Hell

Hell is envisioned in many religions as a state of being in the afterlife, one that is characterized by pain, suffering, deprivation, and separation. In most cultures, it has been imagined to be underground. In ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, people who angered the gods and violated the cosmic order were believed to be tortured in darkness by scorching fire, serpents, and devouring demons. In other mythologies, the underworld was considered less negative than neutral. In Greco-Roman religions, for example, Hades was a realm of flitting shades who regretted not being alive but did not otherwise suffer. Still, Plato and other philosophers argued that cosmic justice required a moral basis for the assignment of rewards and punishments in an afterlife, and in later Greco-Roman religion, Hades ...