Sheol
Sheol (Hebrew: שְׁאוֹל Šəʾōl, Tiberian Hebrew: Šŏʾōl)[1] in the Hebrew Bible is the underworld place of stillness and darkness which is death.[2]
Within the Hebrew Bible, there are few—often brief and nondescript—mentions of Sheol, seemingly describing it as a place where both the righteous and the unrighteous dead go, regardless of their moral choices in life.[2] The implications of Sheol within the texts are therefore somewhat unclear; it may be interpreted as either a generic metaphor describing "the grave" into which all humans invariably descend, or an actual state of afterlife within Israelite thought. Though such practices are forbidden, the inhabitants of Sheol can, under some circumstances, be summoned by the living, as when the Witch of Endor calls up the spirit of Samuel for King Saul.[3]
While the Hebrew Bible appears to describe Sheol as the permanent place of the dead, in the Second Temple period (roughly 500 BCE – 70 CE), a more diverse set of ideas developed. In some texts, Sheol is considered the home of both the righteous and the wicked, separated into respective compartments; in others, it was considered a place of punishment meant for the wicked dead alone.[4] When the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek in ancient Alexandria (around 200 BCE), the word "Hades" (i.e., the Greek underworld) was substituted for Sheol owing to its similarities to the Underworld of Greek mythology.[2] The gloss of Sheol as "Hades" is reflected in the New Testament, wherein Hades is both the underworld of the dead and the personification of the evil it represents.
In Mandaeism, the World of Darkness (i.e., the underworld) is sometimes referred to as Sheol (Classical Mandaic: šiul) in the Ginza Rabba and other Mandaean scriptures.[31]
Hades
Hades, according to various Christian denominations, is "the place or state of departed spirits", borrowing the name of Hades, the name of the underworld in Greek mythology. It is often associated with the Jewish concept of Sheol.
Hel
Hel is a female being in Norse mythology who is said to preside over an underworld realm of the same name, where she receives a portion of the dead. Hel is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century.
Tartarus
In Greek mythology, Tartarus is the deep abyss that is used as a dungeon of torment and suffering for the wicked and as the prison for the Titans. Tartarus is the place where, according to Plato's Gorgias, souls are judged after death and where the wicked received divine punishment.
Duat
The Duat or Tuat is a concept in ancient Egyptian mythology involving death. It is most often seen as a realm where people go after they die. Due to linguistic shifts within Ancient Egypt, the Duat has also been called Te and Amenthes.