds of lipstick in her lifetime and nearly half say they own more than 20 at any given time. Lipstick has truly arrived.