ZAC 2016; 20(1): 109–126 Emmanouela Grypeou Talking Skulls: On Some Personal Accounts of Hell and Their Place in Apocalyptic Literature DOI 10.1515/zac-2016-0006 Abstract: Established definitions of apocalypticism and apocalyptic literature in Late Antiquity often disregard a variety of apocalyptic visions and ideas that are included in a variety of genres of the Christian literature of Late Antiquity. The present paper discusses personal afterlife accounts and more specifically, personal hell visions, as found in various Christian texts and sources, such as monastic and hagiographical or martyrological literature. These visions and their special features are analysed in the context of related apocalyptic literature and traditions, as well as in their relationship with pagan local traditions and necro- mantic rituals. As will be argued, personal accounts of afterlife present a specific literary phenomenon in the history of ancient Christian apocalyptic literature and tradition, but they also demonstrate a significant diachronic popularity in other religious communities and their literatures. Keywords: hell visions, Egypt, necromancy Texts relating afterlife visions abounded in the Christian literature of Late Anti- quity. However, some of these writings present a methodological conundrum. In spite of their apocalyptic character and/or eschatological content, they may not wholly fit in the established categories and definitions of apocalyptic literature. The writings in question belong to a special category of revelatory discourses. They mainly deal with descriptions of the afterlife and most prominently with descriptions of hell. In these texts the agent of the revelation or the narrator of the secrets of hell is a figure with a direct experience of the torments of hell. The agent of revelation may be a skull, a mummy, or at times a resurrected person, i. e. a dead person fully bodily restored. The richness, variety and particular cha- Emmanouela Grypeou: Berliner Antike Kolleg, Fabeckstr. 23−25, 14195 Berlin, e-mail: egrypeou@zedat.fu-berlin.de Bereitgestellt von | De Gruyter / TCS Angemeldet Heruntergeladen am | 18.02.16 14:14