Sinful Communications: Female Gossipers, Eavesdroppers and Slanderers Punished in Hell in Rural Churches of Venetian Crete

Representations of sinners punished in Hell as depicted in Byzantine monumental decoration in churches of rural Venetian Crete, include at least twenty-five damned tormented in the afterlife for having engaged in various forms of gossip during their life. While these sinners are predominantly female, the fact that they are not exclusively women, certainly challenges long-standing perceptions of gender-specific association with this ‘activity.’ At the same time, the importance of the conviction that anybody who engages in gossip and slander belongs in Hell, cannot be overlooked. The brutality of the torments fitting to such sinners, expressed visually within the sacred space of a church, highlights the negative social impact it potentially carried for individuals and their families within small and close-knit rural communities. This paper explores both the perceived gender associations the involvement in gossip and slander carry and its impactful social consequences within Early Modern Mediterranean rural communities.