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4. Demons of the Underworld in the Christian Literature of Late Antiquity

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Emmanouela Grypeou
4 Demons of the Underworld in the Christian
Literature of Late Antiquity
According to the text known as Visio Baronti Monachi Longoretensis, dated 25 March
678 or 679 and attributed to a monk called Barontius, this same monk experienced a
vision of heaven and hell around 678.¹ Barontius narrated a vision that he had after
falling into a coma. In this vision, as he was flying through the air and the heav-
ens, demons attacked him and tormented him, trying to pull him down to hell
while bringing condemning evidence against him “over all the sins that he had com-
mitted”. According to this Latin vision, which stems from the late seventh but most
probably from the early eighth century, there is no doubt that hell is inhabited by de-
mons, who punish the sinners.²
This view of a demonic afterlife that became a common topos in medieval apoc-
alyptic literature reflects the development of a long and complex tradition of apoc-
alyptic ideas and beliefs on the nature and character of afterlife punishment and re-
ward for Christians in the world of Late Antiquity.³
Of course, the perception of demons in the underworld is linked with parallel
developments in different cultural contexts. Istvan Czáchesz observed that the role
of the demons in the Hellenistic Jewish literature, as in the Book of Tobit, and in
the Dead Sea Scrolls, is perceived as negative and evil, in marked difference to the
Graeco-Roman notions of a neutral understanding of demons as super-human pow-
ers.⁴ However, chthonic punishing powers were also well known in the pagan world.⁵
The Erinyes, the infernal deities of vengeance, would persecute and pursue the in-
habitants of the Orphic underworld. Accordingly, these vengeful powers might
have influenced the development of the idea of the tormenting angels of the under-
world.
In early Christian literature, such as in the Revelation of John (20:1– 4) or the 2
Epistle of Peter (2:4), Satan and/or the fallen angels are depicted as chained in
hell and hence as prisoners punished in the realm of the underworld. In later Chris-
tian apocalyptic writings, demons achieve the status of the prison guards and even
tormentors. This shift in the role, function and conceptualisation of the demons of
the underworld with respect to the afterlife could possibly indicate a shift in the gen-

 See Visio Baronti 5, 368 – 394 (Ciccarese [1987]; Ciccarese [1981]).

 See Moreira (2010), 10: “The seventh century visions of Barontus and Fursey, in particular, have
been invoked as evidence for […] the emergence of visionary literature in the West.”.
 Cf. early and later medieval literature featuring “demons”: Furseus’s vision (633 CE); Charles the
Fat’s Vision (855 CE); St. Patrick’s Purgatory (1154 CE); Tundale’s Vision (1149 CE), Visio Thugdali;
The Monk of Eyesham’s Vision (1196 CE); Thurkill’s Vision (1206), in: Gardiner (1989).
 Czáchesz (2009), 432.
 See Johnston (1999), 250 – 288; Dieterich (1893), 55 – 60.

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110632231-005
82 Emmanouela Grypeou

eral understanding of the nature of the demonic in Christianity. Significantly, as

