What happen to those who died before Christ was Born?

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The just went down to “Abraham’s bosom” (aka the Limbo of the Fathers) and Christ preached to them and saved them when He descended to the dead. The unjust went to Hell.

See also this from St. Justin Martyr:
But lest some should, without reason, and for the perversion of what we teach, maintain that we say that Christ was born one hundred and fifty years ago under Cyrenius, and subsequently, in the time of Pontius Pilate, taught what we say He taught; and should cry out against us as though all men who were born before Him were irresponsible — let us anticipate and solve the difficulty. We have been taught that Christ is the first-born of God, and we have declared above that He is the Word of whom every race of men were partakers; and those who lived reasonably are Christians, even though they have been thought atheists; as, among the Greeks, Socrates and Heraclitus, and men like them; and among the barbarians, Abraham, and Ananias, and Azarias, and Misael, and Elias, and many others whose actions and names we now decline to recount, because we know it would be tedious. So that even they who lived before Christ, and lived without reason, were wicked and hostile to Christ, and slew those who lived reasonably.
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so Siddhārtha Gautama would be in heaven if he was preached and believed?
 
Hi!

Here’s what is Revealed about those who lived and died prior to the Incarnation of the Word:
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. 19 After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— 20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him. (1 St. Peter 3)
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Jesus did indeed die to rescue man from sin–past (before the Incarnation of the Word), present (those living during the Incarnation of the Word), and future (all who would live after Jesus’ Ascension).

Maran atha!

Angel
 
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Only God knows the answer to this and all such questions both before and after the earthly life of Our Lord.
 
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They were given a conscience to perfect by making the right choices. God was watching, and when he did what pleased him he would better that conscience through graces. They were judged by how they listened to their right conscience. The Jews had this, but as chosen people they also had the Law. This privilege of having God in their daily lives called for a special caution to heed his Laws. God also looked away with patience many times on their stubbornness to live to the letter of the Law.
 
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