Belief in the afterlife is still very much alive in Western civilisation, even though the truth of its existence is no longer universally accepted. Surprisingly, however, heaven, hell and the immortal soul were all ideas which arrived relatively late in the ancient world. Originally Greece and Israel - the cultures that gave us Christianity - had only the vaguest ideas of an afterlife. So where did these concepts come from and why did they develop?
In this fascinating, learned, but highly readable book, Jan N. Bremmer - one of the foremost authorities on ancient religion - takes a fresh look at the major developments in the Western imagination of the afterlife, from the ancient Greeks to the modern near-death experience.

Preface 1. Inventing the Afterlife 2. Orphism, Pythagoras and the Rise of the Immortal Soul 3. Travelling Souls? Greek Shamanism Reconsidered 4. The Resurrection from Zoroaster to Late Antiquity 5. The Development of Early Christian Afterlife: From the Passion of Perpetua to Purgatory 6. Ancient Necromancy and Modern Spiritualism 7. Near-Death Experiences: Ancient, Medieval and Modern Appendix 1: Why did Jesus' Followers Call themselves Christians? Appendix 2: The Birth of Paradise Appendix 3: God's Heavenly Palace as an Imperial Court: The Vision of Dorotheus Bibliography