This article focuses on the Christian apocalyptic literature that was produced as a specific reaction to the emergence of Islam and the consolidation of the Islamic rule in the Eastern provinces of Byzantium. The discussion examines how these texts re-cycled, used and manipulated long established cultural stereotypes, biblical exegetical topoi and traditional apocalyptic motifs in order to construct an image of the Muslims as the symbolic "Other".

Este trabajo se centra en la literatura apocalíptica cristiana que fue producida como una reacción específica al surgimeinto del islam y la consolidación del dominio islámico en las provincias orientales de Bizancio. La discusión examina cómo estos textos reciclaron, usaron y manipularon estereotipos culturales arraigados, topoiexegéticos bíblicos y motivos apocalípticos tradicionales para construir una imagen de los musulmanes como el "otro" simbólico.

Greek Byzantine apocalyptic literature has long been a largely unexplored andunderstudied field. Byzantine eschatological ideas used to be mainly investi-gated on the basis of theological writings, or liturgical texts, such as hymnogra-phy.1 The popular ideas relating to the afterlife that circulated through writingsof an apocalyptic or visionary character remain neglected by modern scholar-ship.

Relations between Jewish and Christian communities in Late Antiquity involved interactions relating to a complex cultural and religious landscape. An intrinsic aspect of the exchange between Jews and Christians refers to attitudes towards pagan communities in their shared environment as a common discourse pertaining to a symbolic construction of the Other. More specifically, a persisting topos was the implication of pagan communities and their respective religious specialists in illicit magical practices including necromancy. In the following, a discussion of testimonies regarding variants of necromantic practices in ancient, rabbinic and Christian sources will explore the dissemination and special characteristics of the different necromantic accounts in Late Antiquity and contextualise this peculiar practice of a divinatory talking head as evidenced in contemporary Jewish and Christian traditions.