# {{lb|en|mythology|literature}} A [[mytheme]] or [[trope]] in which a [[hero]] descends into the [[underworld]].
====Transliterations====
#* {{quote-book|en|year=1923|author=Georges Berguer|translator=E. S. Brooks; Van Wyck Brooks|title=Some aspects of the life of Jesus from the psychological and psycho-analytic point of view|page=58|text=The ancient Greeks and the peoples of remote antiquity already knew of journeys of the soul, but these were often journeys to the infernal regions, descents into hell, '''catabases''', with obstacles, such as encounters with various monsters, menaces of all sorts, the crossing of the bridge of the dead or the passage of mysterious rivers on foot or on horseback.}}
* Katakana: カタバシス (katabashisu)
#* {{quote-book|en|year=2009|author=James Ker|title=The Deaths of Seneca|page=136|text=The logic of the underworld is most on show in the ''Phaedra'' and the ''Hercules'' [of Seneca], which feature the returns of Theseus and Hercules from their '''katabases'''.}}
* Hangul: 커태버시스 (keo-tae-beo-si-seu)
#* {{quote-book|en|year=2010|author=P. Martin; Anne Rowe|title=Iris Murdoch: A Literary Life|page=84|text=Willy, the concentration camp survivor who has experienced more evil than any other character, places no value on '''catabasis'''. When asked (in connection with ''Aeneid'' VI) “Do you think everyone ought to descend to the underworld?”, he replies briskly, “Certainly not! It's very dark and stuffy and one is more likely to feel frightened than to learn anything.”}}
#* {{quote-book|en|year=2013|author=Russell J.A. Kilbourn|title=Cinema, Memory, Modernity: The Representation of Memory from the Art Film to Transnational Cinema|chapter=Introduction|page=31|text=Therefore, Erling Holtsmark's point that literary-mythic '''katabasis''' captures “the imagined physical orientation of the other world relative to this one” (25), is superseded in a post-mythic, ostensibly secular worldview by a journey that takes place within an underworld that is an exteriorized projection of a protagonist's interior world.}}
* Cyrillic: катабасис (katabasis)
# {{lb|en|by extension|jocular}} Any [[journey]] [[downwards]] or [[fall]].
===Noun===
#* {{quote-journal|en|year=1842|month=February|journal=Yale Literary Magazine|volume=7|issue=4|title=The Man in the Moon|page=205|text=''How'' did the man in the moon come down? The distance between the earth and moon is by no means inconsiderable, and other obstacles “too tedious to mention,” lie in the way of this famous '''catabasis'''.}}
# A [[retreat]], especially a [[military]] one.
'''katabasis''' (plural: ''katabases'')
#: {{ant|en|anabasis}}
# A journey from the [[interior]] of a country to the coast.
# (Mythology, Literature) A narrative motif or trope in which a hero descends into the underworld.
# (By extension, jocular) Any journey downward or fall.
# {{lb|en|rare}} The presence of [[downward]] ([[drainage]] or [[katabatic]]) winds.
# A retreat, especially a military one. (Antonym: [[anabasis]])
# A journey from the interior of a country to the coast.
# (Rare) The presence of downward (drainage or katabatic) winds.
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==Walkthrough Video==
==Walkthrough Video==
{{#ev:youtube|96pNYqWiHfU|640|center|K: Katabasis | Language: English | Part of Speech: Noun | Starring: MorMurdoch | OS: Arch Linux}}
{{#ev:youtube|96pNYqWiHfU|640|center}}
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==In Media==
==In Media==
* {{w|Odyssey|''The Odyssey''}}, Book 11 — Odysseus’s descent into the underworld (a classic katabasis).
* ''The Odyssey'', Book 11 — Odysseus’s descent into the underworld (a classic katabasis).
* Audiobook: [https://librivox.org/the-odyssey-version-3-by-homer/ The Odyssey (LibriVox)]
* Audiobook: [https://librivox.org/the-odyssey-version-3-by-homer/ The Odyssey (LibriVox)]
* Original dictionary entry: [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/katabasis Wiktionary: katabasis]
