The way most people get into the Underworld, Charon will take you across the river to the Land of the Dead for a price. Most Ancient Greeks were buried with a coin under their tongue to pay the boatman. If you go, take a golden drachma, because Charon doesn't take American Express. 
A dark and powerful river of mysteries, clogged with the remnants of broken dreams. A dip in the river will either make you invulnerable (like Achilles) or dead (like everyone else). If you swear on the River Styx, you'd better keep your promise, because the Fates will be watching. 
Erebos is the general name for Hades' realm, and its walls are designed to keep the dead inside and everyone else out. This is the original Iron Curtain. 
Not many people would try to sneak past Cerberus, Hades' three-headed guard dog, but these days Hades has beefed up security even more with ghouls, metal detectors, and processing kiosks. Please take computers out of their bags and remove your shoes and jackets as you go through. For a speedier Afterlife, consider using the EZ Death line! 
Picture the worst torture you can imagine. Now imagine it being ten times that bad. Now imagine having to go through that forever. If you've been wicked in your life, you'll win an all-expense-paid trip to the Fields of Punishment, with no chance of escape. Enjoy! 
This is where the fun begins. Three judges from among the famous dead will evaluate your life, sort of like American Idol, except if you are found unworthy, you will have to spend your Afterlife in eternal punishment. A lucky few will go to Elysium. Most will end up in Asphodel, the ultimate lame consolation prize.
A big yellow field of grass and black poplar trees, where there is nothing to do. This is where most of the dead pass eternite — those who weren't bad enough to warrant punishment and not good enough for Elysium. The message: try harder while you're still alive!
If you're a real overachiever and Elysium just isn't good enough for you, you can choose to be reborn into the world. If you manage to live three amazing lives in a row, you get into the Isle of the Blest, the ultimate vacation spot for heroes and saints. So are you feeling lucky? 
Hades lives in a lovely black obsidian palace decorated with pictures of death and guarded by skeleton warriors. Be sure to visit Persephone's garden while you're here, but don't eat the fruit unless you want to stay for a long, long time. 
The deepest, darkest pit of the Underworld, Tartarus is where monsters are born from chaos, and where their spirits return when they are slain in the upper world. It's also the bottomless prison where enemies of the gods are thrown — a sort of maximum security prison for the im 