ABSTRACT
One of the most important aspects of the history of religious traditions throughout the world has involved the reverberation between images of the neutral underworld and the punitive underworld. This chapter, which is based on the fruits of a joint scholarly effort with Alan Bernstein,1 traces this interaction in China, the Middle East, and Europe during the ancient and early medieval eras, while also exploring the ways in which it may have been a result of the growth of organized religions (Christianity, Buddhism, and Taoism) and the state.
