Home›Underworlds›All UnderworldsBrowse ByAll UnderworldsUnderworlds holds the realms of the dead and the regions below or beyond ordinary life, from courts of judgment to lands of ancestors, ghosts and demons. Traditions disagree sharply on what an underworld is for, a punishment, a way station, or simply where everyone goes regardless of how they lived.FactsLearn MoreAll UnderworldsSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0)FactsOverviewWhat Defines This GroupingWell-attestedRealms below or beyond the living world to which the dead are said to go. The traditions gathered here disagree about whether such a place is a punishment, a shadowy continuation or a stage on the way somewhere else, and the entries keep those answers apart. 2Peoples and Traditions CoveredWell-attestedAncient Greek, Ancient Egyptian, Jewish, Norse, Islamic, Hindu, Aztec and Maya cosmologies. These are unrelated traditions; Sheol, Hades, Naraka and Jahannam are not four names for one place. 2StatusStanding as a Comparative CategoryWell-attestedA standard comparative category in the study of religion 2DirectoryCategoryWell-attestedRealms 1Learn MoreThe underworlds This group holds the underworlds, the lower and subterranean realms of the world's cosmologies, the abodes of the dead and, in many traditions, of chthonic powers. The underworld ranges from a neutral land of shades to a place of judgement and torment, depending on the tradition. The browser will find the underworld realms the atlas gathers. The entries describe each realm's inhabitants, rulers and character, reporting each tradition's own map of the world below.All UnderworldsFilter Results28 entriesSacred ToAllEreshkigal (1)Hades (1)Hel (1)Izanami (1)Mictecacihuatl (1)Mictlantecuhtli (1)Osiris (2)Yama (1)Yanluo (1)Originates In LanguageAllAncient Greek (3)Biblical Hebrew (2)Classical Arabic (1)Classical Chinese (1)Classical Nahuatl (1)Finnish (1)Japanese (1)K'iche' Maya (1)Latin (1)Middle Egyptian (2)Old Norse (1)Sanskrit (2)LanguageAllAncient Greek (3)Biblical Hebrew (2)Classical Arabic (1)Classical Chinese (1)Finnish (1)Japanese (1)Kiche Maya (1)Latin (1)Middle Egyptian (2)Nahuatl (1)Old Norse (1)Sanskrit (2)Doctrinal StatusAllAttested (25)Debated (3)Belongs To TraditionAllAncient Egyptian Religion (2)Ancient Greek Religion (3)Aztec Religion (1)Buddhism (1)Chinese Folk Religion (4)Christianity (1)Finnish Paganism (Suomenusko) (1)Hinduism (1)Inuit Religion (1)Islam (1)Judaism (2)Kongo Religion (1)Maya Religion (1)Mesopotamian Religion (1)Norse Paganism (1)Polynesian Religion (2)Roman Religion (1)Shinto (1)Slavic Native Faith (Rodnovery) (1)Zoroastrianism (1)Attested InAllPopol Vuh (1)Tanakh (1)Kind of realmAllBiblical and Islamic Hells (4)Chinese and Japanese Underworlds (2)Egyptian and Mesopotamian Underworlds (2)Greek and Roman Underworlds (3)Indic and Buddhist Hells (2)Norse, Finnish and Slavic Underworlds (2)Underworlds of the Americas, Africa and Polynesia (6)Show ResultsBrowseCompareSelect all 28AdlivunUnderworldsAsphodel MeadowsUnderworldsAviciUnderworldsDiyuUnderworldsDuatUnderworldsFengduUnderworldsGehennaUnderworldsHadesUnderworldsHelheimUnderworldsHellUnderworldsHuangquanUnderworldsIrkallaUnderworldsJahannamUnderworldsKalungaUnderworldsMictlanUnderworldsNarakaUnderworldsNavUnderworldsPulotuUnderworldsRarohengaUnderworldsSheolUnderworldsTartarusUnderworldsThe Hall of Two TruthsUnderworldsThe House of LiesUnderworldsThe Ten Courts of DiyuUnderworldsThe Underworld of Dis Pater and ProserpinaUnderworldsTuonelaUnderworldsXibalbaUnderworldsYomiUnderworldsSources1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Treetier 12. Encyclopedia of Religiontier 1Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005s.v. Descent into the UnderworldView the SourceDivinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptionstier 1Comments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.