In the works of the Greek and Latin classics, Gods and heroes come and go between otherworldly realms. It is the catàbasi - in Greek "descent" - that is, the journey of a living person to the Underworld.

The theme is already present in the epic of Gilgamesh, written in Babylonia around 1700-1800 BC. The Odyssey narrates the catabasis of Ulysses, performed to consult the shadow of Tiresias, the blind prophet, about his destiny.

The catabasis is taken up by Virgil in the VI book of the Aeneid. The hero, accompanied by the Cumaean Sibyl, descends alive in the Avernus to meet his father Anchises, or rather his Mani, a concept that in Roman religion corresponds to the soul of the deceased. This story, full of details on the infernal topography, influenced Dante, although he will tell his own descent into the Underworld in first person.
It should be noted that the descent of Christ into the Underworld, narrated in Biblical texts and in the Apocryphal Gospels and included in the profession of apostolic faith, is not a true catabasis: Christ is dead when he descends to liberate the patriarchs and the righteous pre-Christians.

Among the works in these rooms, do not miss the "Satan Summoning his Legions", the grandest history painting of Sir Thomas Lawrence. Satan is depicted completely naked, apart from his sword, helmet and some drapery. Plunged into Hell, the rebel angel summons his followers. The subject is taken from John Milton's Paradise Lost.
Even before being completed, in 1797, this painting did not leave its contemporaries indifferent, and in particular it struck because of its similarity to some work by the Swiss painter Heinrich Füssli.