The Origin, History, and Evolution of Hell

by mār Enlil

 

The idea of hell does not come from Christianity, but from a little-known religion: Zoroastrianism, the monotheistic religion of pre-Islamic Persia. In fact, the very concept of hell does not exist in the Bible. If the term appears, it is a (deliberate?) translation error. The Hebrew concept of Sheol has no connection to the Christian/Zoroastrian concept of hell.

 

In this article, we will explore the origins of the concept of hell in Iran, as well as its adoption by post-exilic Jews (and, by extension, by Christians and, later, Muslims).

 

I would also like to point out that, contrary to popular belief, Zoroastrianism is not a dead religion. There are 40,000 Zoroastrians in Iran (official figure; unofficial sources cite higher numbers). In India, where Zoroastrians fled after the Islamic conquest of Iran, there are 61,000 Zoroastrians, known as Parsis, meaning “Persians” (2012 estimate). In Iraqi Kurdistan, there has been a Zoroastrian revival since the 2010s. The region officially has 15,000 Zoroastrians, but cultural associations estimate the number to be between 50,000 and 80,000.

 

Zoroastrian Origins

 

The concept of hell originates from Zoroastrianism. But why Iran and not somewhere else? Well, in Zoroastrianism—and among Indo-Europeans in general—fire is a purifying element, not a means of torture as it would later become in Christianity. It is even the symbol of Zoroastrianism, along with the Faravahar.

The Zoroastrian concept of the afterlife is based on a mandatory passage: the Chinvat Bridge, the “Bridge of Separation,” which distinguishes the righteous from the liars. Sources describe it as a bridge that widens for the righteous and narrows to the thickness of a blade for the wicked, plunging them into the infernal abyss.

 

The bridge separates the world of the living from that of the dead. Three divine entities judge the soul there: Mithra, Sraosha, and Rashnu (Justice). The soul encounters its Daēnā, the personification of its thoughts, words, and deeds: a beautiful young woman for the righteous, a hideous witch for the liars.

 

The righteous (asha‑van) cross the bridge, guided to the House of Songs (Garo Demana), the equivalent of paradise. Meanwhile, the liars (dregvant) fall into the House of Lies (druj‑demana), a place of suffering by fire. Balanced souls remain in an intermediate state, Hamistagān, purgatory.

 

In Zoroastrianism, evil is not merely a moral transgression: it is Falsehood (druj), a cosmic force opposed to Truth (asha). The Zoroastrian underworld is therefore the abode of Falsehood, where deceitful souls are led by the demon Chinnaphapast. Zoroastrian hell is characterized by suffering proportional to one’s sins, but the fire is not a form of torture, nor is it eternal. It is a purifying fire, not a destructive one. Fire is sacred in Zoroastrianism. The stay in hell is temporary until the final renewal of the world (Frashokereti), when evil will be annihilated, and everything else will then be in perfect harmony with God (Ahura Mazda).

 

Zoroastrianism introduced three ideas that would become central to later Judaism, Christianity, and Islam:

1. An individual judgment after death. Before Zoroastrianism, the Indo-Europeans envisioned an indistinct afterlife. The Chinvat Bridge introduced a moral sorting of souls.

2. Proportional retribution. Good and evil deeds are weighed by Rashnu. This idea would be taken up in post-exilic Judaism, then in Christianity (psychostasia) and Islam (the scales of deeds).

3. A cosmic moral dualism. The world is a battlefield between Truth (asha) and Falsehood (druj). Hell is the metaphysical consequence of choosing Falsehood.

 

These elements appear before the Jewish apocalyptic texts and constitute the first known moral system of the afterlife in the Near East.

 

Adoption by the Abrahamic Religions

 

The Zoroastrian influence on the Abrahamic religions is immense, yet often overlooked.

 

After the Babylonian Exile (6th century BCE), Judaism shifted from a neutral Sheol (simply a place for the dead) to a moral vision of the afterlife. The apocalyptic texts of late Judaism (2nd–1st centuries BCE) clearly demonstrate this influence.

 

Studies of the Book of Enoch show that the places of punishment are caves, abysses, and prisons located in the heavens, not underground. Enoch visits several celestial dwellings where fallen angels (the Watchers) are imprisoned in an abyss of fire and human souls are separated into compartments awaiting judgment. This structure is virtually identical to that of Zoroastrianism: a celestial abyss, temporary punishment, and the anticipation of the final judgment.   

 

The Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch 1–36) follows an Iranian pattern: the origin of evil through rebellious celestial beings and the cosmic dimension of the conflict between the forces of light and the forces of darkness. The parallels with Zoroastrianism are documented in academic works.

 

Early Christianity directly inherited the concept of fallen angels, the abyss of fire, and the chambers for souls from the Book of Enoch. The early Christians believed in several places in the afterlife, some celestial, some subterranean.

 

Between the 1st and 4th centuries, under Greco-Roman influence (Hades, Tartarus), hell descended underground, became a place of eternal punishment, and was associated with destructive fire, whereas Zoroastrian fire is purifying.

 

Sources show that the addition of physical torture, demons, and eternal flames is a medieval invention, particularly of Roman origin.   

 

We move from a celestial and temporary hell to an underground and eternal one.

 

Islam directly adopts several Zoroastrian elements. The As-Sirat bridge, a functional replica of the Chinvat bridge: wide for the righteous, as thin as a thread for sinners. But also the scales of deeds, equivalent to the court of Rashnu. Or the seven heavens, found in the Book of Enoch and in Iranian cosmologies. And the compartments of hell, as in the Book of Enoch.

 

Why was hell in the heavens in the Book of Enoch? Because the Iranian model places the places of punishment in the heavens, not underground. The Watchers are celestial beings: their prison must be cosmic, not earthly. The compartments of souls are located in the celestial mansions, as in Zoroastrian and Manichaean cosmologies. Studies on Iranian influences in Enochian traditions confirm this connection.

 

Conclusion

 

The concept of hell in the Abrahamic religions is a gradual development, rooted in Zoroastrianism. Late Judaism adopted these elements, Christianity transformed them, and Islam systematized them.

 

After the Babylonian exile, Judaism adopted individual judgment, psychopomp angels, moral retribution, and the final resurrection—all Zoroastrian concepts. Christianity then inherited the moral judgment (Matthew 25), the weighing of souls (the archangel Michael weighing souls), and hell as a place of moral and eternal punishment.