Alaya Palamidis - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Edited books by Alaya Palamidis

Divine Names are a key component in the communication between humans and gods in Antiquity. Their... more Divine Names are a key component in the communication between humans and gods in Antiquity. Their complexity derives not only from the impressive number of onomastic elements available to describe and target specific divine powers, but also from their capacity to be combined within distinctive configurations of gods.

The volume collects 36 essays pertaining to many different contexts – Egypt, Anatolia, Levant, Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome – which address the multiple functions and wide scope of divine onomastics. Scrutinized in a diachronic and comparative perspective, divine names shed light on how polytheisms and monotheisms work as complex systems of divine and human agents embedded in an historical framework. Names imply knowledge and play a decisive role in rituals; they move between cities and regions, and can be translated; they interact with images and reflect the intrinsic plurality of divine beings.

This vivid exploration of divine names pays attention to the balance between tradition and innovation, flexibility and constraints, to the material and conceptual parameters of onomastic practices, to cross-cultural contexts and local idiosyncrasies, in a word to human strategies for shaping the gods through their names.

Papers by Alaya Palamidis

Des dieux qui comptent. Approches quantitatives des hiérarchies divines

Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales, 2024

Ancient religions, and polytheistic religions in particular, constitute complex systems in which ... more Ancient religions, and polytheistic religions in particular, constitute complex systems in which a plurality of gods each contain a plurality of aspects. The analysis of the multiple names used for these deities offers insights into how such systems of gods are represented and organized. The study of this onomastic data was at the heart of the project “Mapping Ancient Polytheisms. Cult Epithets as an Interface Between Religious Systems and Human Agency” (MAP, 2017-2023), which focused on the Greek and West-Semitic worlds. Its main outcome is the MAP database, which records the divine names mentioned in several thousand sources, particularly epigraphic. Can such a vast amount of data be studied in ways that are at once quantitative and qualitative? How to establish a hierarchy of information and deities? The aim of this article is twofold. From a methodological point of view, it seeks to highlight the benefits, but also the limitations and biases, of the MAP database when it comes to understanding the structure of pantheons. From a thematic perspective, it analyses how the information gathered in the database reveals, at various scales, the relational networks in which the gods position themselves and points to possible underlying hierarchies. Four case studies are used to explore this question: Artemis Ephesia in Ephesos, Zeus Panamaros and Hekate in Stratonikeia, a comparison between the place of Athena and Asklepios in their respective sanctuaries in Lindos and Epidauros, and a study of the epithets that emphasize a deity’s rank in the Near East and Egypt.

Revue de l'histoire des religions 242, 1, 2025

Ancient Greek sanctuaries are not usually regarded as centres of knowledge. Nonetheless, cult pra... more Ancient Greek sanctuaries are not usually regarded as centres of knowledge. Nonetheless, cult practices require numerous and varied forms of knowledge. Cultic experts can intervene and new knowledge can lead to cultic changes. Through the poetic performances that take place in sanctuaries, and because they are places of memory, sanctuaries also figure among the main places of education in the Greek world. Moreover, they are frequented by many intellectuals, who engage in various activities, and some sanctuaries even include a library. The knowledge that is produced and transmitted in the sanctuaries is often closely linked to the cult.

Syllogos, 2024

This article reexamines various passages from the second book of Herodotus' Histories concerning ... more This article reexamines various passages from the second book of Herodotus' Histories concerning the origins of the divine names. It is argued that the distinction between οὔνομα and ἐπωνυμίη is not between theonym and epithet, but between a word which insists on the function of the name, to identify, and a word which highlights its etymology. When Herodotus writes that most divine οὐνόματα came to Greece from Egypt, he probably means that the Greeks first heard about the gods and learnt their names from the Egyptians, who may have learnt these names from the gods themselves. The Greeks then adapted the names to their own language, while maintaining the general ideas expressed by them. Herodotus' statement that Hesiod and Homer gave the gods their ἐπωνυμίαι is analysed in the context of Histories 2.53. It is argued that these ἐπωνυμίαι are poetic names reflecting the characteristics of the gods and inspired by the Muses, and that the verb δίδωμι ('to give') indicates that they were given as offerings to the gods by the poets. Passages 2.3, on human knowledge of divine matters and names, and 2.4, about the Twelve Gods, are also discussed.

