The earliest surviving manuscripts, composed in Latin, date to the 11th century AD, although textual peculiarities strongly suggest that the text was originally written in Greek.
They are: The text has a strong dependence on 2 Esdras, an earlier Apocalypse, and portrays God as answering the prayer of Ezra to have courage by sending him seven angels to show him heaven.
In the Latin Vision of Esdras, Ezra walks down three floors or 72 steps and is shown hell.
The righteous he sees in heaven are portrayed as passing through a vast scene of flames and fire-breathing lions, unharmed.
The wicked are also seen to be in heaven, but are quickly ripped apart by vicious dogs, and burnt in the fire.