David Frankfurter remarks: “The early Jewish and Christian texts provided their read-
ers and audience with especially monstrous images of punitive afterlife angels”.⁶ The
ambivalence of the nature of these agents as a merciless but probably also a neces-
sary and serviceable force was most prevalent in the hell vision accounts of Late An-
tiquity.
Tormenting angels were present in early Jewish apocalyptic texts of the Second
Temple Period. In the Parables of Enoch (56:1), the seer observes “an army of angels
of punishment, holding scourges and chains of iron and bronze” in the context of
punishment of Azazel and the fallen angels in the fiery abyss (1 Enoch 53 – 56).
Thus, the tormenting angels in 1 Enoch actually acted against the “fallen angels”,
not human sinners. Martha Himmelfarb suggested that “it appears, then, that a
new class of angels not found in the Bible, was emerging in Judaism and Christianity
in the early part of this era, probably under the influence of Greek ideas”.⁷
Punishing angels in hell are also present in the apocalyptic text known as Sec-
ond Apocalypse of Enoch (also known as the Slavonic Enoch).⁸ The seer here de-
scribes his visit to the terrible, cruel and gloomy sites of murky fire where frightful
and merciless angels bearing “angry” weapons punish the sinners (§39). The text fur-
ther describes the key-holders of the gates of hell standing like great serpents. Their
faces looked like extinguishing lamps, their eyes were of fire and their teeth sharp
(§42). Punishing spirits in the lowest dark heaven are also mentioned in the Testa-
ment of Levi (3:2– 3), whereas the Testament of Abraham knows of merciless angels
and especially of the fiery and pitiless angel Puruel (πυρουὴλ), the angel of judgment
(ἂγγελοςκρίσεως) (§12– 13).⁹
A more detailed description of the tormentors in hell is given in the fragmentary
Apocalypse of Zephaniah. The Apocalypse of Zephaniah is a Jewish work that proba-
bly originated in Egypt and is preserved only in Coptic. In this text, the seer, Zeph-
aniah, observes how a “lawless” soul is punished by 5000 angels by being beaten
with 100 lashes daily. The text further envisions the accuser, who will come up
from Amente (underworld) for each soul. His body resembles a serpent. According
to this early evidence, the accuser (Kategoros), a clearly monstrous figure is directly
associated with the punishments in hell for the sinners (§6).¹⁰ The angels of the ac-
cuser, servants of the creation, take the souls of the ungodly men and cast them into
their eternal punishment. These too look monstrous. They have animal faces and
other beastly features. Their eyes are mixed with blood and their hair is loose like

 Frankfurter (2012), 90.

 Himmelfarb (1983), 120. According to Himmelfarb the punishing angels are connected with “envi-
ronmental” punishments (ibid., 121). For these Greek, Orphic inspired, ideas of tormenting angels see
Jan N. Bremmer (2018), 162– 84, 170 – 72.
 See Andersen (1983), 91– 213.
 Πυρουὴλ, would be understood as the angel: ὁ ἐπὶ τοῦ πυρὸς ἒχων, see Delcor (1973), 148.
 Wintermute (1983), 497– 516.
 4 Demons of the Underworld in the Christian Literature of Late Antiquity 83

that of women. They hold fiery scourges in their hands (§5). Despite their monstrous
features and nature they are still called angels and significantly, it is a shiny and glo-
rious angel, called Eremiel, who presides over the abyss and the Amente. Thus, the
early apocalyptic tradition stresses an ambiguous understanding of the angels of the
underworld.
These punishing angels, even if they bear frightening theriomorphic features and
are merciless, are the executors of divine justice. Accordingly, the tormenting angels
are hostile to the sinners but ultimately remain servants of God and act as mediators
between the divine power and humans and their actions. However, it may be argued
that the graphic description of these angels would have inevitably led to their trans-
formation into demons – that is, into utterly hostile powers with clearly sadistic fea-
tures. The theriomorphic appearance of these punishing angels is a feature that most
probably originates in Ancient Egyptian lore related to the punishers of the under-
world. Although this theriomorphic aspect is evident in early Jewish texts, and
most significantly in texts of probably Egyptian provenance, it seems that it becomes
obsolete in the description of the punishing angels of the early Christian apocalyp-
ses.
Early Christian visions of hell retain the ambiguity concerning the nature of the
tormentors there. The angels of hell both preside over punishments and occasionally
prepare or also perform the specific torments for the different categories of sinners.
The idea of specific angels sent or assigned by God for the punishments of the sin-
ners is attested in the New Testament¹¹ and established in early Christian literature,
for instance in the works of the Church Fathers.¹² Angels in charge of the torments in
hell are mentioned in various Christian apocalyptic and related writings. The Second
Book of the Sibylline Oracles describes immortal angels who bind sinners with
chains of flaming fire and punish them by scourge (II.350 – 355).¹³ However, the
roles and functions of the angels of the underworld are analysed in more detail in
the extant Christian apocalyptic texts, such the Apocalypse of Peter and the Apoca-
lypse of Paul. ¹⁴
The Apocalypse of Peter, the earliest Christian apocalyptic text composed in
Greek – and preserved partly in Greek but more extensively in Ethiopic – deals
with visions of the afterlife and describes punishing angels with their dark raiment
(§20). These are tormenting angels afflicting sinners (§21), whereas men and women
are also beaten by evil spirits (§27).¹⁵ The Apocalypse of Paul that originated roughly

