Date and Time: Thursday, 8th May, 2025 at 16:30h BST (16:00h for tea and biscuits)
Online: Access details below
Venue: Room G21, Faculty of Classics, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 9DA
We are delighted to host this seminar in partnership with our friends in the Philological Society at the Faculty of Classics.
Prof. Felix Budelmann and Dr Saskia Peels-Matthey (both Rijksuniversiteit Groningen,) will share their insights into the fascinating, ancient Greek ritual, the theoxeny.
In ancient Greek ritual, theoxeny—literally “hosting the gods”—was a sacred act of hospitality, where mortals offered food and drink to the divine as honoured guests. Central to this ritual was the belief that the gods might attend the feast, whether physically present, symbolically represented, or spiritually invoked. But how did participants imagine this divine presence? Was it visualized as a manifestation, felt as an intangible aura, or understood through ritual gestures?
This seminar explores the experience and representation of divine presence during theoxenic rituals, drawing on literary sources, material culture, and comparative religious practices. From Homeric epics to local cults, instances of gods dining among mortals reflect shifting ideas about divine immanence and distance. An empty chair at the feast, special vessels, or sacred symbols might stand in for the gods, marking their invisible participation. Alternatively, myths and hymns describe moments where gods appear in disguise or reveal themselves at such events, blurring the lines between myth, ritual, and lived experience.
By examining these dynamics, we uncover how ancient Greeks imagined the divine, and how hospitality rituals helped negotiate the complex relationship between mortals and gods.
Online Access Details
Topic: Greek Dialogues - Imagining divine presence at the theoxeny. In partnership with the Philological Society.
Date and Time: Thursday 8th May, 2025 16:30h BST
Join Zoom Meeting: https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/84016033066?pwd=2lWf4L3ain3Zgjfglreap82H4I6Qud.1
(If you cannot access the seminar by clicking on the link, copy the whole link and paste it into your web browser's address bar.)
Livestreaming on:
: The Cambridge Centre for Greek Studies Channel
