This thesis proposes that integrated rituals of netherworld descent and heavenly ascent are represented in the Hebrew Bible as having been performed by Davidic royals – royal women, as well as male monarchs. In some instances (e.g. Psalms 2; 18; 24; 89:2-38; and 110) these rituals are represented idealistically, with Yahweh confirming the king’s ritual status and potency, through re-presented speech acts. In other instances, however, while an idealistic picture of monarchy continues to be upheld, it is subverted from within in varying ways (e.g. 2 Kgs 9:30-37; 11; Ps. 89:39-52; Isa. 14.4b-20; Jer. 13:18-20; Ezekiel 19). The differing portrayals of monarchy reflect the differing ways with which biblical texts are negotiating and interacting with ambiguous discourses embodying memories of monarchy. On the one hand, after the fall of monarchic Judah, ‘foreign’ monarchy (and especially trading monarchies, such as those of Phoenicia) were fetishised within biblical authors’ discourses of political and economic imperialism, and so Davidic monarchy became a signifier of an enchanting and mystifying ‘indigenous’ past. On the other hand, discourses concerning the past frequently referenced exile, and the collapse of monarchy. Some biblical representations of ritual netherworld descent and heavenly ascent acknowledge this latter, uncomfortable kind of remembering – even as they reify and reinforce these enchanting memories which they subvert. The remembered, cosmically liminal first temple and the remembered royal body become loci for these paradoxical, contradictory, and competing memories. This much is evident in mystifying royal cosmic liminality and heavenly ascent, access to divine knowledge, and mimesis of Yahweh; in cathartic myths of the subjugation of the forces of chaos and disorder, both cosmic and military; and in the subversion of the enchanting remembered Davidic cultic praxis of descent and ascent, through these motifs’ re-presentations in montages alongside rituals which connote displacement, destruction, profanation, desecration, subjugation and being forgotten. In these instances, the vulnerabilities inherent in cultural idealising of the Davidic monarchy’s potent cosmic liminality are brought into sharp relief.

À l'opposé du Paradis céleste que rejoignent les élus, les artistes romans ont imaginé le monde de tourments qui attend les pécheurs. Ce lieu de terreur, duquel s'élèvent « des pleurs et des grincements de dents » (Matth. 22, 13), ne peut être illustré sous des formes simples et communes. L'imagerie médiévale, précocement, dès le IXe siècle dans le domaine anglo-saxon, donne à l'Enfer l'apparence d'une tête hybride, la Gueule d'Enfer. Sculpteurs et enlumineurs se sont-ils inspirés de monstres issus des mythologies païennes anciennes et contemporaines ? Sur quelles sources textuelles se sont-ils appuyés pour élaborer ce motif ? Aisément reconnaissable, l'image de la Gueule s'inscrit dans les nombreuses représentations du Jugement Dernier et de la Descente du Christ aux Enfers. Une étude typologique pourra déterminer l'influence de la présence et de l'aspect de la Gueule d'Enfer sur la signification de ces épisodes fondateurs du Christianisme. La Gueule terrifiante devient le symbole même d'un Enfer fantasmagorique et vivant ; elle envahit progressivement toute l'iconographie religieuse et il convient de voir si elle ne modifie pas le sens de nombreux épisodes bibliques. Présente encore à l'époque gothique, la Gueule d'Enfer est transformée par les artistes de la fin du Moyen Âge, avant de disparaître progressivement de l'iconographie religieuse. Si l'Enfer médiéval a suscité de nombreuses études, le motif de la Gueule dévorante a paradoxalement peu attiré l'attention des Historiens de l'Art. Cette thèse tend à combler, au moins en partie, cette lacune. / Opposed to the Celestial Heaven waiting for the blessed, the roman artists invented a netherworld waiting for the sinners. This terrifying place, from where « tears and gnashing of the teeth » arrive (Matth, 22 , 13 ) cannot be illustrated in simple and common ways. As soon as the 11th century, in the anglo-saxon world, Hell was represented as an hybrid head, the Maw of Hell, in the medieval imagery. Did the sculptors and the illuminators get their inspiration from the monsters belonging to the oldest and contemporary pagan mythology ? Which textual sources did they use to elaborate this pattern ? Easily recognisable, the image of the Maw is one of the many representations of the Last Judgment and of Christ's Descent to Hell. A typological study will determine the influence of the presence and the aspect of the Maw of Hell on the meaning of those founding episodes of Christianism. The terrifying Maw became the symbol of a fantasmagoric and real hell slowly invading the whole religious iconography and it is worth wondering if it didn't change the meaning of many biblical episodes. Still present during the Gothic period, the Maw of Hell was changed by the artists of the late Middle Ages, before disappearing slowly from religious iconography. If medieval Hell was the subject of many studies, the Maw of Hell surprisingly attracted few Art History researchers. This thesis partially tries to fill this gap.