 Matthew 13:42.50.
 See, for example, Origen, who mentions the angels who are in charge of hell (ἄγγελοι τῆς κολἀ-
σεως τεταγμἐνοι [Ep. ad Afr.; PG 11:64]).
 See Collins (1983), 352.
 On these texts see Bremmer (2009).
 Ap.Petr., XII.27.: μαστιζομένοι ὑπὸ πνευμάτων πονηρῶ ν (James [1892], 92). However, the much
later Ethiopic version of the same text uses the word “demons”, see Grébaut (1910), 213; cf. Bremmer
(2009), 298 – 345: “As the Ethiopic version was probably translated from an Arabic translation of a
84 Emmanouela Grypeou

in the mid or late fourth century was the most influential apocalypse of ancient
Christianity. The text was originally written in Greek, but was soon translated in
Latin, Coptic, Syriac and other local languages.¹⁶ This text emphasises the dichotomy
between evil angels (πονηροί/maligni) and good angels (ἀγαθοί/sancti) that write
down sins and righteous deeds, respectively, then claim the souls of the dead accord-
ingly (§15). Significantly, we have here an early but clear reference to “evil angels”.
Merciless souls are to be delivered to an angel, Temelouchos, and to be cast into
outer darkness, the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Merciless and dreadful
angels dominate the imagery of hell in this text. Other evil sinners are to be delivered
to the angel(s) of Tartarus, the Tartarouchos, to be guarded until the great Day of
Judgment. The seer, the apostle Paul, observes how angels bring the sinners to the
punishments. In other instances, the angels of hell would inflict various gruesome
but righteous torments on sinners. Characteristically, the angel Temelouchos is
shown pulling the entrails out of the mouth of an old man using a triple-pronged
fork (§34).
The aforementioned and best known punishing angels named in the Christian
apocalypses are Tartarouchos and Temelouchos. Both Tartarouchos and Temelou-
chos are designations that refer to these angels’function and relation with to the un-
derworld. In the later apocalyptic tradition these designations would only be used as
proper, personal names. Temelouchos is mentioned both in the Apocalypse of Peter
and the Apocalypse of Paul. Clement of Alexandria (Eclogae Propehticae 41,1; 48 – 49)
and Methodius of Olympus (Symposium 2.6) report that the Apocalypse of Peter men-
tions this specific angel, Temelouchos (i. e., perhaps, the care-taker), who takes care
of the victims of infanticide. Thus, Temelouchos was not initially perceived as a pun-
ishing angel. He represents, however, one of the earliest examples of angels in the
Christian hell with a specific role and title. Still, in the later apocalyptic tradition,
he clearly becomes a punishing figure. In the First Apocalypse of John,¹⁷ he is called
Temelouch. In the graphic description that follows, Temelouch is introduced as the
door keeper, who commands Tarouk (probably a corrupt form of Tartarouchos), the
key-holder, to open the gateway to punishments and judgement, the darkness and
the abyss of Hades, to wake up the fat, three-headed snake and to bring together
monstrous animals to consume the souls. Finally, Temelouch would bring together
all the droves of sinners and the earth would split open in order to swallow them,
sending them to their horrible punishments.¹⁸

Greek original, one must conclude that older and newer versions continued to co-exist peacefully”
(ibid., 301). On the language transmission of the Apocalypse of Peter, see also Müller (1987), 564.
 Jirousková, (2006).
 Tischendorf (1866), 94.
 In the Coptic version of the Apocalypse of Paul, he is called Aftemelouchos (Budge [1915], 543 f.).
In the Coptic Testament of Isaac, the same infernal figure is called Abdemerouchos, a servant in hell
(Kuhn (1967), 325, 1.1– 4); cf. TestIs 9.7– 8: “Abdemerouchos is in charge of the fire punishments, made
all of fire, threatening the tormentors in hell, saying, ‚Beat them until they know what God is‘). In the
 4 Demons of the Underworld in the Christian Literature of Late Antiquity 85

