Tartarus (place)

Tartarus, in mythology, is the darkest and deepest area of Hades' realm, known as the Underworld, where the gods imprison their enemies, who are chiefly the Titans. Tartarus is also the primordial god of Nothingness, son of Chaos, and the father of the giants by Gaia. Kronos is known for being held there. When a monster is slain, it is sent to Tartarus until they reform, for a time ranging from weeks to centuries. According to the Greek poet Hesiod, a bronze anvil falling from heaven would take nine days and nights to reach earth, and an object would take the same amount of time to fall from earth into Tartarus. Tartarus is described as a dark, gloomy pit, surrounded by a wall of bronze, and beyond that a three-fold layer of night. It is one of the primordial objects that sprung from Chaos, along with Gaia (Earth)- though some believe it was a son of Aether and Chaos, whilst Orphic sources claim Tartarus to be the unbounded first-existing entity. Tartarus is also the father of Typhon, of whom Gaia is the mother.

While Erebus is the main realm of the dead in ancient Greek mythology, Tartarus also contains a number of characters. In early stories, it is primarily the prison for defeated enemies. The first beings to be jailed there, however, were the Cyclopes and the hundred-handed ones. The Titans were condemned to Tartarus after their battle with the Olympians, and the Hekatonkheires along with the Cyclops and Gigantes, were imprisoned there before that. The Hekatonkheires, after the Titanomachy (First Titan War), became the guards of Tartarus with the Titans imprisoned there. Later Greek Mythologies depicted Tartarus where the dead souls who were wicked in their life were also placed. But in this series, the souls of the wicked, including those listed in Tartarus in the myths like Tantalus and Sisyphus, are sent to and imprisoned within the Fields of Punishment.

The Lightning Thief
Although it is frequently mentioned within the series, Percy only visits the entrance of Tartarus once. While the group went into the Underworld to confront Hades, the cursed shoes given by Luke dragged Grover to the entrance. When Percy got there, Kronos spoke to him, and he realized that the dreams he had been having before were from Tartarus.

The Last Olympian
As Typhon stepped into the Hudson River, Poseidon's cyclopes sprang from the water and bound him in chains. Zeus strikes him with the lightning bolt and sends Typhon down to Tartarus.