Heaven and hell taken from Roman mythology?

[Ace101]

I'm not a historian but I'm aware that the concept of "heaven/hell" didn't exist in early Jewish mythology - they believed in Shoel, which was gloomy place of the dead (similar to Hades in Greek/Roman mythology).

It wasn't until the New Testament that the modern concepts of heaven/hell were mentioned. The concept of "heaven" being a paradise in the sky is similar to the Greek Elysium - while hell (ghenna) being a fiery place of torture is similar to Greek Tartarus (a firey place of torment for the wicked below even Hades) - in fact the phrase "cast into hell" in the NT was "tataro" in the original Greek (which was a reference to Tartarus).

So my theory is that after being occupied by the Roman Empire and influenced by their religion, Christians ended up adopting these versions of the afterlife. Any other information on this?

[Valigarmander]

Judaism has never had a well-defined concept of the afterlife, but was influenced by Persian and Hellenistic ideas during those occupations. Early Christians likely took these concepts and developed them into their own doctrine of heaven and hell.

[Munch]

christianity has taken a lot from past religions and reworked them into its own.

This is well known to historians (who are not religiously bias) that when christianity rose, it took over greek-roman myths and took much from it, even some myths attaining to how christian figured were interjected into there myths like jesus freeing all the trapped souls from hades, or I believe were even the real reason for the Ragnorok.
They destroyed many ancient myths, both in the minds of people and in physical means, such as when they destroyed the statue of zeus, considered one of the ancient wonders of the world.

http://www.badnewsaboutchristianity.com/gi0_vandalism.htm

The irony is, the reports now of Isis destroying ancient relics and historical artifacts.. this is exactly what christianity did when it rose to power and began to dominate the world. Just like Isis, christianity is a cult that lead to its attempts to snuff out the ancient world or what came before it, and then tried to cover up the fact by demonizing anything from the past they could.

Christianity is more fucking evil then we know it to be.

[Mr.Obvious]

So my theory is that after being occupied by the Roman Empire and influenced by their religion, Christians ended up adopting these versions of the afterlife. Any other information on this?

No historian myself. Could very well be.
But what seems likely as well is that when Constantine made it the official religion of the Roman empire, many old habits and influences were incorporated into the christian faith, to make it easier on the population and get them to accept it. It seems pretty hard to spend your life believing in heaven and hell and then being told it just doesn't exist. Kind of like when the pope declared, relatively recently, that unbaptized babies didn't go to purgatory, while before the doctrine said for hundreds of years that they did.
But again, not a historian here. Don't know just how much the Roman councils altered the bible before incorporating it into their empire. Perhaps it was already in there, perhaps due to  Roman occupation, perhaps it was only added later. I don't know.

[PickelledEggs]

If I remember correctly, a lot of heaven and hell as well as many changes that are in the current bibles was done after Dante's "Inferno" and Milton's "Paradise Lost"

Correct me if I'm wrong though.

[Mike Cl]

Seems to me the afterlife has been around for almost as long as mankind has been.  One of the oldest customs for man has been to bury the dead.  Part of that must have been in an awareness of something going on after we die.  Bur Ancient Egypt, Greece, Middle East, Africa and I think some of the North American peoples believed in an 'under world' of some sort.  And maybe more of the ancient cultures had similar ideas as well. Christians may have refined it and put their own spin on it, but the concept is very, very old.

[Solitary]

In Greek "mythology." Heracles is beloved son of god who suffers for mankind, raises from the dead to life, descends into Hades, and then ascends into heaven. Sound familiar Christians? Source: Will Durant's The Life Of Greece.     

[Brian37]

I don't think you can nail Christianity down to one influence, not even with Hebrews, Europe and Mesopotamia had lots of polytheism and they are not that far from each other. It is more along the lines of multiple influences rather than one.

[trdsf]

So my theory is that after being occupied by the Roman Empire and influenced by their religion, Christians ended up adopting these versions of the afterlife. Any other information on this?

Many Christian holy days are co-opted versions of earlier Pagan holy days, taken on and rewritten in order to convert the locals, and many early saints are thinly-disguised gods and demigods from earlier religions, brought on board for exactly the same reason.  It's called syncretism.

Candlemas, the Feast of the Annunciation, All Sould/All Saints Day and Christmas are all directly traceable back to earlier Pagan holidays -- in order Imbolg, Beltane, Samhain, and Saturnalia/Yule.  And of course Lent and Easter are around the beginning of Spring.

So it's certainly plausible that earlier ideas about the afterlife were brought on board.  They borrowed from everyone else, after all.  I don't know much about Roman afterlife theology m'self, but it would be reasonable to think they took on ideas that the Romans were already familiar with as part of the ongoing process of converting the Roman world.  How true it is, I don't have the research to know m'self.  I'm not a historian either.

[Unbeliever]

I think the concepts of heaven and hell were stolen by the christians from the Zoroastrians:

Zoroastrianism, Life After Death And The Nature of Heaven
www.hinduwebsite.com/zoroastrianism/afterlife.aspm

[drunkenshoe]

Ancient pagan belief systems do not have many black and white concepts about evil and good. That's mostly because their life is based on natural seasons and agricultural cycles. It's not just hell and heaven, they also don't have a certain concept of devil or evil either.

Worst things in that world are; a bad winter, famine and war. Ancient Greeks were not afraid of Hades, they were afraid of Ares. And so praising the fertility gods. Births are very difficult, most babies and mothers die. Oldest person outside is around 30. (Nobles are well looked after, they do not work outside or fight. They are protected and live relatively long. Minority, they do not count) If it's a bad winter, if there is drought and so famine, most of the people die. Esp. children and old people. That is the evil. Nature.

Jews basically borrowed from every pagan culture they encountered. And ancient Judaism is pretty much like ancient pagan systems and evolved from there.