Transcendence and transformation have been established as key motifs in apocalypses. The transformation of a seer during a heavenly journey is found commonly in such esoteric apocalypses as I Enoch. No heavenly journey occurs in the works treated here. Rather, symbolic women figures--"ladies" in the classical sense--who are associated with God's City or tower, undergo transformation at key points in the action. The surface structures of Joseph and Aseneth, 4 Ezra, the Apocalypse and The Shepherd of Hermas are traced, and the crucial transformation episode or episodes are located within each structure. Transformation of figures representing God's people suggests the significance of identity within the apocalyptic perspective. Apocalypses allow the world to be viewed from the future or from the heavens (J. J. Collins' "temporal" and "spatial" axes); the genre also invites the reader to change identity (the "identical" axis), and so become someone in tune with divine mystery and revelation.

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