Kernos Revue internationale et pluridisciplinaire de religion grecque antique 13 | 2000 Varia Epigraphic Bulletin for Greek Religion 1997 Angelos Chaniotis and Joannis Mylonopoulos Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/kernos/1300 DOI: 10.4000/kernos.1300 ISSN: 2034-7871 Publisher Centre international d'étude de la religion grecque antique Printed version Date of publication: 1 January 2000 ISSN: 0776-3824 Electronic reference Angelos Chaniotis and Joannis Mylonopoulos, « Epigraphic Bulletin for Greek Religion 1997 », Kernos [Online], 13 | 2000, Online since 21 April 2011, connection on 16 September 2020. URL : http:// journals.openedition.org/kernos/1300 Kernos Kernos, 13 (2000), p. 127-237. Epigraphie Bulletin for Greek Religion 1997 (EBGR 1997) The eleventh issue of the BBGR deals primarily with the epigraphic harvest of 1997. Although my long time collaborator Eftychia Stavrianopoulou has been unable to contribute lemmata this year due to other responsibilities, we have been able to cover the majority of the publications of 1997 and to close many of the gaps left in previous issues; thus, this bulletin is the longest so far. We have been focusing on riew epigraphic finds, new interpretations of inscriptions, and epigraphical corpora, but we have also summarized sorne of the religious studies which are based primarily on the epigraphic material; we have also included sorne articles which present or discuss important papyrological sources. Next year, we hope with the help of E. Stavrianopoulou not only to include more addenda to earlier issues, but also to reduce the chronological gap between the publication of a book or an article and its presentation in this bulletin. There are also sorne thoughts on making the BBGR accessible in an electronic form. The epigraphic (and other) publications presented in this issue include sorne important contributions to different aspects of religion in the Greek world. The 'Orphic-Dionysiac' texts, the study of which has been promoted both by im­ portant new discoveries (cf BBGR 1987,112; 1994/95, 148; 1996, 40 and 127) and by the publication of a new collection of these texts by G. PUGLIESE CARRATELLI (Le laminette d'oro "oifiche", Milano, 1993), continue to attract the attention of scholarship (cf infra nOS 57, 65, 67, 76, 138, 149, 245, 305, 320, 343, 375, 380, 399). The relevant research has been greatly enhanced in 1997 thanks to the publica­ tion of a volume dedicated to the Derveni Papyrus (A. LAKS - G.W. MOST, eds., Studies on the Derueni Papynts, Oxford, 1997), which contains among other con­ tributions a full edition of the first columns of the Derveni papyrus with a discussion of their religious significance (nO 380), a provisional translation of the entire text (A. LAKS - G.W. MOST, A Prouisional Translation ofthe Derueni Papyrus, p. 9-22), and a Bibliography of the Derueni Papynts by M.S. FUNGHI (p. 175-185) ­ extremely impressive in lengh, for a text which still awaits its final edition. We will not be able to summarize in this bulletin the research on the Derveni papyrus, despite its significance for the study of the 'Orphic-Dionysiac' texts pre­ served in inscriptions, but we will occasionally collect the relevant bibliography (cf infra nOS 343 and 380). Central questions in current research on the 'Orphic­ Dionysiac' lamellae remain the part played by Dionysos, the god's association with various animaIs (the bull and the kid), the importance of wine and milk for the relevant eschatological ideas, the notions of deification, retribution, and rebirth, and above all the relationship between Dionysos and Persephone (cf nOS 57, 65, 138, 149-150, 375). The composition patterns of the texts are a further area of study (nO 399). Due to this lively interest in Orphism, scholarship re- 128 A. CHANIOTIS - J. MYLONOPOULOS cognizes (often very plausibly) the influence of the 'Orphie' literature on ancient thought and art; a lot of work has been done with regard to 'Orphie' ideas in ancient thought (for Heraclitus and Empedokles see nOS 320 and 343) and a lot more remains to be done, especially after the final publication of the Derveni papyrus. It is interesting to note that 'Orphie' influence has been recognized in Oscic inscriptions (n° 305\ and that 'Orphie' eschatologieal ideas may weIl be re­ flected in a painting in a late antique catacomb in Rome (nO 76). The most im­ portant development is perhaps the fact that the recent finds suggest stronger interconnections among the various groups of texts than earlier scholarship had assumed and, therefore, a greater unity of the 'Orphie' doctrines (cf nos 67, 138, and 375). A second major group of contributions in this bulletin are the studies dedicated to various aspects of ancient magic, in partieular to the curse