Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the beliefs of some religions, heavenly beings can descend to Earth or incarnate and earthly beings can ascend to Heaven in the afterlife or, in exceptional cases, enter Heaven without dying.
Heaven is often described as a "highest place", the holiest place, a paradise, in contrast to Hell or the Underworld or the "low places" and universally or conditionally accessible by earthly beings according to various standards of divinity, goodness, piety, faith, or other virtues or right beliefs or simply divine will. Some believe in the possibility of a heaven on Earth in a world to come.
Another belief is in an axis mundi or world tree which connects the heavens, the terrestrial world, and the underworld. In Indian religions, heaven is considered as Svargaloka, and the soul is again subjected to rebirth in different living forms according to its karma. This cycle can be broken after a soul achieves Moksha or Nirvana. Any place of existence, either of humans, souls or deities, outside the tangible world (Heaven, Hell, or other) is referred to as the otherworld.
In the Abrahamic faiths of Christianity, Islam, and some schools of Judaism, as well as Zoroastrianism, heaven is the realm of afterlife where good actions in the previous life are rewarded for eternity, Hell being the place where bad behavior is punished.
Etymology
The modern English word heaven is derived from the earlier (Middle English) (attested 1159); this in turn was developed from the previous Old English form . By about 1000, was being used in reference to the Christianized "place where God dwells", but originally, it had signified "sky, firmament"The Anglo-Saxons knew the concept of Paradise, which they expressed with words such as neorxnawang. (e.g. in Beowulf, ).
The English term has cognates in the other Germanic languages: Old Saxon "sky, heaven" (hence also Middle Low German "sky"), Old Icelandic himinn, Gothic ; and those with a variant final -l: Old Frisian , "sky, heaven", Old Saxon and Old High German , Old Saxon and Middle Low German , Old Dutch and Dutch , and modern German . All of these have been derived from a reconstructed Proto-Germanic form *hemina-.Barnhart (1995), p. 357. or *hemō.Guus Kroonen: Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (= Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series, vol. 11). Brill, Leiden and Boston 2009, s. v. "Hemina- ~ *Hemna-". First published online: October 2010.
The further derivation of this form is uncertain. A connection to Proto-Indo-European *ḱem- "cover, shroud", via a reconstructed *k̑emen- or *k̑ōmen- "stone, heaven", has been proposed.Gerhard Köbler, Altenglisches Wörterbuch. Fourth edition, online 2014 (in German), s. v. "heofon".
Others endorse the derivation from a Proto-Indo-European root *h₂éḱmō "stone" and, possibly, "heavenly vault" at the origin of this word, which then would have as cognates ancient Greek ( "anvil, pestle; meteorite"), Persian (, "stone, sling-stone; sky, heaven") and Sanskrit ( "stone, rock, sling-stone; thunderbolt; the firmament"). In the latter case English hammer would be another cognate to the word.
Ancient Near East
Mesopotamia
The ancient Mesopotamians regarded the sky as a series of domes (usually three, but sometimes seven) covering the flat Earth. Each dome was made of a different kind of precious stone. The lowest dome of heaven was made of jasper and was the home of the stars. The middle dome of heaven was made of saggilmut stone and was the abode of the Igigi. The highest and outermost dome of heaven was made of luludānītu stone and was personified as An, the god of the sky. The celestial bodies were equated with specific deities as well. The planet Venus was believed to be Inanna, the goddess of sex and war. The Sun was her brother Utu, the god of justice, and the Moon was their father Nanna.
In ancient Near Eastern cultures in general and in Mesopotamia in particular, humans had little to no access to the divine realm. Heaven and Earth were separated by their very nature; humans could see and be affected by elements of the lower heaven, such as stars and storms, but ordinary mortals could not go to Heaven because it was the abode of the gods alone. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh says to Enkidu, "Who can go up to heaven, my friend? Only the gods dwell with Shamash forever." Instead, after a person died, their soul went to Kur (later known as Irkalla), a dark shadowy underworld, located deep below the surface of the earth.
All souls went to the same afterlife, and a person's actions during life had no impact on how they would be treated in the world to come. Nonetheless, funerary evidence indicates that some people believed that Inanna had the power to bestow special favors upon her devotees in the afterlife. Despite the separation between heaven and earth, humans sought access to the gods through oracles and omens. The gods were believed to live in Heaven, but also in their temples, which were seen as the channels of communication between Earth and Heaven, which allowed mortal access to the gods. The Ekur temple in Nippur was known as the "Dur-an-ki", the "mooring rope" of heaven and earth. It was widely thought to have been built and established by Enlil himself.
