The objective of this article is to define a specific visual relationship with the divine in the verbal discourse of the ancient Mediterranean culture based on the analysis of three specific historical-cultural patterns: the Greek Magical Papyri, the Liturgy of Mithras, and the texts of the first Christians communities. This epiphanic visuality will be analyzed from the Greek verb ἀτενίζω (“look intensely”): this verb is attested in the three patterns mentioned above, and in all of them it refers to a epiphanic gaze of the communities of devotees who encounter a superior divine presence in the form of a figurative sign. The textual recurrence of the verb, and the agents involved in its action, will allow us to propose a taxonomy of analysis to categorize in detail how this visual relationship between the devotees and the divine presence occurred in multiple spaces and times. Therefore, what we propose is an analysis of how the semantic nuances of this verbal form are bearing witness to a specific religious experience lived by different communities of devotees from Greek culture to the first centuries of Christianity.
This article examines Pausanias’ use of the main words attested to refer to divine names, such as onoma, epiklēsis and epōnumia. Onoma is the most general word since it can by applied to any type of name. Epiklēsis does not refer to an epithet, but more generally to a surname : it can be either an epithet or a heteronym, either a cultic epithet or a poetic one. Lastly, the epōnumia can be understood as an eponymous name: the deity bearing a epōnumia takes its name after someone or something. Pausanias does not use any specific word to refer to theonyms and to epithets.
The inscriptions of Boeotia contain several onomastic sequences constructed to qualify Herakles. To understand this regional peculiarity, the names of Herakles are studied here in their cultic and mythological context, revealing the entrenchment of different levels of representation of the divinity: he is at once a Panhellenic figure of the gymnasium alongside Hermes, a hero associated with groups of founding warriors in Eastern Boeotia, a healing divinity in Western Boeotia, or the ancestor of civic aristocracies.
In this article, we intend to study the lexical and morphological richness that is typical of the Theriaca and the Alexipharmaca, two didactic poems written by Nicander of Colophon in the iind century bc. In these poems, Nicander uses different strategies to renew the poetic and especially the scientific language. We will deal with the category of ‑εις adjectives, through which the poet strove to create an effect of variatio in his poetic expression and in his scientific vocabulary.
The forests of the Mediterranean have been and continue to be the subject of numerous historiographical discussions that focus in particular on a possible deforestation whose chronology remains debated. Focusing on the medieval Maghreb al-Aqṣā, an area often marginalized on the Mediterranean scale, the present study proposes to pay attention to both regional and diachronic variations in forest cover, through an interdisciplinary approach that is the only one able to document its evolution. After presenting the limits and contributions of a documentary corpus composed of textual sources and anthracological data, the analysis of this documentation allows us to qualify the idea of deforestation in the Maghreb al-Aqṣā during the medieval period. Both the representations of forests in medieval Arab authors and the anthracological analyses indicate the diversity of situations according to regions and the need to take into account multiple parameters, particularly local ones, to analyse the evolution of forest cover.
Forests and modalities of timber supply during the late Iron Age in Toulouse region constitute a major unknown. This study, based on morpho-technical (n=348), dendrochronological and dendro-ecological (n=35) analyses of archaeological wood extracted from the backfill and lining of two shafts in Vieille-Toulouse (Haute-Garonne), sheds light on this mystery. Our results showed that the cut trees had an average diameter of 575 mm, a minimum age of between 99 and 246 years and an absolute dating of the construction of the shaft’s linings between 131 and 101 BC, and thus contributing to the reconstruction of the technical chain of operations of woodworking. This study offers therefore a first overview of the forestry landscape and silvicultural strategies in relation to the occupation of the Vieille-Toulouse hilltop conurbation.
In the Graeco-Egyptian “magical” formularies of Late Antiquity, an important sum of denominations are used to address Typhon, a Graeco-Egyptian god who appears to be a force both adverse to and helpful. The articulation between the image of the donkey-headed god and his “barbaric” names is attested, and some stress must be put on the prescriptive language of the ritual formularies which identifies entirely the donkey and the god. Even the zoonym is a way of naming a god pictured as the animal itself. The graphic designs are complemented by hymns which multiply the strategies in naming the god, such as the qualifications which reveal the relations between Typhon, sovereignty and environmental risks, and the barbaric names like Aberammentho which ensure a cumulative amount of power to the god.
This study delves into the worship of Artemis at Gonnoi, in Greece, highlighting significant epithets such as Ilithyia and Geneteira, closely linked to reproduction. The dedications, exclusively formulated by women, indicate a particular focus on pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum. Priestesses, in turn, dedicate themselves to specific epithets such as Lochia and Eulochia, reflecting different phases of maternity. Additionally, the use of words like pausotokeia reveals that we are dealing with offerings of gratitude expressed for successful childbirths. The exclusively female nature of the worship of Artemis Ilithyia and Lochia emphasizes a notable contrast with other Greek regions, where men also participate as dedicators.
