Texts in Conversation
1 Enoch describes the realm of the dead in divisions, echoing Greek traditions of the underworld such as Plato's Phaedo. This suggests 1 Enoch uses these Greek traditions to organize concepts of judgment and afterlife in Jewish apocalyptic tradition.
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Plato Phaedo
The Last Hours Of Socrates
Classical
Now these rivers are many, and mighty, and diverse, and there are four principal ones, of which the greatest and outermost is that called Oceanus, which flows round the earth in a circle; and in the opposite direction flows Acheron, which passes under the earth through desert places into the Acherusian lake: this is the lake to the shores of which the souls of the many go when they are dead, and after waiting an appointed time, which is to some a longer and to some a shorter time, they are sent back to be born again as animals. The third river passes out between the two, and near the place of outlet pours into a vast region of fire, and forms a lake larger than the Mediterranean Sea, boiling with water and mud; and proceeding muddy and turbid, and winding about the earth, comes, among other places, to the extremities of the Acherusian Lake, but mingles not with the waters of the lake, and after making many coils about the earth plunges into Tartarus at a deeper level. This is that Pyriphlegethon, as the stream is called, which throws up jets of fire in different parts of the earth. The fourth river goes out on the opposite side, and falls first of all into a wild and savage region, which is all of a dark-blue colour, like lapis lazuli; and this is that river which is called the Stygian river, and falls into and forms the Lake Styx, and after falling into the lake and receiving strange powers in the waters, passes under the earth, winding round in the opposite direction, and comes near the Acherusian lake from the opposite side to Pyriphlegethon. And the water of this river too mingles with no other, but flows round in a circle and falls into Tartarus over against Pyriphlegethon; and the name of the river, as the poets say, is Cocytus.
Date: 400 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
1 Enoch 22:9
Pseudepigrapha
7 And he answered me saying: 'This is the spirit of Abel, whom his brother Cain killed, and he pleads against him until his seed is wiped from the face of the earth, and his descendants are destroyed among the seed of men.' 8 Then I asked about it, and about all the hollow places: 'Why is one separated from the other?' 9 And he answered me and said: 'These three have been made so that the spirits of the dead might be separated. And such a division has been made for the spirits of the righteous, which includes the bright spring of 10 water. And one has been made for sinners when they die and are buried in the earth and judgement has not been executed on them in their 11 lifetime. Here their spirits shall be kept in great pain until the great day of judgement and punishment and torment of those who are cursed forever, and retribution for their spirits. There
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Notes and References
"... The general term “the spirits of the righteous” suggests that all such spirits are gathered in this compartment. In chaps. 17–19 the reference to the living waters in 17:4 may be the counterpart to this verse. Verse 2 explicitly contrasts the light that illuminates this compartment with the darkness of the other compartments. The light imagery suggests the divine presence. Such an idea contrasts with older Israelite ideas about Sheol (compare Isaiah 38:10–20; but contrast Psalm 139). The imagery of water connotes life, even if this is the place of the dead. The combined imagery of light and life-giving water appears in Israelite literature in Psalm 36:10 (“For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we shall see light”), and a Jewish reader might well think of this psalm with its contrast between the righteous and the wicked. But the specific idea that there is a vivifying, refreshing fountain of water in the underworld is attested in Greek, and especially Orphic, sources, and these may have directly or indirectly influenced the author of this text ..."
Nickelsburg, George W. E.
A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 1-36, 81-108
(p. 307) Fortress Press, 2001
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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