According to Richard Bauckham, the name of Temelouchos was no longer liter-

ally understood – it became redundant and was sometimes even replaced by Tartar-
ouchos, whose meaning and function was far more obvious and less confusing.¹⁹
Jean-Marc Rosenstiehl, who analysed in detail the evidence and the provenance of
these two names, notes that the appellation “Tartarouchos” is quite rare in Greek
and it turns up mainly in magical texts, in which it refers to infernal deities of
Greek mythology.²⁰ Specifically, Tartarouchos was a common name for Hecate, the
chthonic deity. As Jan Bremmer argues: “Apparently, the early Church borrowed
this angelic name from its pagan environment by letting the ‚mistress of the Tartarus‘
undergo a sex-change.”²¹ However, this particular angelic name was also used in pat-
ristic texts referring to angels of the underworld. In addition, Hippolytus uses the
term in plural, when describing those angels as punishers and chthonic spirits.²²
In the Apocalypse of Peter, Tartarouchos is a punishing angel along with Urael
and Israel. In the Apocalypse of Paul, he becomes the chief punishing angel. The
name comes up in numerous passages of the Latin versions of the text and demon-
strates its dissemination as a proper name for principal punishing angels (16,34,40).
Thus, it would eventually be used as the name of a leading angelic character in the
afterlife drama.²³ As already indicated above, in the First Apocalypse of John, Tartar-
ouchos is a servant or rather a subordinate to Temelouchos. An infernal angel Tar-
tarouchos is also mentioned in the Nag Hammadi Text, The Book of Thomas the Con-
tender (NHC 2,7,40 – 41).²⁴ Jan Bremmer observes that “the name, not surprisingly,

Ethiopic Apocalypse of the Virgin, he is called Temleyakos (Chaine (1909), 77 [T]; 65 [V.]); cf. also the
discussion in Himmelfarb (1983), 101– 103; and a detailed discussion of the source evidence in Rose-
nstiehl (1986), esp. 34– 42; see also a tenth century Coptic iconographic reference in a church in Tebt-
unis to “Aftemelouchos, the angel of Punishments”, in: Walters (1989), 202. In a later Byzantine text,
the Dialogue between Christ and the Devil, he is probably referred to as the angel Melouch, who
brings the unrepentant sinners to the lake of fire, where also the devil and his demons are (Casey-
Thomson [1955], 51:1.41– 42).
 Rosenstiehl has identified Temelouchos with Poseidon as the fellow-god of Tartarouchos, Pluto,
arguing that this identification would better explain their presence as a couple of hellish angels in the
Christian apocalypses. However, as Jan Bremmer pointed out this identification is not convincing
([2003], 9).
 Rosenstiehl (1986), 29; cf. Bohak (2008), 268: “tartatouchos‚the holder of Tartarus [is] one of the
most common epithets of the chthonic goddess Hecate, in the Greco-Egyptian magical texts”.
 The name “tartatouchos” for chthonic deities is used in diverse magical contexts, see Wünsch
(1897), XXI, Anm. 2; cf. Audollent, (1904), 409; see Fairbanks (1900), 241– 259; cf. Preisedanz
(1935), 2,2245.
 See Hippolytus, Ref., 10,34 (292,17): Ταρταρούχων ἀγγέλων κολαστῶ ν and Hippolytus, Comm.
Dan., 2,29,11 (98,13): ἔπειτα τὰ καταχθόνια ὠ νόμασαν πνεύματα ταρταρούχων ἀγγἐλων καὶ ψυχὰς
δικαίων.
 In the Ethiopic version of the Apocalypse of Peter 13, the angel Tatirokos is mentioned, who will
come to punish mercilessly. Thus, the Ethiopic does not translate the Greek name but simply tran-
scribes it as a proper name in a somewhat corrupted form (Grébaut [1910], 214).
 This text describes the punishment of the “blind men”, who will be thrown into the abyss and be
tormented […] will be handed over to the ruler […] and will cast him down to the abyss and will be
86 Emmanouela Grypeou

