Sources of Dante's Hell, or a brief history of Hell:              Week 2, Tu 4/4

Hebrew Bible /Old Testament: early books, such as Samuel use term

      Sheol  = the grave;   morally neutral, all the dead, good & bad
      later books of OT introduce different areas, places within Hell
               Book of Job: Job complains to God about equal treatment of dead
               Ezekiel, 6th C BC: moral differentiation within Hell
               Psalms: speak of “fire and brimstone,” [#11] “burning coals” [#140]
      Gehenna:  place outside Jerusalem for disposal of bodies of criminals
                           comes to mean a place of punishment after death
      Jewish Apocalpytic literature: 
                   Jeremiah, Isaiah, Daniel [Apocalypse=Last Days]
                  future separation of good from wicked, resurrection of the good                  

CLASSICAL VIEW OF UNDERWORLD

Hades:    the god: one of three sons of Chronos, god of time who divide world: 
               Zeus: god of the sky; Poseidon, god of sea; Hades: god of underworld:

the place:  underworld, named after the Lord of the Underworld, Hades

Plouton =positive aspect of Hades, god of wealth, gold, silver, minerals
Persephone: daughter of Demeter, Hades drags her down to Hell,
Cerberus,  terrible hound,  guards the Gates of Hell

NEW TESTAMENT TEXTS ON HELL: [Gehenna or Hades]     posted as separate link

Gospel of St. Mark 9:43-48 : better to cut off limb than unquenchable fire
Gospel of St. Matthew 25:31-46: sheep versus goats to “eternal fire”
Story of Dives and Lazarus Luke 16: 19-26: no mercy for Dives in fire

MEDIEVAL VISIONS OF HELL:

St. Augustine, early 5th C. Christian theologian,: Enchiridion
two groups of citizens, one Christ’s, the other the devil’s with varying degrees
of happiness or misery in the next life [citizens = Roman term, cives]

Images of Hell:  major developments in 12-13th century, split of Purgatory from Hell

13th C. Florence: mosaics San Giovanni,  Baptistry
             mosaics begun 1225-1228, finished before 1300
             scenes of Last Judgment, Hell definitely known to Dante before exile

1305 Padua: Giotto fresco Last Judgement
                   Arena Chapel Padua model of Florentine mosaics

Dante: moves from Hell as “one place” to elaborate schema of different levels

Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics as source for (translated in 13th C)
               Dante’s major categories of moral failing in Hell:
               1) incontinence [lack of control of appetites], 2) violence, 3) fraud

Limbo: 12-13th C theologians 
             Limbo of the Fathers = OT Patriarchs (emptied by Christ)
             Limbo of the Children = unbaptized babies, due to original sin
          Dante adds  “virtuous pagans” to Limbo, break with tradition; but still in Hell;
          Limbo as “first circle of Hell” shows limits of human reason without grace