L'Hagnè Theos du dème d'Aixônè en Attique : réflexions sur l'anonymat divin dans la religion grecque antique.
Résumé
A religious rule from the IVth century BC coming from the deme of Aixone recently revealed the existence of a Hagne Theos, vouched for the first time in Attica. Shall we see in her a deity known by the Greek pantheon? is it legitimate to give her a name? and, if yes, why did the Aixoneans choose to leave her anonymous in that inscription? In order to answer these questions we started by drawing parallels with other goddesses described as hagne in the cult, and we also analyzed the etymology of the epiclesis with the hope to be able to better determine the personality of the goddess, a necessary prelude if we want to identify her. Because these leads do not allow to solve the posed problems, the adjective hagnos being too vague and polysemous, it appeared to us that if we managed to understand why the Aixoneans chose anonymity, the comprehension of the Hagne Theos would be improved. This is the reason why we studied the phenomenon of divine anonymity in the ancient Greek religion through some examples selected preferably in Attica and during the classical and hellenistic period, in order to remain in the cultural context of the inscription of Aixone as much as possible. These case studies, added to a more general reflection on the way the Greek addressed gods in their prayers and the importance they gave to the name in their conception of the divine, allow to notice that the choice not to use the name of a deity in a religious context was made for diverse reasons, some of which that do not necessarily exclude one another : there are cases where the orant really does not know the name of the deity, others where a well defined context of the veneration preventing any ambiguity exempts the faithful from being precise in the divine address; sometimes euphemism explains the anonymity of a feared god; finally, the respect of the secret surrounding ceremonies of a mysteric type forbids the use of the names of the deities who preside over it. By combining the results of this investigation with the little that the inscription of Aixone reveals about the characteristics of the cult of the Hagne Theos, we have reached a new interpretation of her in which we propose to see a deity of mysteries.
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