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Every culture drew its own map of the universe. Here are thirteen of them side by side, from the highest heaven to the deepest pit.
Some traditions stack worlds in layers. Others join them with a tree, a mountain, or a chain, and a few, like the Irish, set the Otherworld beside this one instead of above or below it. Each column follows that culture's own sources. Open a pantheon to see who lives in each realm and where the sources disagree.
Norse/Germanic
Upper worlds
Asgard · Vanaheim · Alfheim
Middle worlds
Midgard · Jotunheim · Svartalfheim · Muspelheim
Lower worlds
Niflheim · Hel
Axis: Yggdrasil
Ancient Greek
Heaven and Olympus
Ouranos · Olympus
Earth and sea
Gaia and the lands of mortals · The sea and Oceanus
The house of Hades
The Underworld · Elysian Fields
Tartarus
Tartarus
Ancient Roman
Caelum, the sky
Caelum
Terra and the household
Terra · Mare
The realm of Dis
Orcus · Elysium · Tartarus
Ancient Egyptian
The sky of Nut
The daytime sky
The earth of Geb
Kemet · Deshret
The Duat
The twelve hours of night · Hall of the Two Truths · Field of Reeds
Nun, the primeval waters
Nun
Axis: The sun's daily circuit
Hindu/Vedic
Abodes of the supreme gods
Vaikuntha · Kailasa
The seven upper worlds
Satyaloka · Tapaloka, Janaloka, Maharloka · Svarloka · Bhuvarloka
Bhurloka, the earth
Jambudvipa
The seven lower worlds
Atala to Patala
Naraka
Naraka
Axis: Mount Meru
Shinto/Japanese
Takamagahara
Plain of High Heaven
Ashihara no Nakatsukuni
Central Land of Reed Plains · Ryūgū-jō, the sea palace
Yomi and the Root Land
Yomi · Ne-no-kuni
Axis: Ame-no-ukihashi
Chinese
Tian, the heavenly court
The Jade Emperor's court · Moon Palace
The pillar mountain
Kunlun
The world below heaven
Tianxia · The four seas
Diyu
The ten courts of Diyu
Axis: Mount Kunlun
Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian
Upper heaven
Heaven of Anu
Middle and lower heavens
Middle heaven · Lower heaven
Ki, the earth
The land between the rivers · The Cedar Forest
The waters below
Apsu · Tiamat's sea
Kur, the land of no return
Kur / Irkalla
Nahua/Aztec
Omeyocan, the thirteenth heaven
Omeyocan
The upper heavens
Heaven of the Sun · Tamoanchan · The starry and fiery heavens
Tlalticpac, the earth
Tlalticpac · Tlalocan
Mictlan, nine levels down
The eight trials · Mictlan Opochcalocan
Axis: The five world trees
Aztec, Maya, and related Mesoamerican traditions
The thirteen skies
The sky
The middle world
The maize fields
Xibalba
Xibalba
Axis: Wakah Chan
Celtic
Islands of the western sea
Tír na nÓg, Mag Mell, Emain Ablach
Ireland, the visible world
Ériu
The síde, the hollow hills
The fairy mounds · Tech Duinn
Yoruba/West African
Ọ̀run, the invisible realm
Ọ̀run
The crossroads
The messenger's road
Ayé, the visible world
Ile-Ife
The deep waters
The ocean
Axis: The chain from Ọ̀run
Polynesian (Hawaiian, Maori, Samoan, Tahitian)
Ngā Rangi, the heavens
Ranginui
Te Ao Mārama, the world of light
Papatūānuku · The Hawaiian islands · Hawaiki
Te Moana, the ocean
The domain of Tangaroa
Te Pō, the night
Te Pō
Axis: Tāne's separation
Slavic (East, West, and Baltic-coast Slavic peoples)
The Crown: Sky and Thunder
Perun's Sky
The Trunk: The Human World
The Middle World
The Roots: Waters and the Underworld
Veles's Depths
Axis: The World Oak
Haudenosaunee (Six Nations / Iroquois Confederacy: Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Tuscarora)
The Sky World
The Sky World
Turtle Island
Turtle Island
Axis: The Celestial Tree
Tlingit and Haida (Northwest Coast peoples of present-day Southeast Alaska and Haida Gwaii, British Columbia)
The Coastal World
The Coastal World