POLYBOTA

Alessandro Buccheri

His research examines the history and anthropology of botanical knowledge, the conceptualization of nature, and the forms of polytheism in Archaic and Classical Greece. It seeks to reconstruct the botanical knowledge available in antiquity and to elucidate the ways in which such knowledge informed the development of ancient Greek intellectual and religious thought.

Project summary

The POLYBOTA project aims to shed light on the ways in which ancient Greek texts represent the relationships between the gods and the natural environment. To this end, it focuses on an extensive case study: the role of plants—and of the knowledge surrounding them—in ancient Greek polytheism. On the one hand, the project analyzes how the texts conceived divine intervention in, on, and through the vegetal environment. On the other hand, it examines the role that plants played in the cults, narratives, and naming practices of the gods, for which the texts serve as privileged witnesses.

See also

• Project website: soon
• EPHE News
• Cordis link