Donnerstag, 21. Jänner 2021, 17 Uhr s. t., (CET)

The Athenian Demosion Sema: Problems of Definition

Dr. Giorgia Proietti (Università di Trento, Italia)

At some point after the Persian Wars, the Athenian war dead began to be systematically brought back home, instead of being buried on the battlefield. They were buried in 'the most beautiful suburb of the city', the Kerameikos, within a place which is currently defined, in light of a passage by Thucydides (2.34.5), as 'Demosion sema'.

This paper calls into question the toponymization of Thucydides' expression 'demosion sema' (literally 'public tomb'). In light of literary, toponomastic and topographical evidence, it argues first that Thucydides' 'demosion sema' refers instead to the public tomb of the war dead in that precise year (same as the expressions 'demosion/demosia sema/semata' or 'mnema/mnemata' in other literary sources). Second, it argues that the attribution of Thucydides' expression to the whole cemetery might derive from an arbitrary and anachronistic retro-projection of our modern experience of national cemeteries for the fallen, such as Redipuglia or Arlington (just to mention a few among hundreds) which have a specific name, and (differently from Athens' Kerameikos) appear as very homogeneous, both topographically and functionally.

Der Vortrag findet am Donnerstag, den 21.1.2021 um 17 Uhr s.t. online statt.

organisiert von Eranos Vindobonensis

online (Blackboard Collaborate):
<https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/7588013b37e9411080e5dc0720d4d417>