ABSTRACT
If we are to understand the eschatology behind the Gold Tablets – that is, what the tablets’ owners believed would happen to them after they died and why – then we need to keep in mind a point that was developed in the last chapter, where the myths of Dionysus’ birth, death, and rebirth are discussed. Namely: those who developed the myths and the rituals that we glimpse behind the tablets were bricoleurs, drawing upon and adapting myths and rituals that already existed; the tablets’ use of epic diction underscores the extent to which they drew on a large reservoir of shared cultural forms.1 Any study of the tablets’ eschatology, therefore, must plant its roots firmly within what we know of Mediterranean eschatology and related topics more generally. The main portion of this chapter will do that, examining each feature of the tablets within the framework of other narratives and practices wherever possible.