Pallas, 2024

In this article, Pausanias’ use of the main words used to refer to divine names is examined, in p... more In this article, Pausanias’ use of the main words used to refer to divine names is examined, in particular 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 their name after someone or something. Pausanias does not use any specific word to refer to theonyms and to epithets.

in F. Prescendi & F. Van Haeperen (eds.), Petits dieux des Romains et leurs voisins. Enquête comparatiste sur les hiérarchies divines dans les cultures romaines, italiques et grecques, Turnhout: Brepols, 2024, 309-330, 2024

J.-Chr. Courtil, E. Galbois, F. Ripoll, S. Rougier-Blanc (eds.), Déchéance et réhabilitation dans l'Antiquité gréco-romaine. Espaces, personnes, objets, 2024

A few Greek epigraphic sources mention interruptions to festivals and, sometimes, sacrifices due ... more A few Greek epigraphic sources mention interruptions to festivals and, sometimes, sacrifices due to war. Archaeology helps to fill in the gaps in our sources concerning other sanctuaries affected by conflict, even if the results of excavations are often difficult to interpret. The few case studies presented here reflect the varied consequences of war for the places of worship of Greek cities. In Miletus, destroyed in 494, the use of urban sanctuaries may have been interrupted during the fifteen years of Persian occupation and resumed after liberation; the sanctuary of Artemis Kithone, on the highest hill, was replaced by a temporary settlement site, and Apollo no longer delivered oracles in the extra-urban sanctuary of Didyma for a century and a half. When sanctuaries are no longer able to organize large Panhellenic festivals, these may be transferred to another location, as was probably the case for the Nemean and Isthmian contests in the first half of the fourth century and after the destruction of Corinth in 146 B.C.E. respectively.
Moreover, wars frequently lead to a break in the history of sanctuaries. In Didyma, the oracular practices of the refounded oracle in the early Hellenistic period may differ from those of the archaic period. In Corinth, when the sanctuaries were rebuilt a century after the destruction of the city in 146 B.C.E., they belonged to the Roman colony, and the presence of the colonists manifested itself in new cult practices in certain sanctuaries. In the Kabirion of Thebes, the nature of the ceramic material changed radically after the destruction of the city by Alexander the Great. These few examples reveal the lasting impact that wars can have on Greek sanctuaries.

Alaya Palamidis, Corinne Bonnet (eds.), What's in a divine name? Religious Systems and Human Agency in the Ancient Mediterranean, Berlin/Boston, De Gruyter, 2024

Where do the names of Greek gods come from? Do the names used by the Greeks to address their gods... more Where do the names of Greek gods come from? Do the names used by the Greeks to address their gods correspond to their "true" names, taught to the Greeks by the gods themselves? Or are they mere conventions that please the gods? Leaving aside philosophical debates, and especially Plato's views, which are already wellknown, this contribution will not only consider the famous Herodotean passages that explicitly address the question of the origin of the gods' names, but will also take into account other sources that implicitly hint at their origin. How are divine names treated in Homeric and Hesiodic poetry? In foundation myths of sanctuaries, found in Pausanias and other sources, who names the gods? What role do oracles play in establishing new divine names for later cult foundations? In the case of divine epiphanies, how are the deities recognised and their name determined?

Mythos, 2022

Several ancient authors locate the scene in the Odyssey where Ulysses evokes the souls of the dea... more Several ancient authors locate the scene in the Odyssey where Ulysses evokes the souls of the dead on the shores of Lake Avernus, near Cumae. Our sources also mention the existence of an oracle of the dead (nekyomanteion) at this place. According to them, the Greek name of the lake, Aornos ("without birds"), is linked to the deadly gases emanating from it. However, this study shows that it is a false etymology and it is not because of such emanations that the lake was identified with the place described in the Odyssey. On the contrary, this identification probably took place only after the Greeks began to imagine the entrance to Hades as a deep lake in the 5th century BCE.

Kernos 33, 2020

In a recent article titled “The Sanctuary of Despoina at Lykosoura: A Megalopolitan Creation?”, A... more In a recent article titled “The Sanctuary of Despoina at Lykosoura: A Megalopolitan Creation?”, Alaya Palamidis challenges Pausanias’ assertions about the ancient origin of Lykosoura and its cults; she formulates the hypothesis that Lykosoura’s pantheon was created by the synoecised Megalopolis, using borrowed elements from other Arcadian cults. It is worthwhile to return to this question in order to re-examine certain issues (the status of Lykosoura at the time of the synoecism and the absence of Despoina from any written sources before the Hellenistic period) and to highlight the problematic nature of the article’s hypothesis, as suggested by the question mark at the end of the title.

