harrowing of hell

English

Alternative forms

• harrying of hell

Noun

harrowing of hell (plural harrowings of hell)

1. (mythology, theology) A raid into the underworld by a heroic figure.
   • 1977, Raphael Werblowsky, Joseph Karo: lawyer and mystic‎^[1], 2nd edition, page 44:

     Not the direct vision of the harrowings of hell as reported, for example, by many Christian visionaries, but accounts given by the departed souls themselves are more frequent and typical features of Jewish moralist writing.

   • 2003, Robert J. Andreach, Drawing upon the Past: Classical Theatre in the Contemporary American Theatre‎^[2], page 36:

     Of the four harrowings of hell that are cornerstones of Western literature […] , we can eliminate the oldest.

   • 2007, Sophie & Michael Coe, The True History of Chocolate‎^[3], page 39:

     […] the Hero Twins go on to defeat Xibalba and its ghastly denizens, a true Harrowing of Hell.

Usage notes

• In (chiefly historical) Christian contexts, the term is usually capitalised (as Harrowing of Hell) and specifically denotes Christ's freeing from the underworld of those souls of the dead who merited entry to Heaven, held to have occurred between his death and resurrection. (See Harrowing of Hell on Wikipedia.Wikipedia )

Translations

raid into the underworld

• Dutch: hellevaart f, helletocht (nl) m
• Finnish: laskeutuminen helvettiin, laskeutuminen tuonelaan
• French: descente aux enfers (fr) f
• German: Höllenfahrt (de) f
• Hungarian: pokoljárás (hu), pokolraszállás, alászállás a pokolba

See also

• Harrowing of Hell (proper noun)

References

• "Harrowing of Hell" on Catholic Encyclopedia