Silvia Testone
Dottoranda dell'Università di Salerno in co-tutela con l'Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes con un progetto dal titolo "Physici dicunt esse consecratas numinibus singulas corporis partes. La relazione tra parti del corpo e divinità nella cultura romana".
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Talks by Silvia Testone
International Conference
On Magic and Religion, Rome 9-10 november 2023
Abstract:
Pliny’s Naturalis Historia 11, 250 states that there is a certain religious significance (religio) in human knees, as well as in the right hand and, among Greeks, in the chin. This statement highlights the importance of physical gestures and body parts in the performance of religious acts. Since religio, in this context, does not designate a vague mystical property embodied in human body parts, but a scruple that associates several gentes in regard to gestures (taking oaths, making sacrifices, offering prayers), anatomical components employed in those acts acquire relevance to the religious sphere. Through an analysis of Pliny’s excerpt and other ancient sources, this paper aims at shedding light on complex ways of constructing images of human body and establishing connection between human anatomy and divine world in ancient Roman culture.
Firstly, Pliny investigates the cause of the religio of genua in the vitalitas inherent to them: they are reservoirs of spiritus, the dispersion of which has lethal consequences. His statement will later find a correspondence in Servius’ note to Aen. 3, 607, in which it is alleged that according to physici «some parts of the body are consecrated, one for each, to deities» (cf. Buc. 6, 3): for instance, dextra to Fides or genua to Misericordia. For this reason, the gesture of encircling someone’s knees «was considered an object of scruple» (religioni habebatur).
To sum up, a similar description of human body parts is intersected by manifold registers and sources. Furthermore, it enriches the picture of «symbolic anatomy» and the network of relationships weaved by gods with the human body. Finally, it raises the question of a possible biologie sauvage of the Romans, expression inspired by Françoise Héritier, and of its relevance for the study of images of the body in ancient Roman culture.
Jeudi 2 février : 13h - 18h; Salle EPHE ; Salle Mariette INHA, 2 rue Vivienne 75002 Paris
Vendredi 3 février : 9h - 17h Salle 17, 54 Boulevard Raspail 75006 Paris
Je vous signale la présence de deux invité de renom: Corinne Bonnet et Maurizio Bettini.
Organisé par Yann Berthelet (Université de Liège), Corinne Bonnet (Université de Toulouse - Jean Jaurès), Francesco Massa (Universités de Turin et Fribourg), Francesca Prescendi Morresi (EPHE), Françoise Van Haeperen (Université de Louvain)
Comité scientifique : Gianluca De Sanctis (Université de la Tuscia) ; Sylvia Estienne (ENS-Paris) ; Giorgio Ferri (Université La Sapienza Rome) ; Gabriella Pironti (EPHE) ; Alessandra Rolle (Université de Lausanne) ; Stéphanie Wyler (Université Paris Cité).
Intervenant.e.s : Jean-Marc Baché, Laura Bevilacqua, Silvia Testone, Adrien Coignoux, Valentin Hiegel, Pauline Huon, Élise Coignet, Dario Cellamare, Sylvain Dejardin, Rocío Suárez Vallejo.
Une connexion zoom (un peu artisanale) sera mise à disposition sans cependnat pouvoir assurer un suivi optimal.
Pour informations, s’adresser à [email protected]
International Conference
On Magic and Religion, Rome 9-10 november 2023
Abstract:
Pliny’s Naturalis Historia 11, 250 states that there is a certain religious significance (religio) in human knees, as well as in the right hand and, among Greeks, in the chin. This statement highlights the importance of physical gestures and body parts in the performance of religious acts. Since religio, in this context, does not designate a vague mystical property embodied in human body parts, but a scruple that associates several gentes in regard to gestures (taking oaths, making sacrifices, offering prayers), anatomical components employed in those acts acquire relevance to the religious sphere. Through an analysis of Pliny’s excerpt and other ancient sources, this paper aims at shedding light on complex ways of constructing images of human body and establishing connection between human anatomy and divine world in ancient Roman culture.
Firstly, Pliny investigates the cause of the religio of genua in the vitalitas inherent to them: they are reservoirs of spiritus, the dispersion of which has lethal consequences. His statement will later find a correspondence in Servius’ note to Aen. 3, 607, in which it is alleged that according to physici «some parts of the body are consecrated, one for each, to deities» (cf. Buc. 6, 3): for instance, dextra to Fides or genua to Misericordia. For this reason, the gesture of encircling someone’s knees «was considered an object of scruple» (religioni habebatur).
To sum up, a similar description of human body parts is intersected by manifold registers and sources. Furthermore, it enriches the picture of «symbolic anatomy» and the network of relationships weaved by gods with the human body. Finally, it raises the question of a possible biologie sauvage of the Romans, expression inspired by Françoise Héritier, and of its relevance for the study of images of the body in ancient Roman culture.
Jeudi 2 février : 13h - 18h; Salle EPHE ; Salle Mariette INHA, 2 rue Vivienne 75002 Paris
Vendredi 3 février : 9h - 17h Salle 17, 54 Boulevard Raspail 75006 Paris
Je vous signale la présence de deux invité de renom: Corinne Bonnet et Maurizio Bettini.
Organisé par Yann Berthelet (Université de Liège), Corinne Bonnet (Université de Toulouse - Jean Jaurès), Francesco Massa (Universités de Turin et Fribourg), Francesca Prescendi Morresi (EPHE), Françoise Van Haeperen (Université de Louvain)
Comité scientifique : Gianluca De Sanctis (Université de la Tuscia) ; Sylvia Estienne (ENS-Paris) ; Giorgio Ferri (Université La Sapienza Rome) ; Gabriella Pironti (EPHE) ; Alessandra Rolle (Université de Lausanne) ; Stéphanie Wyler (Université Paris Cité).
Intervenant.e.s : Jean-Marc Baché, Laura Bevilacqua, Silvia Testone, Adrien Coignoux, Valentin Hiegel, Pauline Huon, Élise Coignet, Dario Cellamare, Sylvain Dejardin, Rocío Suárez Vallejo.
Une connexion zoom (un peu artisanale) sera mise à disposition sans cependnat pouvoir assurer un suivi optimal.
Pour informations, s’adresser à [email protected]