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Ginevra Benedetti

University of Siena / Università di Siena, Dipartimento di Filologia e Critica delle Letterature Antiche e Moderne, Post-Doc

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PhD in Classics (Classical Philology / Anthropology of the Ancient World).

2017-2021: PhD student (Università di Pisa, Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès) associated to the Laboratoire PLH-ERASME - Patrimoine Littérature Histoire, in Toulouse, and to the Research Center for the Anthropological Studies of the Ancient World, "AMA", in Siena).

2021/-2022 : Post-doctoral researcher at the Collège de France in Paris (Bourse Anna Caroppo), associated to the Chaire "Religion, histoire et société dans le monde grecque antique" (Prof. Vinciane Pirenne-Delforge).

2022- : Research fellow at the University of Siena (Dipartimento di Filologia e Critica delle Letterature Antiche e Moderne)
Phone: + 39 3292244301

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Pablo Rodríguez-Valdés

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

Alaya Palamidis

Université Toulouse II Jean Jaurès

Enrique Nieto Izquierdo

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique / French National Centre for Scientific Research

Beatriz Pañeda Murcia

Lund University

José Carlos López-Gómez

Universidad de Málaga

Valentino Gasparini

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

Jaime Alvar Ezquerra

University of Málaga

Université Paul Valéry - Montpellier

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Papers by Ginevra Benedetti

Falling from Olympus. Deconstructing the Modern Idea of “Pantheon” to Translate the Ancient Panthe(i)on/Pantheum

Ktèma : Civilisations de l’Orient, de la Grèce et de Rome antiques, 2024

How should we translate a term that has a direct linguistic heritage but the meaning of which has... more How should we translate a term that has a direct linguistic heritage but the meaning of which has changed over time? This difficulty hangs over our understanding of the term “pantheon,” which we instinctively associate with the set of gods of a polytheistic religion, or with a monument (like the Roman Pantheon) that is supposed to combine and condense the devotion to all the gods. This article collects and compares the various readings of this lexeme that have been proposed over time precisely from the Roman monument’s interpretations to review the features that make it “untranslatable” by viewing it from the perspective of ancient emic data.

The Aedes Concordiae Pantheae Augustae and the "Pantheon" of Gigthis. A Possible Reading of CIL VIII 22692 (2nd c. CE)

ARYS. Antigüedad: Religiones y Sociedades, 2024

In Gigthis, during the principate of Marcus Aurelius, Marcus Ummidius Sedatus commissioned the co... more In Gigthis, during the principate of Marcus Aurelius, Marcus Ummidius Sedatus commissioned the construction of a temple consecrated to Concordia Panthea Augusta in the forum. This act was a tribute to his son’s office as a decurion and included a pronaos, an arch, and a statue of the goddess. The dedicatory inscription (CIL VIII 2693) was accompanied by another one (CIL VIII 22692), of which only fourteen letters remain, engraved on the frieze atop the aedicula which housed the divine simulacrum at the bottom of the small sacellum. This contribution aims to propose a plausible reading of this inscription by reconstructing the missing letters and justifying the employed linguistic strategies, drawing insights from archaeological data related to the sanctuary and the broader context of the forum where it was situated.

2024: “Dii deaeque omnes. Il potere della “totalità” nelle fonti latine”, Mythos [Online] 18

Mythos, 2024

In Roman religion, grouping a plurality of divine powers into ‘collective’ onomastic formulas was... more In Roman religion, grouping a plurality of divine powers into ‘collective’ onomastic formulas was an effective tool of religious communication. This article examines the onomastic formula dii deaeque omnes, ‘all gods and goddesses’, which structures a unity around the notions of totality and exhaustiveness of the divine world. Long cited under the generic and standardized category of religious ‘syncretism’, this expression has so far received almost no systematic attention. This research aims to outline the history of this formula, from the mid-Republican age to the late imperial period, in Latin literary and epigraphic sources, with a focus on votive dedications or ritual invocations. The study of the specific contexts, agents, and occasions underlying the ritual recourse to the divine ‘totality’ will thus shed new interpretative light on the religious communication strategies that were at its core.