Kernos 32, 2019

According to several ancient sources, the cult epithet of Apollo Smintheus, a deity worshipped in... more According to several ancient sources, the cult epithet of Apollo Smintheus, a deity worshipped in the Troad, comes from the dialectal word sminthos, the mouse. Ancient authors add that mice which are considered sacred are raised in the sanctuary. Yet a new analysis of these sources suggests that they are not older than the Hellenistic period. This article first puts forward the hypothesis of a reinvention of the cult after the discovery of the supposed etymology of the cult epithet in this period. Second, the myths explaining the association of Apollo and mice are analysed. It is argued that the first version of the myth was created by the author of a work dedicated to the history of the Troad and that its evolution reflects the concerns of the sanctuary and of the two cities to which the cult place successively belonged. Finally, a new interpretation of the cult epithet will be proposed.

Nicolas Amoroso, Marco Cavalieri, Nicolas L.J. Meunier (ed.), Locum Armarium Libros. Livres et bibliothèques dans l'Antiquité (Louvain-la-Neuve 2017), p. 359-388

In the libraries of Celsus at Ephesus and of Rogatianus at Timgad, the function of which is attes... more In the libraries of Celsus at Ephesus and of Rogatianus at Timgad, the function of which is attested by inscriptions, bookcases are usually reconstructed in the niches. These examples have been used to identify other buildings which contained niches as libraries. However, Lora Johnson, in her 1984 Ph.D. thesis, rightfully questioned such an interpretation of the niches. The reconstruction of bookcases seems implausible, since the access to them would have been either impossible, or at least very difficult. The niches were more likely used for the display of statues. Similar arrangements can be found in various buildings, such as nymphaea or the scaenae frontes of theatres. Thus, the mere presence of niches inside a building does not allow to speculate about its function. This article aims at drawing attention to Lora Johnson’s work, the conclusions of which seem confirmed by new archaeological studies.

PhD Thesis by Alaya Palamidis

PhD Thesis, Université de Liège (2013-2017). Advisors: Vinciane Pirenne-Delforge, Ioannis Mylonopoulos. Jury: Thomas Morard, Ioannis Mylonopoulos, Vinciane Pirenne-Delforge, Francis Prost, François Quantin.

In Ancient Greece, century-old sanctuaries or newly founded ones were supposed to continue to att... more In Ancient Greece, century-old sanctuaries or newly founded ones were supposed to continue to attract worshippers indefinitely. However, not all sanctuaries met the same fate and some were abandoned, alongside the cult of the deities worshipped, while other deities continued to be worshipped at a different location. This study first aims at analysing the literary, epigraphic and above all archaeological evidence for such abandonments of sanctuaries and transfers of cults. The focus on two different kinds of urban relocations, synoecisms and metoecisms, during which sanctuaries are known to have been abandoned and cults transferred, then allows to consider the reasons that lead to the abandonment of some sanctuaries rather than others. It can thus be suggested than neither the abandonment of a sanctuary, nor the transfer of a cult, were considered the transgression of an unwritten norm and that these phenomena were much more widespread than usually thought.

Talks by Alaya Palamidis

Since 2017, the team of the Mapping Ancient Polytheisms (MAP) project led by Corinne Bonnet in To... more Since 2017, the team of the Mapping Ancient Polytheisms (MAP) project led by Corinne Bonnet in Toulouse has been studying the names of the gods in the ancient Greek and West-Semitic world. Divine names provide unique insights into the representation of the divine by the ancient populations of the Mediterrranean and into their communication strategies. Therefore, one of the main objectives of the MAP project was the creation of a database gathering all Greek and West-Semitic inscriptions containing divine names. The database is accessible online and almost 20 000 inscriptions have been registered so far. After a general presentation of the project and its database, a case study from Imbros will illustrate how the study of divine names can cast new light on some well-known inscriptions.