Hurrians and Hittites
The ancient Hittites believed that some deities lived in Heaven while others lived in remote places on Earth, such as mountains, where humans had little access. In the Middle Hittite myths, Heaven is the abode of the gods. In the Song of Kumarbi, Alalu was king in Heaven for nine years before giving birth to his son, Anu. Anu was himself overthrown by his son, Kumarbi.Harry A. Hoffner, Gary M. Beckman – 1990Sabatino Moscati Face of the Ancient Orient 2001 Page 174 "The first, called 'Kingship in Heaven', tells how this kingship passes from Alalu to Anu, ... was king in heaven, Alalu was seated on the throne and the mighty Anu, first among the gods,"Moscatti, Sabatino (1968), "The World of the Phoenicians" (Phoenix Giant)
Canaanites
Almost nothing is known of Bronze Age (pre-1200 BC) Canaanite views of heaven and the archaeological findings at Ugarit (destroyed c. 1200 BC) have not provided information. The first century Greek author Philo of Byblos may have preserved elements of Iron Age Phoenician religion in his Sanchuniathon.Attridge, Harold. W., and R. A. Oden, Jr. (1981), Philo of Byblos: The Phoenician History: Introduction, Critical Text, Translation, Notes, CBQMS 9 (Washington: D. C.: The Catholic Biblical Association of America).
Zoroastrians
Zoroaster, the Zoroastrian prophet who introduced the Gathas, spoke of the existence of Heaven and Hell.Nigosian, Solomon Alexander (1993), "Zoroastrian Faith: Tradition and Modern Research". McGill-Queen's Press.Farhang, Merh (2003) "The Zoroastrian Tradition: An Introduction to the Ancient Wisdom of Zarathushtras". Mazda Publishers.
Historically, the unique features of Zoroastrianism, such as its conception of heaven, hell, angels, monotheism, belief in free will, and the day of judgement, among other concepts, may have influenced other religious and philosophical systems, including the Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Northern Buddhism, and Greek philosophy.Kriwackzek, Paul (2002), "In Search of Zarathustra". Vintage Books.
Abrahamic and Abrahamic-inspired religions Hebrew Bible
As in other ancient Near Eastern cultures, in the Hebrew Bible, the universe is commonly divided into two realms: heaven (šāmayim) and earth (ereṣ). Sometimes a third realm is added: either "sea",Bible, , . "water under the earth",Bible, , . or sometimes a vague "land of the dead" that is never described in depth.Bible, , , . The structure of heaven itself is not fully described in the Hebrew Bible, but the fact that the Hebrew word šāmayim is plural has been interpreted by scholars as an indication that the ancient Israelites envisioned the heavens as having multiple layers, much like the ancient Mesopotamians. This reading is also supported by the use of the phrase "heaven of heavens" in verses such as Deuteronomy 10:14,Bible, . 1 Kings 8:27,Bible, . and 2 Chronicles 2:6.Bible, and .
In line with the typical view of most Near Eastern cultures, the Hebrew Bible depicts Heaven as a place that is inaccessible to humans. Although some prophets are occasionally granted temporary visionary access to heaven, such as in 1 Kings 22:19–23,Bible, . Job 1:6–12Bible, . and 2:1–6,Bible, . and Isaiah 6,Bible, . they hear only God's deliberations concerning the Earth and learn nothing of what Heaven is like. There is almost no mention in the Hebrew Bible of Heaven as a possible afterlife destination for human beings, who are instead described as "resting" in Sheol.Bible, , , . The only two possible exceptions to this are Enoch, who is described in Genesis 5:24Bible, . as having been "taken" by God, and the prophet Elijah, who is described in 2 Kings 2:11Bible, . as having ascended to Heaven in a chariot of fire. According to Michael B. Hundley, the text in both of these instances is ambiguous regarding the significance of the actions being described and in neither of these cases does the text explain what happened to the subject afterwards.
The God of the Israelites is described as ruling both Heaven and Earth.Bible, , , , . Other passages, such as 1 Kings 8:27 state that even the vastness of Heaven cannot contain God's majesty. A number of passages throughout the Hebrew Bible indicate that Heaven and Earth will one day come to an end.Bible, , , , , , , and and . This view is paralleled in other ancient Near Eastern cultures, which also regarded Heaven and Earth as vulnerable and subject to dissolution. However, the Hebrew Bible differs from other ancient Near Eastern cultures in that it portrays the God of Israel as independent of creation and unthreatened by its potential destruction. Because most of the Hebrew Bible concerns the God of Israel's relationship with His people, most of the events described in it take place on Earth, not in Heaven. The Deuteronomistic source, Deuteronomistic History, and Priestly source all portray the Temple in Jerusalem as the sole channel of communication between Earth and Heaven.
Second Temple Judaism During the period of the Second Temple ( 515 BC – 70 AD), the Hebrew people lived under the rule of first the Persian Achaemenid Empire, then the Greek kingdoms of the Diadochi, and finally the Roman Empire. Their culture was profoundly influenced by those of the peoples who ruled them. Consequently, their views on existence after death were profoundly shaped by the ideas of the Persians, Greeks, and Romans. The idea of the immortality of the soul is derived from Greek philosophy and the idea of the resurrection of the dead is thought to be derived from Persian cosmology, although the later claim has been recently questioned. By the early first century AD, these two seemingly incompatible ideas were often conflated by Hebrew thinkers. The Hebrews also inherited from the Persians, Greeks, and Romans the idea that the human soul originates in the divine realm and seeks to return there. The idea that a human soul belongs in Heaven and that Earth is merely a temporary abode in which the soul is tested to prove its worthiness became increasingly popular during the Hellenistic period (323–31 BC). Gradually, some Hebrews began to adopt the idea of Heaven as the eternal home of the righteous dead.
Christianity