Memory and Religion in the Greek World

Abstract

The necessity to build a common base of shared values on which to establish any type of social relationship and overcome the use of violence for the resolution of arguments has often found more effective answers drawing from the sacred sphere and its resources. With its complex verbal and gestural structure and its close connection with the other effective enunciated forms the oath is an instrument, both religious and political at the same time, which permits the preservation of the memory of the expressed affirmations and the commitments taken on. Thanks to the convergence of actions and words, both functional towards the creation of binding situations, the oath is a guarantee as much on the past as on the future. In virtue of the evocative force and performative power of just a word which is also an action, it has the authority to achieve what can be affirmed and to cast the present and its certainties into the future.