DeDanaan

Filed by Aine MacDermot

Hell : In Christian belief, hell is the eternal dwelling place of the souls of sinners. It is related to the Jewish concept of Sheol, the abode of all dead, and also to Hades. In Greek mythology Hades (or Pluto) was the ruler of the underworld of the dead. Later the place itself, gloomy but not a place of punishment like the later Christian hell, became known as Hades. Islam has a similar hell. The Christian Hell figures in many works of literature, notably in Dante Alighiri’s The Divine Comedy and in John Milton’s Paradise Lost. The word appears in many common expressions, as in “going to hell in a handbasket,” meaning that a person is rapidly deteriorating in one way or another, and “the road to hell is paved with good intentions,” meaning that your deeds speak louder than your words.