29) And over against these were yet others, men and women, gnawing their tongues and having flaming fire in their mouths. And these were the false witnesses.
30) And in another place were gravel-stones sharper than swords or any spit, heated with fire, and men and women clad in filthy rags rolled upon them in torment. [This is suggested by the LXX of two passages in Job: xli. 30, his bed is of sharp spits; viii. 17, on an heap of stones doth he rest, and shall live in the midst of gravel-stones.] And these were they that were rich and trusted in their riches, and had no pity upon orphans and widows but neglected the commandments of God.
31) And in another great lake full of foul matter (pus) and blood and boiling mire stood men and women up to their knees. And these were they that lent money and demanded usury upon usury.
32) And other men and women being cast down from a great rock (precipice) fell (came) to the bottom, and again were driven by them that were set over them, to go up upon the rock, and thence were cast down to the bottom and had no rest from this torment. And these were they that did defile their bodies behaving as women: and the women that were with them were they that lay with one another as a man with a woman.
33) And beside that rock was a place full of much fire, and there stood men which with their own hands had made images for themselves instead of God, [And beside them other men and women] having rods of fire and smiting one another and never resting from this manner of torment.
34) And yet others near unto them, men and women, burning and turning themselves about and roasted as in a pan. And these were they that forsook the way of God. The Apocalypse of Peter: The Akhmim Fragment 21-34
But nay! for lo! it is the fire of hell.
Eager to roast. Koran 70:15&16
The Koran is not shy about explaining the explicit punishments that people will suffer in hell fire. Jonathan Brockopp, Penn State University
One of the most enduring subjects in art and in life is what happens to us when we die. But while many have tried in vain to glimpse Heaven the idea of Hell and the fear that it instils had proved far more inspiring for artists. Tim Marlow: Judgement Day: Hell, Sky Arts 2004
For centuries Hell formed the cornerstone for Christian thinking. ibid.
Hades appears often in myth as part of the stories of great heroes and terrible villains. ibid.
The Jewish idea of Hell called Gehinnam is described as a place of fire and torture. ibid.
The Christian concept in Hell is formulated in the New Testament ... Only Matthew mentions Hell with any regularity. ibid.
Notably the prospect of eternal damnation. ibid.
Great frescoes such as Giotto’s and alter pieces such as Fra Angelico’s Last Judgment all offer their own harrowing visions of Hell. ibid.
It’s Dante’s descriptions of Hell that have reverberated most strongly down the ages. ibid.
Christianity didn’t have a monopoly over the image or idea of Hell. ibid.
The concept of eternal punishment became fundamental to its view of life and death. ibid.
The French sculpture Auguste Rodin ... The Gates of Hell is a superlative mass of seething contorted figures ... One of the supreme sculptural achievements of the past two centuries. ibid.
Jake and Dinos Chapman ... A vast unrelenting tableau of atrocity. ibid.
Hades is the realm of the dead, and the Greeks believed that when they died they went down into Hades. Hades most likely could be seen as a kind of literal place underground. Dr Marvin Meyer, Chapman University
The real bad sinners go to Tartarus. Dr Marvin Mayer
The fear of going to Hell and burning eternally is a fear unlike any fear I know about. Amish Exiles, exile
‘The Amish believe that if you die before you’re right with God, you’ll go to Hell.’ Amish: Out of Order III: Can’t Go Home Again, Mose, National Geographic 2012
Ever since I can remember the Amish preachers have taught about eternal suffering in Hell. ibid.
Community is everything, and the threat of Hell is immense. ibid.
‘One of the biggest spiritual questions we deal with is – Am I going to Hell for leaving the Amish?’ Amish VI: Out of Order VI: Change of Faith
There is only one hell, princess. The one we live in now. Game of Thrones s4e2: The Lion and the Rose, red-headed woman, HBO 2011
My imagination will get me a passport to hell one day. John Steinbeck, East of Eden
The supreme satisfaction is to be able to despise one’s neighbour and this fact goes far to account for religious intolerance. It is evidently consoling to reflect that the people next door are headed for hell. Aleister Crowley
Michael: Mother, I think I might be going to jail.
Michael’s mother: You’re going to Hell, Michael. That’s where you’re going. Eternal Hell. Alan Bleasdale, GBH VI: Message Understood starring Robert Lindsay & Lindsay Duncan & Michael Palin & Julie Walters & Tom Georgeson & Andrew Schofield & Jane Danson & David Ross et al, director Robert Young, Channel 4 1991
Hell: people hooked up to machines like slaves, and the smell – it’s pure underarm. Big Nothing 2006 starring Simon Pegg & David Schwimmer & Alice Eve & Jon Polito & Natascha McElhone & Mimi Rogers et al, director Jean-Baptiste Andrea, opening remarks, Clegg
Hell is an invention to frighten us. There is no hell except the one we make for ourselves on Earth. Sweeney Todd 2006 starring Ray Winstone & Essie Davis & David Warner & Tom Hardy & David Bradley & Roger Frost & Ben Walker et al, director David Moore, Todd to patient
‘You’ve got some title to call yourself a Christian, haven’t you? As for the happiness that passes all understanding, it certainly passes my understanding how you can be happy when you believe that millions of people are being tortured in Hell; and it also passes my understanding why you are not ashamed of yourself for being happy under such circumstances.’ Robert Tressell, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist, Owen
‘From what I hears of it,’ continued Harlow when the laughter had ceased, ‘’ell is a bloody fine place to live in just now. There’s underground railways and ’lectric trams, and at the corner of nearly every street there’s a sort of pub where you can buy ice-cream, lemon squash, four ale, and American cold drinks; and you’re allowed to sit in a refrigerator for two hours for a tenner.’ ibid.
But supposing that bodily death was not the end. Suppose there was some kind of a God? If there were, it wasn’t unreasonable to think that the Being who was capable of creating such a world as this and who seemed so callously indifferent to the unhappiness of His creatures, would also be capable of devising and creating the other Hell that most people believed in. ibid.
He shouted and raved, literally foaming at the mouth and glaring in a frenzied manner around upon the faces of the crowd.
‘There is a Hell!’ he shouted. ‘And understand this clearly – ‘The wicked shall be turned into Hell’ – ‘He that believeth not shall be damned’.’ ibid.
That’s the greatest torture souls feel in hell,
In hell: that they must live, and cannot die. John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi
What is Hell? At the beginning of the fourteenth century the father of the Italian language Dante Alighieri writes his greatest work – the Divine Comedy. Dante imagines himself falling into a murky violent afterlife – the Inferno. Dante and the Invention of Hell, Sky Arts 2016
Like in a dream Dante finds himself in a dark wood, symbol of all worldly sins. While seeking a way out he comes across the three beasts ... Lust, Pride and Avarice. ibid.
As the journey proceeds, the sins and punishments become even greater. ibid.