| In my analysis of the communication with and about gods and religious matters (religious communication) in Sophocles plays and fragments I intend to provide an insight in (the literary construction of) the interaction between gods and mortals in these plays and the influence the religious communication has on the structure of the plot as perceived by the members of the audience. My research will be structured around several forms of religious communication: The language of religious communication (the semantic field that consists of the terms and expressions used by characters to refer to divine powers, fate and destiny, and the contexts in which they are used); Communication with gods (unilateral, by prayers, oaths and hymns, and reciprocal, by direct conversation with gods; the language, means of expression, forms of address, rhetorical devices and how the religious communication relates to prevailing standard expressions); Communication about gods and religious matters (prophecies and other utterances by seers and oracles, signs from the gods and their interpretations, statements about what is or isn t acceptable in a religious context, and descriptions of ritual; the language, rhetorical devices and the way oracles and seers substantiate that they speak on behalf of a god). |
