How should we translate a term that has a direct linguistic heritage but the meaning of which has changed over time? This difficulty hangs over our understanding of the term "pantheon," which we instinctively associate with the set of gods of a polytheistic religion, or with a monument (like the Roman Pantheon) that is supposed to combine and condense the devotion to all the gods. This article collects and compares the various readings of this lexeme that have been proposed over time precisely from the Roman monument's interpretations to review the features that make it "untranslatable" by viewing it from the perspective of ancient emic data.
Benedetti, G. (2024). Falling from Olympus. Deconstructing the modern idea of “pantheon” to translate the ancient panthe(i)on/pantheum. KTÈMA, 49, 63-76.
Falling from Olympus. Deconstructing the modern idea of “pantheon” to translate the ancient panthe(i)on/pantheum
Ginevra Benedetti
2024-01-01
Abstract
How should we translate a term that has a direct linguistic heritage but the meaning of which has changed over time? This difficulty hangs over our understanding of the term "pantheon," which we instinctively associate with the set of gods of a polytheistic religion, or with a monument (like the Roman Pantheon) that is supposed to combine and condense the devotion to all the gods. This article collects and compares the various readings of this lexeme that have been proposed over time precisely from the Roman monument's interpretations to review the features that make it "untranslatable" by viewing it from the perspective of ancient emic data.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
https://hdl.handle.net/11365/1281662
