Conférence sur l'orphisme (9 mars, Paris)
Le Professeur Radcliffe Edmonds
(Bryn Mawr College, Etats-Unis)
donnera une conférence
le vendredi 9 mars 2012 (10h-12h)
à l’Ecole pratique des hautes études
Immeuble Le France
190, avenue de France (Paris 13e)
1er étage, salle 123
An Absence of Orphics : Redefining Ancient Orphism
Conférence en anglais
le texte sera distribué
la discussion aura lieu en anglais et en français
Répondante : Mme Fabienne Jourdan, CNRS
(UMR 8167 – Orient et Méditerranée)
An Absence of Orphics: Redefining Ancient Orphism
Radcliffe G. Edmonds III
Abstract:
This paper examines the people associated with the name of Orpheus, both the ritual experts who perform the kind of
rites that have been called Orphic and their clientele. The majority of the evidence for such people tends to come either
from comic caricature or philosophic polemic, two different types of labeling someone else with the name of Orpheus for
negative purposes. People who call themselves Orphic in a positive sense and live lives of exceptional purity, observing
the practices of Orpheus and engaging in his rituals, exist only in the imaginary ‐ mostly of modern scholars, although a
few ancient positive imaginings appear as well. However, the label of Orpheus’ name was also attached to various ritual
practitioners, not so much to indicate that they performed only rituals attributed to Orpheus as to associate them either
with the kind of special mysteries credited to Orpheus or simply with the level of excess in ritual practices that is
correlated with Orpheus and his rituals. The label of Orpheus’ name marks the extra‐ordinary, the absurdly superstitious
or the extremely pious, the bizarre barbarian practice or the most ancient and holy of rites. Such practices, and the people
who engage in them, are what receive the label of ‘Orphic’ in the ancient evidence, and this evidence – properly considered
– fills in the gap left by the absence of Orphics in our ongoing attempts to understand the nature and practices of ancient
Greek religion.
OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
Olivier Renaut (2 mars 2012). Conférence sur l'orphisme (9 mars, Paris). Zetesis - Ζήτησις. Consulté le 28 avril 2025 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/vcly