2023: "Appropriation and Bricolage of Divine Images: The Case of the Signa Panthea, Names and Artefacts for “Condensed” Gods", F. Porzia, C. Bonnet (eds.), Divine Names on the Spot. Exploring the Potentials of Names through Images and Narratives, Leuven, Peeters, pp. 170-201

F. Porzia, C. Bonnet (eds.), Divine Names on the Spot. Exploring the Potentials of Names through Images and Narratives, Leuven, Peeters, 2023

The article provides a preliminary overview of ancient iconographic objects classified as 'panthe... more

2021: "Pantheus, un dieu « total » dans le monde grec et romain", in C. Bonnet (ed.), Noms de dieux. Portraits de divinités antiques, pp. 235-257

Noms de dieux. Portraits de divinités antiques, 2021

Conference Presentations by Ginevra Benedetti

From object to deity and back: blurred boundaries of some divine names in Roman culture, workshop "Gods in a Material World", Madrid, 13-14 December 2024

G. Benedetti, V. Gasparini & B. Pañeda Murcia: Les Dei Consentes et le Dodékathéon romain. Nouvelle approche, Colloque international "Dyades, triades et autres configurations divines récurrentes dans le monde romain", Louvain-la-Neuve, 22-23 February 2024

by Ginevra Benedetti and Françoise Van Haeperen

Tech Animated Simulacra: Giving Life to Statues, Empowering Gods, EASR conference 2023 "Religions and Technologies", Vilnius, 4-8 September 2023

May the force (of the objects) be with you! An anthropological approach to Rome’s pignora imperii, Summer School "Roman rituals: dynamics, topography and objects", Rome, 11-15 September 2023

With Valentino Gasparini: Fabricar un dios a la potencia: la copa de África de Boscoreale como estudio de caso de imágenes de dioses todopoderosos en el Mediterráneo antiguo, "Religión y Comunicación. Agentes, Medios y Contextos", Zaragoza, 7-8 September 2023

n√Gods +/- Godsn. Cohabitation and empowerment of divine "presences" in Roman lararia, Congreso SECR 2023 "Ad loca sancta. Lugares, espacios, presencias", Santiago de Compostela, 10-12 May 2023

"Excès et défauts « monstrueux » comme ingrédients du pouvoir divin : quelques cas d’étude", Journée d'étude « Le monstre, figure inversée de l'esthétique et ses ambiguïtés », Toulouse, 11 Avril 2023

"Redescendre de l’Olympe : déconstruire la notion moderne de panthéon pour traduire le panthe(i)on antique", Atelier « Les Intraduisibles de l'Antiquité : de la philosophie à l'anthropologie historique », Paris, 18-19 octobre 2022

Le colloque sera entièrement retransmis en visioconférence. Pour en obtenir le lien ou pour toute... more

"Dii deaque omnes : le pouvoir de la totalité dans les inscriptions latines", Atelier « Jeunes chercheurs et chercheuses. Religions de Rome et du monde romain », Paris, 16-17 septembre 2022

Genius en train de sacrifier, dans un Lararium de Pompéi (insula VIII, 2), Museo Archeologico di ... more

"Un lieu pour « tous les dieux »? Réflexions autour la notion de « Panthéon »", Naming and Mapping the Gods in the Ancient Mediterranean Spaces. Mobilities, Imaginaries. International Conference (Toulouse, February 10-12)

XVII COLOQUIO INTERNACIONAL ARYS «Vestir divinamente»

When objects go beyond the signum: the insignia and the visual identity of the gods in Rome

Imago Deorum Programma

Affiche Synoikismos - Journée doctorale Liège 2018

Talks by Ginevra Benedetti

7 March 2019 - Discussion at Sapienza University of Jörg Rüpke, Pantheon

by Alessandro Saggioro, Marinella Ceravolo, Maria Fallica, Ludovico Battista, Joerg Ruepke, Giorgio Ferri, Carmine Pisano, Chiara Di Serio, Giuliana Ricozzi, Marta Addessi, Silvia Fogliazza, Fabrizio Petorella, and Ginevra Benedetti

