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Les métamorphoses animales des divinités dans la Méditerranée antique

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Looking for the authenticity of the sacred one may find out that the first human’s gods could often take the animal form. Since the prehistoric times, human beings worshipped wild animals and represented them in art with care and precision. During the Antiquity, even the most anthropocentric streams of philosophy couldn’t impede the survival of these popular beliefs. Some peoples, like ancient Egyptians, developed a very sophisticated zoomorphic pantheon. Greece and Rome testified a high level of the animal symbolism in mythology and divination. As for the Asia Minor, according to the old traditions, the idea of the wild nature couldn’t be separated there from the perception of the realm of the gods. This paper gives an approach to some historical evidences of god’s metamorphoses into animals and tries to examine the origins of these beliefs in the ancient Mediterranean world.

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Production céramique et representations animales à l’époque de Halaf

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Fauna is very well represented on Halafian ceramic production. Among it, domestic and wild animals are easily recognized.
Following Levi-Strauss’s point of view which highlighted that the « animals good to eat » are not the only ones « good to think », we will try to demonstrate that behind the picture, imagery, human activities and social orientations are reflected.
After a brief presentation of the halafian ceramic production, a comparitive study with zoological and archeozoological data and iconographic considerations, many observations will be proposed. Firstly, we will focus on the large variety of represented species. Secondly, the importance of the ceramic medium in the image diffusion will be considered. Lastly, the social implications of such a bestiary will be discuss.

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14,50 €

Le “Chien” dans la tradition juive des littératures bibliques et para- et postbiblique (Ahiqar, écrits de Qumrân, pseudépigraphes et littérature rabbinique)

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Dogs in Judaism in biblical and extra- and postbiblical traditions (Ahiqar, writings from Qumran, Apocryphal and Rabbinic literature)
In Judaism, from the Torah until the later writings from Qumran and the Rabbinic literature, dogs are generally considered to be unclean, bad and fierce.
Despite the general negative connation, there are a few exceptional passages where dogs occupy a very positive position as creatures faithful to their masters and as guardians like in the apocryphal book of Tobit where the dog accompanies Tobias on his journey to Ekbatana. A similar role is assigned to the dog in the Midrash where Cain, having killed his brother Abel, is given a dog by God as a symbol of his protection.
In the Rabbinic tradition it is also written that the dogs stayed silent while the Israelites began to exit from Egypt, and the Talmud says that Jews should "tolerate" dogs.

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Lumière sur les loups d’Apollon

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The origin of the name of the deity Apollo is still a matter of debate. The name is attributed to Greek, Anatolian or a substrate language of the Aegean area. Whatever the position one takes on this question, it has consequences far beyond the linguistic debate: it concerns the constitution of the Greek religious belief by inherited or by loan elements. In this article it is decisively taken part for the Greek origin of the deity, which is further linked to elements of Indo-European culture. In spite of some astonishing facts which could be in favor of an Anatolian (or substrate) origin, such an origin is refused. These facts belong already to a further development of the nature of the deity. The whole question is linked to the history of the movements of Indo-European men-groups to unknown regions, notably to the Greek presence in Western Anatolia which is older than generally asumed. In this perspective, Apollo can be considered as a kind of ‘frontier god’ who get’s ‘civilized’ in parallel to the institutional development of the political units venerating him.

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La "maison (le palais) des ancêtres" et les tombeaux des rois hittites

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In Hittite texts apart from the «stone house» É.NA₄ and the É hekur there is the third term related to the deceased kings: a «house (palace) of grand-fathers» É(.GAL) huhhas. Those houses existed in three Hittite royal residences: Hattusa, Katapa and Samuha. Some ceremonies of the great festivals as well as the rituals were celebrated in those houses. In Hattusa the events of the second day of the hisuwa-festival took place in the “house of grand-fathers”; in Samuha the queen celebrated a ritual for Sauska of Taminiga in the É huhhas; in Katapa the nuntarriyasha-festival began in the “house of grand-fathers”. É huhhas (as well as the “stone house») had some economic power: the food necessary for the different festivals were brought from them. Although there wasn’t any festival nor ritual description which took place in the “stone house”. The officials working for É huhhas (LÚ.MEŠ É huhhas) had the ability to answer the oracle questions in some ominal texts.

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Les sanctuaires lyciens de Tlôs et de Patara

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This paper is dealing with some different problems about Lycian sanctuaries of Tlus and Patara. We have examined numismatic and epigraphic material of both cities, in order to give some new reflexions and hypothesis. The problem of an eventual cultual organization of cities of “Tremilis”, whom chief-city would have been Tlus, has been considered mainly from the so-called Sacred Law, Panyassis’ Legend of Tremilids and Panthera coins minted at Tlus. The Panthera typus has been linked to Belleropho’s legend and possible second Storm-God of the “tloean amphictiony”. The problem of the identification of the masculine head on coinage from Tlus and Patara, which could be either of Apollo or Hermes, has also been envisaged. The expression of “Maliyean Patara” in the Inscribed Pillar of Xanthus and the importance of Athenian coinage in the latest city let us wonder if Maliya’s occurrences in Lycian epigraphy really concerned the Asianic Goddess in every cases or referred to Athena. But, we also wondered if particular representations of Athena on Patarean coins designed the Greek Goddess or referred to Maliya instead.

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