The smell from rotten eggs is a sulphur compound, so there's one link.
I am not sure why sulphur became mixed up with the Mediaeval version of Hell, but perhaps it's related to the element being associated with certain types of volcanic activity, and its fumes from combustion being extremely irritating as well as smelling horrible.
It is an irritant because, if I remember my school chemistry correctly, its smoke is sulphur dioxide which when breathed in, dissolves in the water on the tissue surfaces to produce sulphurous acid. (Not sulphuric acid - I think that is a stage further but I forget how.) Curiously though, it will also work as a food-preservative, as was used in ancient times, such as by the Greeks and Romans. I think it still is, in tiny amounts harmless to us. Sulphur was fairly readily available around the Northern and Eastern Mediterranean lands, thanks to the volcanoes and related features.
The stuff does occur in Nature in its elemental state, and by sheer co-incidence only a hour ago I was looking at a photo, in a magazine, of a caver admiring a bank of sulphur in the magnificent Lechuguilla Cave, in New Mexico.
"Sheer coincidence"? What are the odds of that? I mean really what are the odds of that? I ask a question thousands of miles away from where you are and fairly shortly before you read the question you are looking at a "bank of sulphur"? See that's what gets me all excited. Odds. Happenstance? Or something else? I can get giddy from the possibilities of what causes such "coincidence". I have heard folks say "there are no coincidences". I don't know if that's true or not. But I surely can't shut the door on it. It happens often to me and I really wonder what is going on? Thank you for your informative reply Durdle. What do you think?
Is there any line beyond which you might consider "coincidence" to be something else? Or no matter how remote obscure it is always gonna be a coindinky? Where does serendipity fit in? How do you feel about "meant to be" or "kismet"? Too many questions? Thank you for your reply Durdle! :)
Hydrogen sulfide, H2S, is the compound which gives rotten eggs, farts and the fumes from a car with a corroded or malfunctioning catalytic converter the familiar, unpleasant, acrid odour. Also emitted by volcanoes, so the "fire and brimstone" associated with the story of the divine destruction of the Cities on the Plain (Sodom and Gomorrah), and more latterly with Hell, likely comes from that.
I'd add too the peculiar hazard of hydrogen sulphide that it is not only highly poisonous in large concentrations but such concentrations also deaden the sense of smell that is warning you the stuff is there.
I'd heard of Sodom and Gomorrah, with their alleged bad reputations, but not how they were destroyed. Are there any ruins that could have been these places?
A more benign Biblical volcano is the one which a French geologist suggested a year or so ago was the "fire" and "smoke" landmark in Exodus. The fire would have been the glow reflected at night, off the ash-plume visible in day-light. The volcano, in his view, was one of a group that does exist but is now dormant or extinct, in roughly the right area. I am not sure how he estimated the refugees' wanderings around Sinai. He might have used theological scholars' works on the subject and worked out from them which natural features were most likely to be those the Hebrews noted.
Have you ever experienced what being near a volcano erupting with lava smells like R? I didn't know it would be sulfurry. I wonder how long it lasts before it dissipates? Thank you for your informative reply! :)
Australia has only one volcano that has not been long-extinct, and that one is interdicted - on Heard Island. It's closer to Antarctica than the Australian mainland, you can't go there without a permit, and you pretty much have to be a distinguished geologist or biologist to get one. There are fauna endemic to that island and absolutely nowhere else, so we're talking no chance to get off the critically endangered list.
Well that's good. At least your home won't be burned up due to lava. I can't even almost imagine how horrible it would be to see lava floes heading straight for you. Of course if a volcano blows you get out fast. Thank you for your reply R and Happy Saturday! :)
Durdle 