pilgrim's guide Virgil. Virgil was in Limbo (the first circle of Hell) in the first place because he was not exposed to Christianity in his lifetime, and therefore he describes Christ in generic terms as a "mighty one" who rescued the Hebrew forefathers of Christianity, but left him and other virtuous pagans behind in the very same circle. It is clear that Virgil does not fully understand the significance of the event as Dante does. An incomplete Middle English telling of the Harrowing of Hell is found in the Auchinleck manuscript. Although the Orfeo legend has its origin in pagan antiquity, the Medieval romance of Sir Orfeo has often been interpreted as drawing parallels between the Greek hero and Jesus freeing souls from Hell, with the explication of Orpheus' descent and return from the Underworld as an allegory for Christ's as early as the Ovide Moralisé (1340). In Stephen Lawhead's novel Byzantium (1997), a young Irish monk is asked to explain Jesus Christ's life to a group of Vikings, who were particularly impressed with his "descent to the underworld" (Helreið). Parallels in Jewish literature refer to legends of Enoch and Abraham's harrowings of the Underworld, unrelated to Christian themes. These have been updated in Isaac Leib Peretz's short story "Neilah in Gehenna", in which a Jewish hazzan descends to Hell and uses his unique voice to bring about the repentance and liberation of the souls imprisoned there. Music The Harrowing of Hell is the subject of several baroque oratorios, and notably of Salieri's Gesù al Limbo (1803) to a text by Luigi Prividali. Art A follower of Hieronymus Bosch depicts Christ in Limbo in a vivid composition, now owned by the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Television The harrowing is mentioned in the eponymous episode of the British dark comedy anthology series Inside No. 9. See also Abraham's bosom Adam: original sin, Resurection of Jesus, and Adam's grave at Golgotha - theology behind Orthodox iconography Christian mythology Notes References Bibliography Trumbower, J. A., "Jesus' Descent to the Underworld", in Idem, Rescue for the Dead: The Posthumous Salvation of Non-Christians in Early Christianity (Oxford, 2001) (Oxford Studies in Historical Theology), 91-108. Brinkman, Martien E., "The Descent into Hell and the Phenomenon of Exorcism in the Early Church", in Jerald D. Gort, Henry Jansen and Hendrik M. Vroom (eds), Probing the Depths of Evil and Good: Multireligious Views and Case Studies (Amsterdam/New York,