Prayers, Curses, Prophecies? Contents, Forms and Contexts of Religious Speech in archaic and classical Greece (C01)

• Subject Area: Ancient History
• Term: from 2015 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 244798977

This project aims to explore the competence of ‘religious speech’ in archaic and classical Greece. A main focus here is on the educational requirements for correct religious communication. Archaic epic, Attic drama and historiography will be analyzed in regard to different types of more or less educated religious speaking (e.g. praying, cursing and uttering prophecies). Key questions treat the subject of adequate contents, forms and contexts of religious speech, gender issues, social status and education of human speakers as well as the role of the gods as addressees and potentially responding participants in religious communication.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1136: Education and Religion in Cultures of the Mediterranean and Its Environment from Ancient to Medieval Times and to the Classical Islam
• Applicant Institution: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
• Project Head: Professorin Dr. Tanja Susanne Scheer