Theatre, Healing, and Epiphany in the Ancient Mediterranean

Description du projet

Comprendre les cultures religieuses de la Méditerranée antique

On considère généralement que la culture européenne trouve son origine dans les traditions de l’Antiquité gréco-romaine. Les valeurs fondamentales de la santé et de la guérison sont toutefois plus comparables aux cultures contemporaines non occidentales. Dans la Grèce antique, les rêves et les visions faisaient partie intégrante de la guérison et des rituels associés à Asclépios, le dieu grec de la médecine. Le projet THEAM, financé par l’UE, explore la relation entre la représentation dramatique, la guérison et l’épiphanie dans les anciennes cultures méditerranéennes, en se concentrant sur les sanctuaires insulaires d’Asclépios en Sicile, dans les Cyclades et en Crète. Le projet vise à comprendre comment la performance rituelle a induit des épiphanies contribuant au processus de guérison, le rôle des fidèles moins connus dans ces rituels, le lien entre les pratiques anciennes et les concepts de guérison modernes, et les implications sociétales des pratiques religieuses anciennes.

Objectif

Concepts of medicine, health, and healing are now at the core of the global agenda due to the recent pandemic. In this context, a better understanding of the intangible cultural heritage of ancient and indigenous medical cultures is crucial. It is often assumed that contemporary European culture derives from the Ancient Greco-Roman one, but if we turn to core values such as health and healing we find out that in Greco-Roman antiquity they are much more comparable to many contemporary non-Occidental cultures than to the Western bio-medical paradigm . Dreams and visions were strongly connected to these concepts as they were used in the ritual of incubation, which brought devotees into visionary contact with the invisible to obtain healing or prophecies. Incubation was the distinctive feature of the cult of Asklepios, the Greek god of medicine. THEAM explores the relationship among dramatic performance, healing, and epiphany by contextualising such practices within the cultures of ancient Mediterranean. How did ritually-induced epiphanies spread in the Mediterranean as a tool for healing? What agency did thousands of unknown worshippers have in the dissemination of these ritual gestures? How are these ritual practices embedded in the design of sanctuaries and theatres? What was the role of islands in this historical phenomenon? How do this ancient practices relate to nowadays concepts of healing and health?
The case studies are the island sanctuaries of Asklepios in Sicily, the Cyclades, and Crete.
Ultimately, THEAM represents a valuable contribution to our understanding of ancient religious practices, their evolution, and their socio-economic implications. It offers a platform for innovative medical approaches that harness the power of performance as a therapeutic tool, such as psychodrama and psychotheatre, further enriching our comprehension of the intersections between ancient religion, medicine, and society.