Why Hell Stinks of Sulfur

As a youngster, science fiction and fantasy books describing “lost” civilizations inside the Earth fascinated me. Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth and Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan at the Earth's Core were both in my youthful library. Little did I know, when reading those books decades ago, that I would find my way back into the interior of the Earth via a fascinating book by a Dutch geologist, Salomon Kroonenberg, which examines the geography and geology of the Earth's interior via the literary device of comparing actual surface and subsurface features to mythological descriptions of layers of Hell associated with Dante's Inferno. In Why Hell Stinks of Sulfur, Kroonenberg progresses from the Earth's surface towards the Earth's core layer by interior layer, examining how Earth's interior, and openings into it, have come to be understood by Earth scientists, but also how it has been described in myth, art, and religion in Western, Muslim, ancient Egyptian, and other cultures. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Art history · Astrobiology · Astronomy · Earth (classical element · Fantasy · Geologist · Literature · Mythology · Physics · Ptolemy's table of chords · Reading (process · Sulfur · Chemistry · Classics · Diverse Historical and Scientific Studies · Geology · History · History of Science and Medicine · History of Science and Natural History · Marine and environmental studies · Philosophy

• Going deep

  Open Access•C Wrigley•Environment and Planning D…•2023

  Add to list