Giovedì 7 marzo 2019, ore 10-13, nell’Aula multimediale del Palazzo del Rettorato della Sapienza,... more

7 March 2019 Discussion at Sapienza Pantheon by J. Rüpke

by Chiara Di Serio, Giorgio Ferri, Silvia Fogliazza, Ludovico Battista, and Ginevra Benedetti

Falling from Olympus. Deconstructing the Modern Idea of “Pantheon” to Translate the Ancient Panthe(i)on/Pantheum

Ktèma : Civilisations de l’Orient, de la Grèce et de Rome antiques, 2024

How should we translate a term that has a direct linguistic heritage but the meaning of which has... more How should we translate a term that has a direct linguistic heritage but the meaning of which has changed over time? This difficulty hangs over our understanding of the term “pantheon,” which we instinctively associate with the set of gods of a polytheistic religion, or with a monument (like the Roman Pantheon) that is supposed to combine and condense the devotion to all the gods. This article collects and compares the various readings of this lexeme that have been proposed over time precisely from the Roman monument’s interpretations to review the features that make it “untranslatable” by viewing it from the perspective of ancient emic data.

The Aedes Concordiae Pantheae Augustae and the "Pantheon" of Gigthis. A Possible Reading of CIL VIII 22692 (2nd c. CE)

ARYS. Antigüedad: Religiones y Sociedades, 2024

In Gigthis, during the principate of Marcus Aurelius, Marcus Ummidius Sedatus commissioned the co... more In Gigthis, during the principate of Marcus Aurelius, Marcus Ummidius Sedatus commissioned the construction of a temple consecrated to Concordia Panthea Augusta in the forum. This act was a tribute to his son’s office as a decurion and included a pronaos, an arch, and a statue of the goddess. The dedicatory inscription (CIL VIII 2693) was accompanied by another one (CIL VIII 22692), of which only fourteen letters remain, engraved on the frieze atop the aedicula which housed the divine simulacrum at the bottom of the small sacellum. This contribution aims to propose a plausible reading of this inscription by reconstructing the missing letters and justifying the employed linguistic strategies, drawing insights from archaeological data related to the sanctuary and the broader context of the forum where it was situated.

2024: “Dii deaeque omnes. Il potere della “totalità” nelle fonti latine”, Mythos [Online] 18

Mythos, 2024

In Roman religion, grouping a plurality of divine powers into ‘collective’ onomastic formulas was... more In Roman religion, grouping a plurality of divine powers into ‘collective’ onomastic formulas was an effective tool of religious communication. This article examines the onomastic formula dii deaeque omnes, ‘all gods and goddesses’, which structures a unity around the notions of totality and exhaustiveness of the divine world. Long cited under the generic and standardized category of religious ‘syncretism’, this expression has so far received almost no systematic attention. This research aims to outline the history of this formula, from the mid-Republican age to the late imperial period, in Latin literary and epigraphic sources, with a focus on votive dedications or ritual invocations. The study of the specific contexts, agents, and occasions underlying the ritual recourse to the divine ‘totality’ will thus shed new interpretative light on the religious communication strategies that were at its core.

2023: "Appropriation and Bricolage of Divine Images: The Case of the Signa Panthea, Names and Artefacts for “Condensed” Gods", F. Porzia, C. Bonnet (eds.), Divine Names on the Spot. Exploring the Potentials of Names through Images and Narratives, Leuven, Peeters, pp. 170-201

F. Porzia, C. Bonnet (eds.), Divine Names on the Spot. Exploring the Potentials of Names through Images and Narratives, Leuven, Peeters, 2023

The article provides a preliminary overview of ancient iconographic objects classified as 'panthe... more

2021: "Pantheus, un dieu « total » dans le monde grec et romain", in C. Bonnet (ed.), Noms de dieux. Portraits de divinités antiques, pp. 235-257

Noms de dieux. Portraits de divinités antiques, 2021

From object to deity and back: blurred boundaries of some divine names in Roman culture, workshop "Gods in a Material World", Madrid, 13-14 December 2024

