The Athens Greek Religion Seminar invites you to a talk by Hans Beck, Münster University
The Materiality of Oaths
Tuesday, September 24, 2024, 17.00h (Athens) in a hybrid format with live presence at the Swedish Institute at Athens, Mitseon 9, and online via Zoom.
To participate, please register at: https://www.sia.gr/en/events.php?eid=418#ParticipationForm
ALL WELCOME!
ABSTRACT
Oath exchanges in ancient Greece were more than the recitation of a defined formula. Subject to the reins of religious belief and fused with the deep meaning of ritual, the swearing ceremony drew on powerful strategies to make pledges last; subsequent publication on stone and placement of the stele in the heart of the community further lent permanency to the agreement. Hans Beck discusses material dimensions of the oath that went beyond these strategies. He explores the complicated interplay between, on the one hand, objects that served as material expressions of the oath; and, on the other hand, the articulation of a type of meaning that was itself subject to and impacted by the object language of the oath. His paper shows how the materiality of oaths oscillated between universal paradigms and a highly local, epichoric encoding of meaning.