in Greek mythology, the son of Aether and Gaea, father of Typhoeus and the giants. In the Iliad the word denotes an underground prison, as far below Hades as earth is below heaven, in which those who rebelled against the will of Zeus were confined. In later writers Tartarus is the place of punishment of the wicked after death, and is used for the underworld generally. Cf. Abyss.