G. Benedetti, V. Gasparini & B. Pañeda Murcia: Les Dei Consentes et le Dodékathéon romain. Nouvelle approche, Colloque international "Dyades, triades et autres configurations divines récurrentes dans le monde romain", Louvain-la-Neuve, 22-23 February 2024

by Ginevra Benedetti and Françoise Van Haeperen

Tech Animated Simulacra: Giving Life to Statues, Empowering Gods, EASR conference 2023 "Religions and Technologies", Vilnius, 4-8 September 2023

May the force (of the objects) be with you! An anthropological approach to Rome’s pignora imperii, Summer School "Roman rituals: dynamics, topography and objects", Rome, 11-15 September 2023

With Valentino Gasparini: Fabricar un dios a la potencia: la copa de África de Boscoreale como estudio de caso de imágenes de dioses todopoderosos en el Mediterráneo antiguo, "Religión y Comunicación. Agentes, Medios y Contextos", Zaragoza, 7-8 September 2023

n√Gods +/- Godsn. Cohabitation and empowerment of divine "presences" in Roman lararia, Congreso SECR 2023 "Ad loca sancta. Lugares, espacios, presencias", Santiago de Compostela, 10-12 May 2023

"Excès et défauts « monstrueux » comme ingrédients du pouvoir divin : quelques cas d’étude", Journée d'étude « Le monstre, figure inversée de l'esthétique et ses ambiguïtés », Toulouse, 11 Avril 2023

"Redescendre de l’Olympe : déconstruire la notion moderne de panthéon pour traduire le panthe(i)on antique", Atelier « Les Intraduisibles de l'Antiquité : de la philosophie à l'anthropologie historique », Paris, 18-19 octobre 2022

Le colloque sera entièrement retransmis en visioconférence. Pour en obtenir le lien ou pour toute... more

"Dii deaque omnes : le pouvoir de la totalité dans les inscriptions latines", Atelier « Jeunes chercheurs et chercheuses. Religions de Rome et du monde romain », Paris, 16-17 septembre 2022

Genius en train de sacrifier, dans un Lararium de Pompéi (insula VIII, 2), Museo Archeologico di ... more

"Un lieu pour « tous les dieux »? Réflexions autour la notion de « Panthéon »", Naming and Mapping the Gods in the Ancient Mediterranean Spaces. Mobilities, Imaginaries. International Conference (Toulouse, February 10-12)

XVII COLOQUIO INTERNACIONAL ARYS «Vestir divinamente»

When objects go beyond the signum: the insignia and the visual identity of the gods in Rome

Imago Deorum Programma

Affiche Synoikismos - Journée doctorale Liège 2018

7 March 2019 - Discussion at Sapienza University of Jörg Rüpke, Pantheon

by Alessandro Saggioro, Marinella Ceravolo, Maria Fallica, Ludovico Battista, Joerg Ruepke, Giorgio Ferri, Carmine Pisano, Chiara Di Serio, Giuliana Ricozzi, Marta Addessi, Silvia Fogliazza, Fabrizio Petorella, and Ginevra Benedetti

Giovedì 7 marzo 2019, ore 10-13, nell’Aula multimediale del Palazzo del Rettorato della Sapienza,... more

7 March 2019 Discussion at Sapienza Pantheon by J. Rüpke

by Chiara Di Serio, Giorgio Ferri, Silvia Fogliazza, Ludovico Battista, and Ginevra Benedetti

Dieux rites et mythes

Connections between Literature and Religion - (S.) Papaioannou, (A.) Serafim, (K.) Demetriou (edd.) Rhetoric and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome. (Trends in Classics Supplementary Volume 106.) Pp. x + 304. Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter, 2021

The Classical Review, 1-3, 2022

Compte rendu A. Rolle, «Dall'Oriente a Roma», Museum Helveticum 2018

Giornate di studio "Piccole “curiosità” delle religioni antiche: un approccio antropologico" (Siena, 4-5 Aprile 2024)

