hell
Sign in to savethumb|The Last Judgment (detail), c.1431, by Fra Angelico depicting people being tormented in hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal, such as in some versions of Christianity and Islam, whereas religions with reincarnation usually depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations, as is the case in the Indian religions. Religions typically locate hell in another dimension or under Earth's surface. Other afterlife destin
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In religion and folklore, hell is a place or condition in the afterlife where souls face punishment after death, with depictions varying significantly across different faiths. It matters because beliefs about hell have shaped religious practices, moral frameworks, and how various cultures understand consequences and the afterlife, with some religions viewing it as eternal punishment while others see it as a temporary state between rebirths.
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Article
31 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Origins
- Punishment
- Examples in different religions
- Ancient Egypt
- Ancient Mesopotamia
- Ancient Greece and Rome
- East Africa
- West Africa
- Pacific
- East Asia
- Judaism
- Christianity
- Other denominations
- Islam
- Baháʼí Faith
- Buddhism
- Hinduism
- Jainism
- Meivazhi
- Sikhism
- Taoism
- Chinese traditional and syncretic religion
- Zoroastrianism
- Mandaeism
- Wicca
- In literature
- See also
- References
- Further reading
- External links
thumb|The Last Judgment (detail), c.1431, by Fra Angelico depicting people being tormented in hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal, such as in some versions of Christianity and Islam, whereas religions with reincarnation usually depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations, as is the case in the Indian religions. Religions typically locate hell in another dimension or under Earth's surface. Other afterlife destinations include heaven, paradise, purgatory, limbo, and the underworld.
Other religions, which do not conceive of the afterlife as a place of punishment or reward, merely describe an abode of the dead, the grave, a neutral place that is located under the surface of Earth (for example, see Kur, Hades, and Sheol). Such places are sometimes equated with the English word hell, though a more correct translation would be "underworld" or "world of the dead". The ancient Mesopotamian, Greek, Roman, and Finnic religions include entrances to the underworld from the land of the living.