Comments on: Down to Gehenna

By: Randolph Fritz

Randolph Fritz — Sun, 27 Jun 2004 21:08:20 +0000

“Gei ben Hinom”—literally, “the valley of the son of Hinom”. I wonder who Hinom was. Gehenna had, I think, smelly garbage fires, like any garbage dump. The idea of the garbage tip of the universe considerably amused me.

By: David

David — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 16:35:04 +0000

Did you know you can e-mail Gehenna? See: http://gehenna666.cjb.net/

By: Duncan

Duncan — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 12:24:26 +0000

New Zealand has Mt Sodom and Mt Gomorrah; a Wee Free legacy, no doubt… They have plenty of other entertaining mountain names too; my favourite had to be Philosophers’ Knob.

By: chris

chris — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 10:17:33 +0000

But these visions of Johanna, they make it all seem so cruel

By: James Russell

James Russell — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 09:26:46 +0000

Don’t forget the little town of Hell in Norway…

By: John Quiggin

John Quiggin — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 08:56:02 +0000

Chris, I think the phrase is from Kipling, I remember reading the couplet in one of Orwell’s essays. To answer your questions, I am alone, and I have indeed been to buggery (or close to it), spent time in Purgatory, flogged the dead horse and generally enjoyed many of the wonderful places of the Australian bush.

By: Aelfric

Aelfric — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 07:19:08 +0000

Gehenna was a place where people threw their waste (spoiled food, detritus, and anything unclean). There were fires to cremate some of the waste, to reduce nauseating smells, and worms feeding on organic detritus. Still sounds better than Passaic, New Jersey.

By: chris borthwick

chris borthwick — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 05:42:40 +0000

Two points of Australian significance: 1) Adam Lindsay Gordon, “Down to Gehenna or up to the Throne, He travels the fastest who travels alone…” Are you accompanied? 2) have you ever been to Mount Buggery? In the same range as Buller, up beyond Mansfield. So if anyone tells you to go to buggery, you can say you’ve already been.

By: fdl

fdl — Thu, 24 Jun 2004 18:29:24 +0000

To misquote Heinlein (i think): I don’t know about you, but if this goes on Armageddon outta here. cheers Francis

By: David

David — Thu, 24 Jun 2004 16:08:11 +0000

Here’s a page describing the history of Gehenna and its significance: http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=115&letter=G An excerpt: “The place where children were sacrificed to the god Moloch was originally in the “valley of the son of Hinnom,” to the south of Jerusalem (Josh. xv. 8, passim; II Kings xxiii. 10; Jer. ii. 23; vii. 31-32; xix. 6, 13-14). For this reason the valley was deemed to be accursed, and “Gehenna” therefore soon became a figurative equivalent for “hell.” ”

By: Antoni Jaume

Antoni Jaume — Thu, 24 Jun 2004 16:02:49 +0000

IIRC, Gehenna was a place where people threw their waste (spoiled food, detritus, and anything unclean). There were fires to cremate some of the waste, to reduce nauseating smells, and worms feeding on organic detritus. DSW