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VOX POPULI, VOX DEORUM? ATHENIAN DOCUMENT RELIEFS AND THE THEOLOGIES OF PUBLIC INSCRIPTION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 December 2018

William Mack
William Mack*
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham
*
[email protected]
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Abstract

This article argues that, by concentrating on a reading of the depictions of deities on the Athenian document reliefs as symbolic representations of states rather than as divinities, previous scholarly approaches to them have failed to explore the role they ascribe to the gods in collective decision-making and the exercise of public authority. This article resituates the interpretation of these monuments in the context of other monuments depicting the gods and recent approaches to them, and the other ways in which public inscriptions, both at Athens and elsewhere, make reference to divine actors, through their erection in sacred spaces and the use of the theoi heading. It then examines the range of possible readings of the relationship between divine agency and political decision-making which these monuments privilege and argues that they reflect a conventional understanding that, in general, Athenian decision-making was underpinned by the gods.

Vox populi, vox deorum? Τα Αθηναϊκά ψηφισματικά ανάγλυφα και οι θεολογίες των δημόσιων επιγραφών

Αυτό το άρθρο υποστηρίζει ότι, με το να συγκεντρώνονται στην ανάλυση των απεικονίσεων θεοτήτων στα Αθηναϊκά ψηφισματικά ανάγλυφα ως συμβολικές απεικονίσεις της πολιτείας παρά ως θεότητες, οι προηγούμενες ερευνητικές προσεγγίσεις έχουν αποτύχει να ερευνήσουν το ρόλο που αποδίδουν στους θεούς στη συλλογική λήψη αποφάσεων και την άσκηση της δημόσιας εξουσίας. Το άρθρο επανατοποθετεί την ερμηνεία αυτών των μνημείων στο πλαίσιο άλλων μνημείων που απεικονίζουν τους θεούς και προσφάτων προσεγγίσεων σε αυτούς, και τους άλλους τρόπους με τους οποίους οι δημόσιες επιγραφές τόσο στην Αθήνα όσο και αλλού, αναφέρουν θεϊκούς δράστες, μέσω της ανέγερσης τους σε ιερούς χώρους και τη χρήση του τίτλου «θεοί». Έπειτα, το άρθρο εξετάζει το εύρος των πιθανών αναγνώσεων της σχέσης μεταξύ θεϊκής ενέργειας και πολιτικής λήψης αποφάσεων που αυτά τα μνημεία ευνοούν και υποστηρίζει ότι αντανακλούν μια συμβατική κατανόηση ότι γενικότερα η αθηναϊκή λήψη αποφάσεων υποστηριζόταν από τους θεούς.

Μετάφραση: Στέλιος Ιερεμίας.

Type
Articles
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 113 , November 2018 , pp. 365 - 398
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 2018 

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