Nymphs are deities whose worship is widely attested in ancient Greece. Closely linked to what we now call “nature”—particularly water, trees, and caves—they are nevertheless no strangers to the political sphere. Indeed, they frequently play a role as founding figures of the city.

The Nymphs preside over both the definition of territory, insofar as they are associated with specific elements of the local landscape, and that of marriage, conceived as one of the foundations of human community and its continuity within the civic space.

In narrative traditions as well as in Greek cult practices, their relationship to the erotic sphere appears deeply ambivalent: on the one hand, they are often the object of the gods' desire; on the other, they frequently abduct young mortal men and take them into their own world. These stories can be linked to a well-documented phenomenon in Antiquity, namely nympholepsy, or possession by nymphs.

Doralice Fabiano is a Hellenist specializing in ancient Greek religion. She studied in Siena, where she obtained a PhD in ancient anthropology in 2008, before specializing in the history of religions at the University of Siena. She has participated in several research projects and taught at the universities of Geneva, Lausanne, Fribourg, and Milan. In 2019, she published a book on representations and conceptions of the afterlife in ancient Greece (Senza Paradiso, Il Mulino). Her research focuses in particular on water deities in ancient Greece, notably nymphs and river gods.

Thursday, February 12, 7 pm
Conference in French
Limited capacity, booking is mandatory