c. 2005 Religion News Service
(UNDATED) The world has been going to hell in a handbasket for 4,000 years. That’s about the time someone gouged the epic hero Gilgamesh’s name into a ream of clay tablets and began, at least in writing, the human preoccupation with the netherworld.
So say two writers, Chuck Crisafulli and Kyra Thompson, in their new book, “Go to Hell: A Heated History of the Underworld” (New York: Simon Spotlight Entertainment, $15.95, 336 pages).
What is it about us human beings? We believe in an often-sketchy heaven but we dwell on the devilish details of hell?
“Maybe it’s just a case of whistling in the dark,” Crisafulli said.
Here’s a sampling from their eclectic, lighthearted look at hell.
In literary terms:
Crisafulli and Thompson are hardly the first. The authors cite other writers who have had hell on their minds for a long, long time.
_ circa 2000 B.C.: “The Epic of Gilgamesh” and the Egyptian Book of the Dead
_ circa 8th century B.C.: Homer’s “Odyssey”
_ circa 1st century B.C.: Virgil’s “Aeneid”
_ circa 8th century A.D.: “The Tibetan Book of the Dead”
_ 1310-20: Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy,” which begins with “Inferno”
_ 1590: Christopher Marlowe’s “The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus”
_ 1667: John Milton’s “Paradise Lost”
_ 1741: Jonathan Edwards’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
_ 1758: Emanuel Swedenborg’s “Heaven and Hell”
_ circa 1790: William Blake’s “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell”
_ 1902: George Bernard Shaw’s “Don Juan in Hell,” act 3 of “Man and Superman”
_ 1942: C.S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters”
_ 1945: C.S. Lewis’ “The Great Divorce”
_ 1962: Mark Twain’s “Letters From Earth,” published posthumously
Hell by any other name:
_ Kurnugia: Both gods and humans visited this “netherworldly VIP lounge,” Crisafulli and Thompson say. (Babylon)
_ Duat: With seven gates and no real roads, tenants needed a copy of the Egyptian Book of the Dead just to get around. (Egypt)
_ Jigoku: An “all-you-can-suffer hot-and-cold buffet” with eight fiery hells and eight icy ones. (Japan)
_ Helheim: An icy realm in the lowest part of the “house of mists,” ruled by the goddess of death, Hel. (Viking)
_ Kuzimu: Located on Earth but not within walking distance, a bitterly cold place with seven different levels. (Swahili)
_ Mictlan: It took four “demon-plagued years” to get there, but a soul who made it could rest. (Aztec)
_ Mitnal: Lowest level of the underworld, ruled by a death god with the catchy name, Ah Puch. (Mayan)
What the hell does that mean? A short glossary
_ Brimstone: Another name for sulfur, a chemical element that is abundant around hot springs and volcanoes, hot spots often associated with hell.
_ Dis: The capital of hell, according to Dante, located in his sixth circle. It was occupied mostly by heretics, who lay forever in fiery graves.
_ Harrowing: As in “to pillage or plunder.” Stories of Jesus harrowing hell are found in the apocryphal (nonbiblical) gospels of Bartholomew and Nicodemus.
_ Heat: As in “how hot is hell?” A best scientific guess is 832 degrees Fahrenheit. Hotter than that and brimstone vaporizes.
Hell of a meal:
_ Deviled eggs originated in Rome and were named, the authors say, “by 18th-century foodies.” A Web site, http://www.foodtimeline.org, suggests the culinary term “devil” refers to hot spices or condiments.
_ Deviled ham with its jaunty red devil trademark was created in 1868 by the sons of William Underwood.
_ Devil’s food cake’s first recipe appeared in 1902.
Here on Gilligan’s isle:
Some fans of television’s “Gilligan’s Island” theorize that each of the castaways is guilty of one of the seven deadly sins:
_ Gilligan: gluttony
_ Skipper: anger
_ Mr. Howell: greed
_ Mrs. Howell: sloth
_ Ginger: lust
_ Mary Ann: envy
_ Professor: pride
Postmarks from Hell:
_ Hell, Norway
_ Hell, Mich.
_ Hell, Grand Cayman
Island Gates to hell:
Earthly explorers have called them to mind at least seven times, naming rugged places “Hell’s Gate” near …
_ Nairobi, Kenya
_ Gulf Savannah, Australia
_ Rotorua, New Zealand
_ Saba, Netherlands Antilles
_ Death Valley, Calif.
_ Lewiston, Idaho
_ Vancouver, British Columbia
By any other name:
Satan is also known as Lucifer, Old Scratch, Old Nick, Black Jack, the Baker, the Stoker, the Tempter, the Beast, the Serpent, the Deceiver, the god of this World, the Father of All Lies and the Prince of Darkness.
Artists who couldn’t leave hell enough alone:
_ Michelangelo, “The Last Judgment”
_ Hieronymus Bosch, “The Garden of Earthly Delights”
_ Pieter (the Younger) Bruegel, “The Harrowing of Hell”
_ Robert Johnson, the blues guitarist who reportedly made a deal with the devil at the crossroads in about 1930
_ Friz Freleng, director of “Satan’s Waitin,”’ starring Sylvester and Tweety in 1954
(Nancy Haught writes for The Oregonian in Portland, Ore.)
KRE/JL END HAUGHT
Editors: To obtain file art to accompany this story, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject (“hell” or “brimstone”).
