The word chthonic, or chthonian, is derived from the Ancient Greek word χθών, "khthon", meaning earth or soil. It translates more directly from χθόνιος or "in, under, or beneath the earth" which can be differentiated from Γῆ, or "ge", which speaks to the living surface of land on the earth. In Greek, chthonic is a descriptive word for things relating to the underworld and can be used in the context of chthonic gods, chthonic rituals, chthonic cults, and more. This is as compared to the more commonly referred-to Olympic gods and their associated rites and cults. Olympic gods are understood to reference that which exists above the earth, particularly in the sky. Gods that are related to agriculture are also considered to have chthonic associations as planting and growing take place in part under the earth.
Relief from grave of Lysimachides (320 BC). Two men and two women sit together as Charon, the ferryman of the Underworld, approaches to take him to the land of the dead.
Orestes Pursued by the Furies painted by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1862)
The Return of Persephone (1891) by Frederic Leighton
Hagia Triada Sarcophagus (1400 BC) Minoan fresco potentially depicting chthonic worship.
The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld.
Yggdrasil, a modern attempt to reconstruct the Norse world tree which connects the heavens, the earth and the underworld
The legs of the god Vishnu as the Cosmic Man depict earth and the seven realms of the Hindu underworld of Patala. The feet rest on cosmic serpent Shesha.
