Merito, responsabilità e incertezza nel dibattito su Mitilene (Tucidide III 39 ss.)

Questo contributo analizza le due sezioni esordiali dell’antilogia di Cleone e Diodoto sulla punizione da infliggere ai Mitilenesi per la loro rivolta, presentata da Tucidide nel III libro. Nei due incipit, così come in altri punti chiave dell’agone retorico, gli oratori definiscono le categorie di “responsabilità” e “responsabilizzazione”, “titolo” e “merito”. Attraverso la contrapposizione tra i due discorsi, Tucidide mette in luce l’“incertezza” come condizione necessaria e qualificante di una autentica “deliberazione”.This paper analyzes the introductive sections in the antilogical speeches of Cleon and Diodotus on the punishment that Mytileneans deserve for their revolt (Thucydides, book III, 36 ss.). In these sections, as well as in other key points of the antilogy, speakers define the categories of "responsibility" and "accountability", "title" and "merit." Through the contrast between both speeches, Thucydides highlights "uncertainty" as necessary and qualifying condition for an authentic "deliberation"

Fabriquer un culte ethnique. Écriture rituelle et généalogies mythiques dans le sanctuaire des Paliques en Sicile.

The sanctuary of the gods Palikoi in Sicily offers a rich dossier addressing the role of writing in the definition of ethnicity. Although literary evidence attest to the ”native“ nature of the gods, the presence of writing, inbedded in local culture through the Greek colonization, plays a curious role. It invites us to reflect upon contact processes and identity changes due to its appearance. The analysis focuses here on the ordeal oath (ritual writing) and on the mythical genealogies (discursive strategies): this set seems to be a "device" in many ways informed by the model of the "Middle Ground."Le sanctuaire des dieux Paliques en Sicile offre un dossier très riche à questionner pour ce qui concerne le rôle joué par l’écriture dans la définition de l’ethnicité. Même si les témoignages littéraires reconnaissent la nature « indigène » des Paliques, la présence de l’écriture, qui a pénétré dans les cultures locales par le biais de la colonisation grecque, exerce une fonction troublante et nous oblige à réfléchir sur les processus de contact et les changements identitaires que son existence provoque. L’analyse se concentre ici sur le serment ordalique (écriture rituelle) et sur les généalogies mythiques (stratégies discursives) : cet ensemble semble constituer un « dispositif » que le modèle du « Middle Ground » permet d'éclairer à bien des égards

Glaucus and the Importance of Being Earnest. Herodotus 6.86 on Memory and Trust, Oath and Pain

It is above all in the archaic cultures, when the discrimen between religious and political facts is not yet clearly defined and there lacks an autonomous law system, which the oath discloses its irreplaceable role which supports the memory, safeguarding social dynamics in all its public or private forms. The wealth of the cases presented in the Histories by Herodotus offers a phenomenology of the oath, useful to illustrate the mechanisms and the coherent symbolic universe of reference. The oaths illustrate, in an exemplary manner, the search for guarantees against neglect, mutability and deception with gestures that evoke images of irrevocability, with the use of immanent and durable items, with signs and ritual cuts, with formulas able to involve and threaten to upset the established order. The story of Glaucus the Spartan shows, in my opinion, the necessity to build a common base of shared values on which to establish any type of identity and social relationship and overcome the use of violence for the resolution of conflicts. On one hand, the Herodotus’ tale develops a new paradigm of memory by a complex intrigue which revolves around memory, oaths and generational transmission: it offers a wide example of the ways in which memory and oath are intertwined as “cultural objects”. On the other, the tale concerns not only the friction between memory and oblivion, but also between true and false memory. The Glaucus’ oath illustrates, in an exemplary manner, the search for guarantees against neglect, mutability and deception with gestures that evoke images of irrevocability, with the use of immanent and durable items, with signs and ritual cuts, with formulas able to involve and threaten to upset the established order

Memory and Religion in the Greek World

The necessity to build a common base of shared values on which to establish any type of social relationship and overcome the use of violence for the resolution of arguments has often found more effective answers drawing from the sacred sphere and its resources. With its complex verbal and gestural structure and its close connection with the other effective enunciated forms the oath is an instrument, both religious and political at the same time, which permits the preservation of the memory of the expressed affirmations and the commitments taken on. Thanks to the convergence of actions and words, both functional towards the creation of binding situations, the oath is a guarantee as much on the past as on the future. In virtue of the evocative force and performative power of just a word which is also an action, it has the authority to achieve what can be affirmed and to cast the present and its certainties into the future

Daniel Barbu, Philippe Borgeaud, Mélanie​ Lozat, Nicolas Meylan, Anne-Caroline Rendu Loisel (ed.), Le savoir des religions : fragments d'historiographie religieuse. Gallion: Infolio Editions, 2014.

