The word Peter uses for “hell” here is the Greek tartarus. This term is used in Greek mythology to refer to the place where giants such as Cyclopes and the Titans were cast. Tartarus is also used in Hellenistic, or Greek, branches of Judaism, as seen, for instance, in the Septuagint of Job (40:20; 41:24), Proverbs (30:16), and other early Jewish writers (e.g., Sib. Or. 4:186; 1 En. 20:2; Philo, Mos. 2.433; Praem. 152). For a discussion, see Richard Bauckham, 2 Peter and Jude (Word Bible Commentary 50) (Waco, TX: Word, 1983), 249.