occurs only in Christian literature clearly depending on the Apocalypse of Peter, such
as the Apocalypse of Paul”.²⁵ Rosenstiehl concludes that Tartarouchos becomes as-
similated to Satan, the master of the Christian hell or underworld. The designation
“Tartarouchos” is explicitly attributed to Satan in the Questions of Bartholomew
4,25.²⁶ In this text Satan explains: “at the first I was called Satanael, which is inter-
preted a messenger of God, but when I rejected the image of God my name was called
Satanas, that is, an angel that kept hell (Tartarus)”.²⁷ So, Satan’s alienation from God
transforms him into an angel of hell. In this context he is further identified – as
usual – with the chief of the fallen angels.²⁸
As C.D.G. Müller stresses, the notion of an angel becomes ambiguous in these
writings. On the one hand, angels carry out the punishments by order of God, but
on the other, they seem to bear a strong similarity to the “angels of Satan”, who,
as fallen angels, should actually be regarded as demons.²⁹ The Latin Vision of Ezra
is probably one of the most representative eschatological texts in which the torment-
ing angels are explicitly identified with the “angels of Satan” and thus acquire a dis-
tinctive demonic quality. The Latin Vision of Ezra describes seven angels, who are in
charge of Tartarus, although they mainly function as guides through hell for the seer
(§2). Devils administer hell fire or strike the sinners with a club of fire (§13). In anoth-
er place, four angels in charge of Tartarus would pierce the eyes of bound sinners
(§19). When the sinners arrive, the angels of Satan place them in fire “pressing
fiery, fork-shaped yokes unto their necks” (§27, 518). In general, angels of Satan
are associated with fire throughout this text (see esp. §37).³⁰
The association of Satan with the angel of hell is encountered in the Christian
literature as early as in the fourth century. In the Acts of Thomas 1,32 a great black
serpent (or actually, a dragon) speaks to the apostle and identifies himself as the
devil and remarks: “I am a reptile and the noxious son of a noxious father (devil
son of devil). I am he that inhabited and held the deep of hell Tartarus.”³¹ Accord-

imprisoned in a narrow dark place, that is Hades, a place of heavy bitterness. There they will be pun-
ished over to […] angel Tartaruchos and fire will be pursuing them; fiery scourges and fire everywhere
(Turner [1975], 8).
 Bremmer (2003), 6.
 See Bonwetsch (1897), 22.
 Cf. also the Latin version of the Questions: 4,12; 4,25: ‚nomen meus sathanas, quod interpretatur
angelus Tartaricus‘ (Tisserant-Willmart [1913], 179); cf.: quod est angelus tartarus (Moricca [1921], 503).
 James (1924).
 Müller (1959), 78.
 See Bauckham, who notes that the manuscripts refer to “dyaboli (§13) and dyaboli tartaruti (§19),
but these readings assimilate the text to the medieval view that the tormentors in hell are devils. In
the older apocalyptic literature tormentors are not evil beings but angels of God, put in charge of hell
and its judgment by God, administering his justice in obedience to him. Other manuscripts have an-
geli” (Bauckham [2010], 329, note 25).
 Quest. Barth. §32: ἐγὼ εἰμι ὁ τὴν ἄβυσσον τοῦ ταρτάρου οἰκῶ ν καὶ κατέχων (Lipsius-Bonnet [1903]
149,18).
 4 Demons of the Underworld in the Christian Literature of Late Antiquity 87

ingly, the devil is also envisioned as a dragon in this context. Theriomorphic punish-
ers in hell were attested in early Jewish apocalyptic literature, as mentioned above.
In the early Christian apocalypses, sinners are tormented by beasts – albeit often
dragon-like – rather than by theriomorphic angels. In the Apocalypse of Peter
there are dragons gnawing at the bodies of the sinners (§25). In the Apocalypse of
Paul sinners are tormented upon a spit of fire while beasts tear them apart (§40). Sin-
ful monks and nuns clad in rags full of pitch and fire have dragons twine around
their bodies while angels with horns of fire constrain them. Winged or two-headed
beasts or dragons with three fiery heads also appear torturing sinners in a later apoc-
alyptic text, the Apocalypse of the Virgin, Mary (§XVII).³² Similarly, merciless therio-
morphic tormentors appear in the later hagiographical and martyrological literature.
The Life of Pisentius describes animal-shaped tormentors in hell for the idolaters,
such as serpents with seven heads and scorpions.³³ In the Coptic Testament of
Isaac the tormentors look monstrous and/or have faces of beasts (VIII.8 – 10).³⁴
The tradition of graphic descriptions of fearsome punishing angels in hell is fur-
ther attested in the monastic literary tradition. In the Bohairic Life of Pachomius, the
abbot Pachomius travels in the course of an out-of-body experience to the regions of
the dead. Pachomius sees north of the Paradise of delights, rivers, canals and ditches
filled with fire in which the souls of sinners are tormented by angels of an exceed-
ingly frightening aspect, holding fiery whips in their hands. They whip the souls
hard and thrust them even further down into the fire. These torturing angels are filled
with joy and gladness and do not feel any sorrow for the wicked but they punish the
souls pleading for mercy with even fiercer torments. When souls are brought over to
them, these angels are overjoyed over the downfall of the wicked (Pachomius Vita
§88).³⁵
In the Coptic literary tradition, the tormentors in hell are occasionally called dec-
ans. The decans inhabit parts of the netherworld and appear in a well-established
tradition of Egyptian and Gnostic texts as astrological rulers. Later, however, they re-
ceive new functions and responsibilities as the executioners and tormentors in hell,
while retaining their name. Thus, certain Coptic texts describe decans as set over
punishments of hell and being occupied with devouring (eating, chewing) souls.³⁶
The idea that cruel, evil angels operate as tormentors in hell is prevalent in early
Christian apocalyptic literature and also extends to other literary genres that envision
the afterlife. These angels are often specifically called “merciless angels” or “angels
of wrath/cruelty” and their designations and frightful description should have been