Des sources épigraphiques et littéraires nous informent de l’existence de cultes dédiés à des div... more Des sources épigraphiques et littéraires nous informent de l’existence de cultes dédiés à des divinités appelées simplement « Grands Dieux » (Megaloi theoi) ou « Grandes Déesses » (Megalai Theai). Selon le contexte, les auteurs antiques comme les chercheurs modernes les identifient à des collectivités de dieux comme les Cabires et les Dioscures, ou encore à Déméter et Korè. Différentes explications ont été proposées concernant l’origine de leur nom. À Samothrace, il s’agirait selon une hypothèse d’une traduction du nom des Cabires, d’origine sémitique. En Arcadie, le culte des Grandes Déesses aurait selon les uns une origine ancienne, tandis que d’autres proposent de mettre leur nom en lien avec la fondation de Mégalopolis (« la Grande Cité ») vers
371 av. J.-C. Le nom des Grands Dieux et des Grandes Déesses a également été expliqué par l’apparition d’épithètes d’acclamation telles que megas.
Peut-on affirmer que le nom de ces divinités s’est diffusé de Samothrace au reste du monde grec ? D’une région du Péloponnèse à l’autre ? Ou s’agit-il d’un phénomène qui s’est développé de façon contemporaine et indépendante dans plusieurs régions ? Afin d’élucider cette question, il est
nécessaire d’étudier la répartition chronologique et géographique de cette dénomination divine, mais aussi la nature de ces divinités : s’agit-il toujours de divinités « mystériques » (Grands dieux de Samothrace ; Déméter ou Korè) ou particulièrement épiphaniques (Dioscures) ?
Par ailleurs, le fait que ces Grands Dieux et Grandes Déesses apparaissent principalement au pluriel interroge. Ces divinités sont-elles uniquement honorées en tant que collectivités ou chaque divinité fait-elle également l’objet d’un culte distinct ? Et faut-il toujours tenter d’identifier des divinités
précises derrière ces noms collectifs ? Il s’agit de quelques unes des questions auxquelles je tenterai de répondre en réunissant les sources nommant ces Grandes Dieux et Grandes Déesses.

The MAP project deals with the way ancient societies (Greek and West-Semitic) named their gods, c... more The MAP project deals with the way ancient societies (Greek and West-Semitic) named their gods, considering divine “onomastic sequences” in ancient sources, namely combinations of various elements identifying the gods (nouns, epithets, titles, appellatives, sentences, etc.). The epigraphical evidence is recorded in an Open Access Database, using three levels of data recording:
• 1: the “source”, a document which contains one or several testimonies.
• 2: the “testimony”, a group of onomastic elements that refer to one or several deities and are combined to form an “onomastic sequence”.
• 3: the “element”, the minimal “unit of meaning” within the testimony. It is a semantic and non-grammatical category.
Each sequence is analysed through a formula, explaining how all the components are combined. To schematise the link type among the elements, we use four different operators: + coordination; # qualification; / juxtaposition; = explicit equivalence.
The onomastic elements can be studied as nodes in a network of cooccurrences, in which all elements that appear in the same testimony are linked to one another. Such networks can represent the entire database or have a particular focus (region, period, onomastic element, semantic category, etc.) This allows us to visualize a large amount of data and to analyse the testimonies from the database using statistical tools.
However, networks of cooccurrences do not describe very accurately the relationship between the different elements of a testimony. It is also necessary to consider the complex structure of divine onomastic sequences that is represented by formulae in the database. This can be done by attributing one or several operators to each edge of the network, in order to show the type of link between two elements.
The advantages and limits of applying network analysis to the MAP database will be illustrated by the case study of Stratonikeia in Caria.

Forschungscolloquium zur Alten Geschichte, Freie Universität Berlin, 2022

The famous library of the Attalids kings at Pergamum has traditionally been recognized in a serie... more The famous library of the Attalids kings at Pergamum has traditionally been recognized in a series of rooms behind the northern stoa of the sanctuary of Athena. Even though it is now widely accepted that the largest room was in fact a banquet room, the function of the three adjacent room is still a matter of debate: were they part of the library or not? A new examination of the material remains will show that they were not appropriate for the storage of precious and fragile books. These rooms may rather have been intended to host banquets during festival of the Nikephoria. Moreover, a comparison with the known libraries and philosophical schools of the Hellenistic period, that share a number of common features, will allow to venture a new hypothesis regarding the location of the library.

Dans le monde grec antique, un sanctuaire est un espace réservé à une ou plusieurs divinités et c... more Dans le monde grec antique, un sanctuaire est un espace réservé à une ou plusieurs divinités et consacré au moyen de rites de fondation. Des règlements cultuels qui nous sont parvenus protègent les propriétés des dieux et indiquent que ceux-ci doivent être honorées pour toujours dans leurs sanctuaires. Dans ce contexte, les abandons de sanctuaires ont pu être considéré par la recherche moderne comme des actes impies. Il s’agit pourtant d’un phénomène bien documenté tout au long de l’Antiquité par des fouilles archéologiques. Comment le comprendre ?
Je propose dans un premier temps d’explorer les causes possibles de tels abandons, qui sont multiples (causes démographiques, politiques, urbanistiques, environnementales…). J’étudierai ensuite les rituels d’abandon qui permettent de désacraliser l’espace consacré. Enfin, je m’intéresserai au devenir de ces espaces désacralisés, dont les ruines peuvent rester apparentes ou qui peuvent être réinvestis pour d’autres usages.

