Gehenna

Gehenna originally names the Valley of Hinnom, a physical location outside Jerusalem associated with disgrace and violence in earlier traditions. Over time, this place name was transformed into symbolic language. In later Jewish and early Christian writings, Gehenna came to describe a final state or place of judgment, destruction, or exclusion. In this later usage, it overlaps in function with ideas similar to Hades, serving as a destination for the wicked after death. Gehenna is not presented as a detailed map of the afterlife but as a powerful image that communicates irreversible loss, warning, and consequence.