 James (1892), 121.

 Budge (1913), 329. In the martyrdom of St Macarius, the dead idolater encounters in the place of
absolute darkness the never-sleeping worm that has a crocodile head and is surrounded by reptiles
that would throw souls to it: see Hyvernat (1886), 56 f.
 Kuhn (1967), 325 – 335; cf. Himmelfarb (1983), 119.
 Veilleux (1980), 113 – 117.
 Budge (1915), 577; 1044.
88 Emmanouela Grypeou

particularly terrifying but also edifying for the intended audience of the local com-
munities.
The Coptic text “On the Falling Asleep of Mary”³⁷ depicts the gloomy darkness of
hell with its pitiless tormentors, whose faces keep changing. The text specifically
stresses that God sent them to teach the lawless.³⁸ Bishop Psote of Psoi (Ptolemais
in the Thebaid) mentions in his last sermon before his martyrdom: “merciless aveng-
ers, and decans who are without form, and who preside over [the infliction of] pun-
ishment”.³⁹
The frightful features and tormenting functions of the angels of hell are in agree-
ment with the monstrous depictions of the personification of Death or his angels that
very often appear in literature of Egyptian provenance, include descriptions of the
afterlife. The angels that approach the soul at the time of death are described in a
similar fashion to the punishing angels of hell. Accordingly, their appearance is
frightening and they have theriomorphic features. Similarly, they are merciless and
cruel with the souls of the sinners that are intended to fetch. In a way, the punish-
ment of the soul thus already begins at the time of death in these writings.
Characteristic is the description and development of the figure of the angel of
death, Abbaton.⁴⁰ In the fourth century Homily on Abbaton by Timothy, the patriarch
of Alexandria, Abbaton, the Angel of Death, is described with exaggeratedly mon-
strous features.⁴¹ Death personified is often escorted by a company of fierce and
monstrous-looking assistants who help with the violent extraction of the soul from
the bodies of the dead.⁴² In the pseudepigraphon, The History of Joseph the Carpen-
ter, preserved in Coptic and Arabic,⁴³ Joseph sees from his deathbed Death approach-
ing: “He arrived near the house followed by Amente, who is his instrument along

 Robinson (1896), 96.

 In the Book of the Enthronement of Archangel Michael it is a voice from the inside of the veil that
commands the “evil angel” to bring the sinners to their punishments. In the same text, angels of
wrath throw sinners in the river of fire and bring them to their punishments; see Müller (1959), 200 f.
 Cf. Budge (1915), 154; 733; decans are also mentioned and depicted in the paintings from Tebtunis,
as “the decan who chews the souls”; see Walters (1989), 203.
 Cf. Theophilus of Alexandria (d. 412 AD), who writes in his Homily on Repentance and Continence:
“In that hour […] those beings shall come for us, and by the horror of their forms which shall benumb
us, and by the terrifying aspect of their faces, and by the gnashing of their teeth, and by the wrath of
their eyes, and by the quaking of their limbs, and by the striding of their legs, and by the roaring of
their lips, and by all the forms which they have, and by their rushing in upon us because they wish to
devour us.” (Budge [1913], 72; 218).
 Budge (1915), 488 – 496. Abbaton is also known in the Revelation of John, where he is the “Angel
of the Abyss” (Revelation 9:11). In the paintings in the church of Tebtunis, Abbaton, “the angel of
death” is depicted as “a gigantic winged figure” (see Walters [1989], 200 – 202).
 In the Life of Pisentius, a dead idolater describes how Death appeared to him hanging in the air in
many forms accompanied by pitiless angels who also change their form. The idolater is then cast into
the outer darkness, and is tormented by beasts and monstrous reptiles. The animals represent the
pagan gods who as demons become the punishers in hell, see Budge (1913), 329 f.
 See Morenz (1951).
 4 Demons of the Underworld in the Christian Literature of Late Antiquity 89