The auction of priesthoods, a modality evidenced during the Classical and Hellenistic periods in specific regions of Asia Minor and the Aegean islands, entailed a complex and multifaceted process involving multiple actors of the political life: civic authorities, individuals, and deities. By examining the procedures and rituals surrounding the practice of auctioning the priesthoods, this contribution aims to illustrate the extent and manner of involvement of the city, its institutions, and its constituents in the process of attributing priesthoods.
Starting from Greek inscriptions registered in the Mapping Ancient Polytheisms database (DB MAP), this paper explores the formal diversity of spatial (topographical and, mainly, toponymical) divine onomastic attributes. Do the formal differences between adjectival and substantival epithets and other locative onomastic attributes denote distinct spatial dynamics of gods and goddesses qualified as such? Particular attention is paid to onomastic sequences which juxtapose several toponymic elements: they can either anchor a same deity in different places at the same time or combine different spatial dynamics. If Apollo and Artemis seem to be – a little bit – more often concerned by such onomastic sequences, no clear and unique rationale emerges from all of these cases out of any context.
Sources on the role ascribed to divine figures in the decision-making process are scarce, even in Athens during the Classical and Hellenistic periods. However, an analysis of the names of the deities summoned during the various stages of the collective decision-making process, especially during Assemblies and at the Council, reveals the Athenians’ desire to place every moment of this long process under divine protection. The efforts made to draw the attention of the gods and goddesses to drawing lot, speeches and deliberations show that the Athenians relied on them to ensure that the process ran smoothly, without expecting them to intervene directly in the decision-making procedures.
Divine names often evoke the relationship of a deity to the space through several types of onomastic attributes. In the first place, toponymic names are analyzed through the Heliopolitan cult of Jupiter/Zeus. It expresses a territoriality with variable scales, which goes from Baalbek sanctuary to the whole Roman Empire. Secondly, Athena in Ḥaurān reveals that divine territoriality can be expressed through titles of dominion (those meaning “lord/lady”, for example) and that they can infer the override of the goddess on the sacred spaces where she is worshipped. Finally, the case of Deir el-Qalaa provides information on the modalities of expression of a very limited spatiality, from which the name derives and where it is fully understandable. The god venerated there is named from the rituals that took place there. These three aspects show three different configurations of divine territorialisation but do not exhaust all the available scenarios.
The MAP project studied the epithets lato sensu attributed to Greek and Semitic gods in inscriptions between 1000 BCE and 400 CE. However, However, the gods are not always mentioned with an epithet when people address them. Can we quantify the proportion of divine names that are “naked” or “clothed” with an epithet? And how can we account for the choice of whether or not to use an epithet? Several parameters (space, time, language, agents, type of communication and source, etc.) are considered here to explain these different strategies for communicating with the gods.
This contribution aims to shed light on the mechanisms at work in the selection or creation of the site where a city wished to perform the rituals instituted as part of the cult honours attributed to the Seleucid sovereigns. This is an essential element for the appropriate inclusion of an honorandus in a city’s common space. Some of the choices made by the cities reveal a genuine desire to enter into negotiations with the royal power. The mechanisms for selecting the ritual setting will therefore be studied in the context of the exercise of royal evergetism characteristic of the Hellenistic period.
An extensive surface survey on the uplands of East Crete has revealed a significant density of rural habitation sites in the Neopalatial period, contrasting a more occasional use of the highlands in the previous Bronze Age periods. This paper offers a regionally-specific view on timber species and potential supply routes and strategies based on a minimally investigated but vast economic zone of Crete: the upland zone. It explores which kinds of evidence we need to look for to reconstruct the practices relating to an almost now invisible engagement with nature and the insights traditional methods of wood-cutting and wood circulation can offer in understanding prehistoric communities.
The question of afforestation and its management is essential to understand the ancient economy. The forests provided the Roman Empire with timber, fuel, and fed some of the livestock. However, this economy of wood during Antiquity remains unknown. The relatively recent contribution of bioarchaeological sciences is gradually lifting the veil on the forest management methods implemented to sustain the wood resource and allow almost continuous operation of the production centers. As part of a doctoral project, two study areas were selected in southern Gaul at the transition between the change of era and Late Antiquity. Through the study of the workshops of Embournière (Neffiès, Hérault) and Las Cravieros (Fanjeaux, Aude), and with the support of studies carried out on their contemporaries, this work proposes to interpret these testimonies using anthracology and archeology to complete the organization of the ancient territory.
The preventive excavation of two ancient sites on the Die plain sheds light on the timber economy and plant exploitation during Antiquity by combining anthracology and various palaeoenvironmental approaches. The dynamics of the landscape are marked by the layered exploitation of a mosaic landscape, and a regeneration of the mountain beech-fir forest, centred on the Early Period. The latter was the result of a change in the way the forest was farmed, with the emphasis on restoring a high forest instead of a coppice forest, in order to provide timber for building sites. The creation of vast mountain pastures at the end of Antiquity put an end to this, and created the conditions for a vast opening up of the landscape, generating unprecedented sedimentary activity.
