Brepols Online Books Other Miscellanea Archive v2016 - bobar16miot

Advances in the modern interpretation of myth and in the history of ancient religion in general have radically modified our ways of studying the names and the naming of the gods. Two avenues of research notably are current today : the relationship between the narration of the myth and the name (all « speaking » names tell a story) and the necessity for the faithful to identify, to distinguish and to name the divine, in polytheisms naturally, but also in monotheisms. Can the name of a god be only a label? Calling (for help), singing (in praise), invoking (with others), calling to witness (as a guarantee), all involve this important act of identification, a recognition, in the heart of a process which seems more complex than it appeared to be at first glance.

The fact that this identification is made in common (and in community) draws attention to another methodological requirement. Beyond the signified « divine entity » lie the language act and its context, which are part of the naming : this means that its linguistic and social aspects must be taken into consideration.

By its treatment of the Greek and Roman religions, but also, in the interest of a comparatist point of view, the Egyptian religion (under the pharaohs and the Ptolemies), Oscan-speakers, Judaism and Christianism, by its treatment of texts, literary and other, in prose and in poetry, papyri, inscriptions, vascular graffiti, the present book opens new perspectives through the meeting of rhetoric and religion.

The result of two colloquia organised by the Universities of Rennes, of Strasbourg, and of Naples, Naming the Gods is a book which has been carefully constructed and thought out through time ; it promises to be a landmark.