Introduction

“Upside down” has been duly considered to be the ruling metaphor of the Acts of Peter (APt). The symbolism of Peter's hanging from the cross downwards (and especially his own teaching about it) allows various literary, linguistic, sociological, and theological interpretations. In her study of the social world of the APt, Judith Perkins sets out to read the text as one “projecting a social and political agenda.” In Perkins's view, the APt has a message that “plainly contests the prevailing systems of power.” Challenging various aspects of Roman society, including the emperor, the traditional classes, the system of patronage, and finances, the APt is “issued from a community interested in constructing an alternative social structure.” Thus Peter's quoting Jesus about the necessity of turning “what is on the right hand as what is on the left…and what is above as what is below and what is behind as what is before” is – according to Perkins – “a message with obvious radical social overtones.”

In our analysis of the Apocalypse of Peter, we have seen that early Christian visions of hell are mostly lacking the utopian features that are obviously present, for example, in Lucian's account of the underworld. In this chapter I will also suggest a less radical meaning of the notable “upside-down” metaphor as a key to the social world of the Apt.