Recensione del volume di Daniel Barbu, Philippe Borgeaud, Mélanie​ Lozat, Nicolas Meylan, Anne-Caroline Rendu Loisel (ed.), Le savoir des religions : fragments d'historiographie religieuse. Gallion: Infolio Editions, 2014. Il volume mostra le diverse declinazioni attraverso cui il “sapere delle religioni” si costruisce oppure entra, in momenti particolari, in crisi o partecipa a più ampi processi di ristrutturazione dell’orizzonte di senso è dunque lo scopo principale di quest’opera, che si articola in tre sezioni, ciascuna delle quali si concentra su un differente grado di riflessività dei saperi “religiosi”

«ESTERMINARE DALLE BOTTEGHE DE’ LIBRAI I LIBRI» CIRCOLAZIONE LIBRARIA E CENSURA BORBONICA IN SICILIA NEL ‘700

In Sicilia nel XVIII secolo si assiste all’innalzamento della soglia di attenzione rivolta ai libri stampati nel regno e a quelli di importazione. Il controllo censorio è ora saldamente nelle mani del governo borbonico, soprattutto dopo l’abolizione dell’Inquisizione e negli anni cruciali della repressione antigiacobina. L’attenzione censoria è rivolta ai libri dei feudisti ostili alla corona e favorevoli alle prerogative baronali, più che alla produzione filosofica e libertina d’oltralpe. In un panorama contraddistinto dalla progressiva ed esorbitante presenza della censura e dell’ampliamento delle sue prerogative, che confluiscono man mano entro l’alveo delle competenze della polizia, è da rilevare la circostanza che il profilo normativo elaborato nel 1799 diviene cogente nelle fasi insurrezionali del nuovo secolo, quando si deciderà di adottarlo nelle stesse modalità attuative

\uabDI RICCHE LIBRERIE FORNITI, O NON SANNO, O NON NE VOGLIONO GIOVARSI\ubb. NOTE SU CULTURA, EDITORIA E CIRCOLAZIONE LIBRARIA IN SICILIA (SECC. XVIII-XIX)

SOMMARIO: Il saggio ricostruisce le vicende dell\u2019editoria e della tipografia in Sicilia tra tardo Settecento e primo Ottocento, riconnettendole alla questione della circolazione libraria nel delicato frangente contraddistinto dall\u2019espulsione gesuitica e dall\u2019abolizione dell\u2019Inquisizione, sino alla repressione antigiacobina e all\u2019esperienza costituzionale di stampo inglese. L\u2019indubbio rilancio dell\u2019editoria, che nell\u2019isola risponde alle rinnovate esigenze delle \ue9lites urbane e al vasto progetto borbonico di riforme, subisce un\u2019inevitabile battuta d\u2019arresto nel 1799, quando la censura, ora saldamente nelle mani del governo, ne impedisce l\u2019ulteriore espansione comprimendo gli spazi di movimento del mercato librario. Col nuovo secolo \ue8 poi l\u2019ascesa del giornalismo politico a misurare i nuovi interessi in gioco e il livello di maturazione e di consapevolezza politica della classe dirigente. La breve esperienza costituzionale del 1812, che ha come corollario l\u2019affermazione del principio della libert\ue0 di stampa e l\u2019abolizione della censura, si spegne con la restaurazione borbonica che avvia una nuova stagione di conflitti.ABSTRACT: This essay reconstructs the main events in the history of publishing and printing in Sicily between the end of the XVIII century and the beginning of the XIX century. It reconnects them to the issue of book circulation at a delicate time characterised by the Jesuit expulsion and the abolition of the Inquisition, which also featured anti-Jacobin repression and English-style constitutional experience. The irrefutable publishing boom on the island met the renewed needs of the urban elite and the huge Bourbon reform plan, but inevitably suffered a setback in 1799 when censorship \u2013 now firmly in the hands of the government \u2013 prevented it from expanding further by restricting the scope of movement in the free market. With the new century, the rise of political journalism gauged the interests at stake and the level of maturation and political awareness of the ruling class. The brief constitutional experience of 1812, whose corollary was the affirmation of the principle of freedom of the press and the abolition of censorship, ended with the Bourbon Restoration, triggering a new period of conflict