with the Devil and by a countless troop of officers clothed with fire, their mouths
breathing out smoke and sulphur” (20,1).⁴⁴ Jesus intervenes on behalf of Joseph,
drives back death, and the “powers of darkness” (21,8). Similarly, in the Testament
of Abraham, Death demonstrates his multiple fierce appearances and his pitiless,
fierce and unclean look, when he comes for the sinners (§17).
Visions of hell were also particularly popular in the later Coptic literature and,
significantly, in the martyrological accounts that date to the sixth century and
later. As Violet MacDermott has noted: “Coptic martyr stories appear to have been
a form of ‚popular‘ apocalyptic literature.”⁴⁵ In various martyrological accounts pre-
served and possibly also composed in Coptic, such as the Encomium of Saint George
of Cappadocia or the Martyrdom of Philotheus, the pagan sinners are punished in hell
by the idol that they used to worship during their lifetime.⁴⁶ Accordingly, the demons
of the pagan environment are transformed into tormentors of the underworld for
their dead pagan followers. The Martyrdom of Philotheus further describes the
angel of hell sitting on the throne of fire and all his executioners, whose eyes cast
fire into the faces of the sinners and with their claws they tear out eyes and tongues
(§24). The “angel of hell”, Tartarouchos, is also mentioned later in the Martyrdom in
an episode that describes a magic duel between St. Philotheos and a pagan magi-
cian, in the course of which Tartarouchos is invoked in the context of a failed nec-
romantic ritual (§51).⁴⁷
A similar episode is found in the Martyrdom of Helias of Hnes in which the nec-
romantic invocation succeeds and Tartarouchos appears, followed by many chained
and tormented souls.⁴⁸ The Martyrdom of St. Shenoufe and his Brethren recounts the
descent to the underworld of another magician of his own will. This magician imme-
diately finds himself surrounded by demons, who start discussing what to do with
him: should they kill him, or decapitate him, or skin him alive or pull out his
eyes?⁴⁹ The association with necromancy is compelling here. The magicians in
these stories – adversaries of the martyrs and Christianity – invoke spirits of the
dead and, through the connection with malevolent magic and necromancy, can
only be demons. These narratives, of course, presuppose that the demonic associates
of the necromancer inhabit the underworld from where they are summoned. As

 Ehrman/Plese (2011), 157– 196; cf. the 6th century Life of Saint Euthymius by Cyrill of Scythopolis,
in which Tartarus is envisioned, personified, while taking the soul of a dying man. Euthymius
watches how Tartarus from Hades with his fiery trident extract with a lot of effort the soul of a
dead sinner (Schwartz [1939], 37; 1:13).
 MacDermott (1971), 83. On demonology in Egypt monasticism, see Frankfurter (2003), 339 – 385.
 See Budge (1888), 303; on the Martyrdom of Philotheus, see Kouremenos (2014); Rogozhina
(2015).
 The “angel of Hell Tartarouchos” is invoked but fails to turn up and the magician falls into the
abyss which appeared at his pleading, while the martyr wishes him to “go down to hell and have en-
joyment with his father, the devil until the end of time” (see Kouremenos (2014), §51).
 Sohby (1919), 103.
 Balestri – Hyvernat (1907), 88 – 89.
90 Emmanouela Grypeou