Séminaire CRATA-ERASME, 2022

Des dieux qui comptent. Approches quantitatives des hiérarchies divines

Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales, 2024

Revue de l'histoire des religions 242, 1, 2025

Syllogos, 2024

Pallas, 2024

J.-Chr. Courtil, E. Galbois, F. Ripoll, S. Rougier-Blanc (eds.), Déchéance et réhabilitation dans l'Antiquité gréco-romaine. Espaces, personnes, objets, 2024

Alaya Palamidis, Corinne Bonnet (eds.), What's in a divine name? Religious Systems and Human Agency in the Ancient Mediterranean, Berlin/Boston, De Gruyter, 2024

Mythos, 2022

Kernos 33, 2020

Kernos 32, 2019

Nicolas Amoroso, Marco Cavalieri, Nicolas L.J. Meunier (ed.), Locum Armarium Libros. Livres et bibliothèques dans l'Antiquité (Louvain-la-Neuve 2017), p. 359-388

Forschungscolloquium zur Alten Geschichte, Freie Universität Berlin, 2022

Séminaire CRATA-ERASME, 2022

The archeological identification of the abandonment of cults faces two main difficulties. First, ... more The archeological identification of the abandonment of cults faces two main difficulties. First, the absence of material posterior to a certain date in an excavated sanctuary does not necessarily mean that the sanctuary was abandoned. Secondly, the abandonment of a sanctuary does not necessarily mean the abandonment of the cult, since the cult may have been transferred to another sanctuary.

A couple of Greek inscriptions show that it was possible to transfer a cult, that is to no longer... more A couple of Greek inscriptions show that it was possible to transfer a cult, that is to no longer honour a deity in their original sanctuary, but in a new one founded on this occasion at a different location. However, they provide few elements to study this phenomenon. The contribution of literary sources is also very limited. Thus, the 1st century A.D. author Strabo mentions four cases of cult transfers, which, however, prove not to correspond to historical events. We should therefore turn to archaeological sources, and especially to the negative evidence: the absence of archaeological material testifying to the frequentation of a sanctuary while the cult of the deity is still attested by other sources provides the best clue to such transfers. On the contrary, there is positive evidence for the relocation of temples, which were entirely taken down and reconstructed elsewhere — the so-called «Wandering temples» — but the reuse of building materials does not imply the transfer of the cult. Further indications that a cult was transferred include coins or even the orientation of temples.

Pausanias states that the most important Parrhasian sanctuaries were duplicated in Megalopolis in... more Pausanias states that the most important Parrhasian sanctuaries were duplicated in Megalopolis in the aftermath of its creation in the 4th century B.C. A noteworthy exception is the sanctuary of Despoina at Lykosoura, which was very ancient according to the author. However, the absence of epigraphical or literary evidence concerning Lykosoura and predating the synoecism and the very limited archaeological material dating to the Archaic and Classical periods suggest that it was the site of a minor cult before the synoecism. The presence of Despoina is not attested before, and it is possible that the cult of the goddess was only developed by Megalopolis, which associated to it several other Arcadian deities and gave it an ancient and local flavour, in order to assert its position as the new cult-centre of Arcadia. Similarly, the sanctuary of Demeter Eleusinia at Basilis may have only been created or developed by Megalopolis, despite its alleged antiquity. This phenomenon finds its closest parallel in the sanctuary of Andania, controlled by the city of Messene. The presence of Demeter and deities associated with her in these sanctuaries, as well as the existence of mysteries, may reflect the growing influence of the sanctuary of Eleusis during the Hellenistic period.

Synécismes et transformations du paysage religieux en Grèce antique

Dans nos sociétés modernes occidentales, les savoirs intellectuels sont majoritairement produits ... more Dans nos sociétés modernes occidentales, les savoirs intellectuels sont majoritairement produits et diffusés dans des lieux de savoirs laïques (universités et laboratoires de recherche, écoles publiques, bibliothèques municipales, musées…). Pourtant, dans de nombreuses cultures, anciennes comme contemporaines, les lieux de culte constituent des lieux de savoir privilégiés, que ce soit parce qu’ils sont fréquentés par des individus lettrés ou parce qu’ils constituent eux-mêmes des centres de diffusion voire de production des savoirs.
L’ambition de cette journée sera donc de s’interroger sur les rapports particuliers entre lieux de culte et lieux de savoir dans différentes civilisations, à travers une approche comparatiste.

Communication présentée lors de la journée d'études Les épithètes topiques des dieux antiques : u... more Communication présentée lors de la journée d'études Les épithètes topiques des dieux antiques : une approche comparative entre Egypte, Grèce et monde sémitique, organisée à l'Université de Lausanne le 17 mars 2023 par C. Bonnet, L. Coulon et G. Lenzo.