‘Learning my instructions, Orestes…’: who authorises worship in the Greek world?
Modern scholars discuss the foundation of cults in human terms, often through the opposition of public and private, city and individual. The Greeks themselves could also speak in this way, but they often represented cult institution as something initiated by a god. This is particularly noticeable in...
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| Publicado en: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/kernos, |
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| Autor principal: | |
| Formato: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Lenguaje: | Anglais |
| Publicado: |
Kernos
2025
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| Acceso en línea: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Sumario: | Modern scholars discuss the foundation of cults in human terms, often through the opposition of public and private, city and individual. The Greeks themselves could also speak in this way, but they often represented cult institution as something initiated by a god. This is particularly noticeable in mythologising accounts of ancient foundations, but many literary and epigraphical sources also place a particular emphasis on the divine input. The typical pattern does not differ radically between public and ‘private’ cult (though we may note that the latter category includes various different groups). In public, polis-funded cults as well as other types, an individual (not necessarily a citizen) often served as the cult introducer, the point of initial contact with the deity ; the introduction is then sanctioned by an oracle (a recognised divine authority) and finally it is officially incorporated into the religious structures of the polis. There is a delicate balance between the authority of the city and that of the oracle, each respecting the other, as the city attempts to regulate and contain the unpredictability of the divine. |
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