Deisidaimonia: The Hellenistic concept of superstition

This paper attempts to reexamine the notion of superstition in a concrete historical period: from the moment it first appeared in the early Hellenistic period (and named deisidemony, deisidaimonίa) till the Early Roman Empire, when this original meaning started to change radically. As will be shown...

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Main Author: Dželebdžić Dejan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Belgrade - Faculty of Philosophy - Institute for Philosophy 2024-01-01
Series:Belgrade Philosophical Annual
Subjects:
Online Access:https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/0353-3891/2024/0353-38912402085D.pdf
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author Dželebdžić Dejan
author_facet Dželebdžić Dejan
author_sort Dželebdžić Dejan
collection DOAJ
description This paper attempts to reexamine the notion of superstition in a concrete historical period: from the moment it first appeared in the early Hellenistic period (and named deisidemony, deisidaimonίa) till the Early Roman Empire, when this original meaning started to change radically. As will be shown below, the main characteristics of this unique concept of superstition were exaggerated fear and magical or ritual practices used to avert the supposed evil foreshown by a bad omen. The paper will particularly focus on the chapter On the Superstitious Man of Theophrastus' Characters, Plutarch's treaties On Superstition and Lucian's dialogue Lover of Lies.
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series Belgrade Philosophical Annual
spelling doaj-art-ddef3db78bce497dabf88fbf339506b42025-08-20T03:28:58ZengUniversity of Belgrade - Faculty of Philosophy - Institute for PhilosophyBelgrade Philosophical Annual0353-38912956-03572024-01-01372859710.5937/BPA2402085D0353-38912402085DDeisidaimonia: The Hellenistic concept of superstitionDželebdžić Dejan0University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philosophy, Belgrade, SerbiaThis paper attempts to reexamine the notion of superstition in a concrete historical period: from the moment it first appeared in the early Hellenistic period (and named deisidemony, deisidaimonίa) till the Early Roman Empire, when this original meaning started to change radically. As will be shown below, the main characteristics of this unique concept of superstition were exaggerated fear and magical or ritual practices used to avert the supposed evil foreshown by a bad omen. The paper will particularly focus on the chapter On the Superstitious Man of Theophrastus' Characters, Plutarch's treaties On Superstition and Lucian's dialogue Lover of Lies.https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/0353-3891/2024/0353-38912402085D.pdfsuperstitiondeisidemonyaffection of fearmagicritual practicestruthfallacy
spellingShingle Dželebdžić Dejan
Deisidaimonia: The Hellenistic concept of superstition
Belgrade Philosophical Annual
superstition
deisidemony
affection of fear
magic
ritual practices
truth
fallacy
title Deisidaimonia: The Hellenistic concept of superstition
title_full Deisidaimonia: The Hellenistic concept of superstition
title_fullStr Deisidaimonia: The Hellenistic concept of superstition
title_full_unstemmed Deisidaimonia: The Hellenistic concept of superstition
title_short Deisidaimonia: The Hellenistic concept of superstition
title_sort deisidaimonia the hellenistic concept of superstition
topic superstition
deisidemony
affection of fear
magic
ritual practices
truth
fallacy
url https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/0353-3891/2024/0353-38912402085D.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT dzelebdzicdejan deisidaimoniathehellenisticconceptofsuperstition