The ancient Jews simply believed in Sheol, a shadowy continuation of existence after death, but with no punishment. But in the Old Testament in the Book of Joshua, they refer to Gehenna for the first time. The Valley of Hīnnōm (Hebrew: גֵּיא בֶן־הִנֹּם) was simply was a place to dump refuse where a fire was always kept burning. Which simply meant if you disobeyed God you would be cut of the Jewish community and cast off, like trash. The book of Matthew mentions Hades for the first time. Hades, or ᾍδης, was the Greek abode of the dead, and sometimes place of punishment, as with Tantalus and Sisyphus. It was a literal place, with roads and rivers. And this seems to be where the Christian idea of hell came from. Or at least, it influenced how Christians thought of God's punishment after death. The Catholic church also teaches about Purgatory, a place of temporary punishment, and a separate place from heaven and hell. Limbo is where the righteous heathen and unbaptized infants go to. But most Catholic theologians think Limbo is just a part of hell. The nice part, a holding cell. Kind of like the Bastille was a nice place for French nobles to await trial before the Revolution.