David Frankfurter has shown, demons or explicitly marginal spirits (such as those
connected with Amente) were “by far the most frequent ‚demons‘ invoked in the Cop-
tic spells”.⁵⁰ These underworld figures were conceived and invoked as the archons of
Amente. However, the Greek magical papyri also mention demons as “evil beings of
Hades”.⁵¹ As Frankurter notes, these texts paint a picture of an elaborate realm of
monstrous beings who serve eternally in specific roles to punish and destroy. Fur-
thermore, he stresses that: “The Amente spirits are violent, bloodthirsty […] hence
labelled ‚daimon‘ in some texts, to be classified as ‚demonic‘ only for their function
as monstrous denizens of the underworld and not by association with Satan or op-
position to God.”⁵² Thus, certain demons are specifically invoked for their function of
punishing sinners. Characteristically, a Coptic magical text invokes Temeluchos, who
is in charge of the merciless punishments to torment the lawless, the liars and the
perjurers. To his assistance Uriel would bring the worm that never sleeps, Raphael
would come with his fiery sword and Temelouchos would examine the sinners in
a demonic way.⁵³ Tartarouchos as a demon of the underworld features in Coptic mag-
ical texts as well.⁵⁴ Similar to the punishing angels of Jewish and later also of Chris-
tian apocalyptic literature, the demons of Amente in the Coptic spells take on horrific
appearances and perform cruel operations against the wicked. Their invocation and
involvement aims at the protection of the supplicant against adversary agents and,
ultimately, the restitution of a balance between good and evil. Along with the pun-
ishing angels and other personified figures associated with death, they constituted “a
mortuary pantheon” in the Late Antique Christianity, which would inform the con-
struction of afterlife as a vivid reality.⁵⁵
These magical spells as well as the hagiographies and martyrdoms paint a pic-
ture of the underworld as an elaborate torture chamber that is very similar to the de-
scriptions of the afterlife that we encounter in the Jewish and Christian writings dis-
cussed above. We observe that the appearance and function of the tormentors in the
afterlife were shared by a number of cultural environments and would be found in
various literary and belief traditions that relate to the underworld. This observation
points to a shared afterlife imagery in Late Antiquity in which boundaries and no-
menclatures become blurred. Thus, the mutation of cruel angels into cruel demons
in certain contexts can be viewed as an interchange in nomenclature, rather than
a real transformation with regard to their nature and function in the afterlife.
Hell was envisioned as a divine judicial construction, in which God’s agents, i. e.
the angels, operate in order to restore theodicy in the afterlife. The representation of

 Frankfurter (2007), 455.

 See PGM XIII.800 (Betz, 191).
 Frankfurter (2007), 467; on these Amente demons and their function in Amente see Frankfurter
(2012), 95 – 96.
 See Kropp (1931), 86 – 87.
 See Pap. Copt. Berol. 8314, 14– 21; Kropp (1931), 21; cf. Fauth (1998), 57.
 Cf. Frankfurter (2007), 461.
 4 Demons of the Underworld in the Christian Literature of Late Antiquity 91

hell as a divine punitive system reflects in many ways the ambiguity about the per-
ception of the nature of demons that was ubiquitous in early Christianity. Further-
more, the extravagant illustrations of the divine punitive system and its agents
through representations of hell would elucidate nuances and developments in the
understanding of issues related to theodicy, crime and punishment by the various
Christian communities. It seems that in later texts the “angelic” element as such
gradually disappears from hell and is replaced by the “demonic”. The angelic serv-
ants of the underworld acquire frightening physical traits and sadistic psychological
aspects in agreement with their tormenting functions and merciless job. According to
the evidence discussed, it appears probably that, after the fifth century C.E., these
angels would be time and again called “demons” or “devils” or “angels of Satan” –
interestingly, in particular in texts that are transmitted in Latin. The demons who
were traditionally seen as kept in the underworld or the abyss as prisoners are
later perceived and described as tormentors themselves. Accordingly, the gruesome
tortures of sinners, which also became with time more organised, more detailed
and more horrifying, is now assigned to evil powers that, according to common be-
lief, reside in the underworld. This new understanding of sin and punishment and
the relevant nomenclature reflect the emergence of a theological dichotomy. The un-
derworld is depicted as the absolute realm of sin and evil, in which there is hardly
any space for divine mercy. God, despite being all merciful, becomes increasingly dis-
tant from the flawed world, prone to human sin. This understanding would become
prevalent already in the early medieval visions of hell and would produce a rich
graphic imagery of tormenting devils that will eventually dominate Christian imagi-
nation for centuries to come.

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