Studiando le religioni antiche, siamo spesso confrontati a oggetti, gesti, formule rituali che di... more Studiando le religioni antiche, siamo spesso confrontati a oggetti, gesti, formule rituali che diremmo “curiosi”, o addirittura “strani”. La propensione per quelle che potremmo definire “stranezze” è propria della ricerca antropologica (Kluckholn 1949; Geertz 1983). Proprio queste “stranezze”, infatti, che suscitano in noi un sentimento di differenza, offrono lo spunto e alimentano la riflessione comparativa. Attraverso questa giornata di studio, vorremmo riflettere su alcune di queste “curiosità” dei sistemi religiosi del Mediterraneo antico (e non solo), prendendo in esame espressioni linguistiche, oggetti e immagini dietro cui l’antropologo può individuare certi strati di senso o rappresentazioni culturali, facendone emergere l’orizzonte emico. Quelle che sono stranezze per il nostro sguardo, come erano percepite dai loro utenti? Qual era il loro significato? Si tratta di mirabilia o di usi che solo la distanza temporale e culturale fa apparire come curiosi?

Cfp_OMNIPOTENS. Manufacturing and Empowering Gods in Greco-Roman Antiquity. 1. The Power of the One and the Many

The Greco-Roman world was, in line with Thales' notorious aphorism, a "world full of gods". Its r... more The Greco-Roman world was, in line with Thales' notorious aphorism, a "world full of gods". Its religious "marketplace" included an effectively limitless number of puissances to be worshipped and invoked, ranging across angels and demons, gods and demigods, genies, heroes, saints, and spirits. Of course, this divine plurality strongly encouraged cultic competition: the more powerful the numen one addressed, the better the chances of success for the contingent problem-solving strategy. Over time, and regardless of the belonging of these options either to the crowd of Greco-Roman gods or to the plethora of Jewish or Christian religious referents (Yahweh, the Trinity, the angels, Mary and the other saints), competition tended to increase exponentially. The overall goal of the research project "Omnipotens. Manufacturing and Empowering Gods in Greco-Roman Antiquity" (OMEGA) is to challenge the traditional idea that Greco-Roman "pagan" religion, Judaism, and Christianity all developed in separate social realms. Against the still widespread tendency to historically conceptualize such religions in terms of parallel and alternative "cultural packages", we propose to approach this issue from a very different angle, by setting aside the modern taxonomical dichotomy of "monotheism" vs. "polytheism" and focusing instead on the shared Greco-Roman cultural capability of manufacturing "bespoke" gods and empowering them up to the highest plausible level. We seek to show how cultic actors-regardless of their religious affiliation-could eventually envisage and contemplate the possible selection or creation of almighty gods. The specific objective of the OMEGA project is thus to analyse the strategies employed in these religious "high-stakes bets" in the area corresponding to the Roman territory at its widest geographic extent, in the period between the 7 th cent. BCE and the 7 th cent. CE. The first of the two conferences that the OMEGA project is organising will focus on how these strategies were constructed through the creation of the "ultra-divine" power of individual divinities or through the combination and grouping of different deities: 1) The Power of the One. The first part of the conference will be consecrated to investigate the strategies through which it was possible to empower specific gods as "much more divine" than others. Speakers are invited, for example, to analyse how the assembly of disparate elements relating to divine attributes (like, e.g., the so-called "Sabazius' hands", the "signa panthea", the "grylloi" or the other bizarre images represented on amulets and "magical papyri"), while apparently lacking any comprehensible scheme, may still, or even especially, increase their

DISCORSI E PRATICHE DEL SACRO. Esperienza religiosa e riflessione sul divino nel mondo antico

Forme, spazi, linguaggi del divino tra politeismo e monoteismo nel Mediterraneo antico

by Ginevra Benedetti, Elisa Daga, Federica Lazzari, and Camilla Signoretti

sentire il divino.pdf

by Francesca Prescendi Morresi, Ginevra Benedetti, Giuliana Ricozzi, and Dalila Alfonso

dialoghi senesi sul mondo antico