Orphism and the Metamorphosis of the Symbolon

The project is based on the study of the dispositive of the symbolon in a diachronical way within Greek literature. What constitutes the key question addressed is why this semantic shift took place in certain historical contexts, one in particular being the object of our interest: the Orphic movement. The original representative status of the symbolon gives way in Orphism to an ontological one: 7the symbolon becomes an instrument of demarcation of a privileged circle and delimitation towards the outside world.