tablets (nos 14, 22, 26-27,46, 78, 96-97, 99, 103, 131, 157, 185-186, 195,203, 207, 224, 237, 248­ 249, 251, 271, 290, 296, 302, 358, 367, 374, 376, 384, 394). A new synthesis by F. GRAF (n° 157) and a very interesting collective work (A.Ph. CHRISTIDIS - D.R. JORDAN, eds, rÂÔJŒŒa ICa! f.layda. Kdf.lBVa a1rà r1jV apxalorrrra, Athens, 1997; cf now D.R. JORDAN - H. MONTGOMERY - li THOMASSEN, eds., The World of Ancient Magic. Papers from the First International Samson Eitrem Seminar at the Norwegian Institute at Athens, Bergen, 1999) will certainly stimulate discussion; the study of curse formulas will be greately facilitated by J. STRUBBE'S corpus of funerary imprecations (nO 361). But there are also sorne very important new finds, esp. defixiones. I single out a very interesting gem (possibly from Syria) whieh illu­ strates clearly the influence of Gnostie ideas and attests the magieal name KEpa'teXypaç (n° 207), a long defixio from Kos (62 lines!, nO 195), edited with ample commentary by the late Ch. KANTZIA, and a defixio from Oropos (nO 296) whieh presents an excellent example of a 'prayer for justiee'; its anonymous author demands that his request be heard, because he had been wronged, without ha­ ving wronged his opponents first. A characteristic example of the close relations between pagan and Christian magie (cf nOS 248-249) is provided by a Gnostie gem whieh associates the Virgin Mary with Hekate (nO 26). In addition to these two areas of current (and certainly future) research, signi­ ficant progress can be registered with regard to several aspects of Greek religion, such as the study of ancient calendars and month names (nO 379) and the confession inscriptions of Asia Minor and their relation to divine justiee (nos 72, 304, 318, 383). A subject, the study of whieh relies more often on new finds than on the re-interpretation of old evidence, is the relation between late pagan religion and early Christinity, e.g., in magie (nos 26, 248-249) and divina­ tion (nO 179), in the use of ieons (nO 128), and in religious vocabulary (nO 114); a Byzantine inscription from Alexandria/Troas (nO 319, 5th cent. A.D.), whieh con­ tains a prayer to the Immaculate Cross to punish thieves, uses, e.g., a phrase whieh recalls a partieular group of curses from Hellenistie Knidos; the Immacu­ late Cross (in Knidos it is Demeter) should make the thieves come to the church (berna; in Knidos and in confession inscriptions, to the temple). We should not be surprised by continuities in Greek religion. They have been observed in other areas and periods as weIl: recent finds of Linear B tablets in Thebes (n° 155), e.g., show that Zeus was worshipped in this area with the epithet Oro­ peus in the Mycenaean period and in Archaic times. Epigraphie Bulletin 1997 129 Among the individual finds 1 should single out a few, which shed new light on central aspects of Greek religion. From Bargylia in Karia we have a second frag­ ment of a lex sacra concerning the raising of cows, both by citizens and metics, for the festival of Artemis Kindyas (n° 32); a dedication from the Asklepieion on the Insula Tiberina in Rome attests the practice of incubation there (n° 87); three new oracular tablets from Dodona (many hundreds remain unpublished) give important clues about the practice of divination there: in one case, the answer is written on the back of the tablet which contains the question, showing that the prophets had access to the enquiry; the few answers that we have from Dodona are characterized by solemnity and a effort to give the text a poetic resonance (n° 79); an interesting hymn to Herakles from Artena (south of Rome, nO 190) honors the god as patron of seafarers; several inscriptions allude to foundation myths, e.g., to the foundation of Skythopolis by Dionysos (nO 115) and (more surprisingly) the foundation of Aphrodisias by Bellerephontes (n° 350). A lot of work is being done on socio-political aspects of religion: in addition to many studies on oaths, on the agonistic ,life, the festivals, the relations of syn­ geneia between poleis, and the cult of Hellenistic monarchs and Roman emperors (see infra, index), 1 would like to draw the attention to a recent discus­ sion of religious solidarity in rural communities (nO 154) and to the intensive research on the impact of the Roman empire on religion in the Greek East (cf nOS 23,62,82,88, 128, 136, 174, and 324).1 close this overview of sorne 'highlights' of this bulletin by we1con'ling the publication of several corpora, with the inscriptions of Oropos (n° 296), Apollonia (nO 54), Miletos (nO 173), Alexandria/ Troas (nO 319), and Laodikeia of Lykos (n° 89). This overview alone is eloquent; it would seem superflous to underline the importance of epigraphic research for the study of Greek religion.