"From the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead to Dante's Divine Comedy, the living have attempted to describe the world of the dead." In this unusual and fascinating work, Martha Himmelfarb explores the tradi tion of tours of hell found in Jewish and Christian apocalypses of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages. Focusing on seventeen texts, many of which have never before been treated in detail, Himmelfarb highlights the various elements which the journeys have in common-a hero or heroine, a heavenly revealer, and descriptions of the punishments awaiting those in hell. The texts, preserved in five languages and spanning a thousand years of history, include Hebrew texts, Christian texts in Greek, Latin, Ethiopic, and Coptic, Muslim texts, medieval visions, and other related literatures.