The volume focuses on the various representations of the Beyond in later Antiquity, a period of intense interaction and competition between various religious traditions and ideals of education. The concepts and images clustering around the Beyond form a crucial focal point for understanding the dynamics of religion and education in later Antiquity. Although Christianity gradually supersedes the pagan traditions, the literary representations of the Beyond derived from classical literature and transmitted through the texts read at school show a remarkable persistence: they influence Christian late antique writers and are still alive in medieval literature of the East and West. A specifically Christian Beyond develops only gradually, and coexists subsequently with pagan ideas, which in turn vary according to the respective literary and philosophical contexts. Thus, the various conceptualisations of the great existential unknown, serves here as a point of reference for mirroring the changes and continuities in Imperial and Late Antique religion, education, and culture, and opening up further perspectives into the Medieval world.

This volume sheds new light on the phenomenon of conversion to philosophy in Late Antiquity. While older research has mainly studied idealized philosophical conversion through normative philosophical texts, this study focuses on the relevance of philosophy for the identity of existing persons. While Julian and Synesios approached the religious traditions of Late Antiquity differently, both generally viewed themselves as philosophers, a fact that also influenced and structured their religious thinking. German text.