[PHILOS-L] Fw: On nature (and) of the gods. Webinar n° 12, June 3rd 2026
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Clark, Stephen
May 19, 2026, 2:23:53 PM (2 days ago) May 19
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kevin.b...@UNIV-REIMS.FR via Classicists
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Dear Colleagues,
We are delighted to announce our twelfth monthly meeting dedicated to the connections between environment and religions in ancient societies. Our online seminar, "On Nature (and) of the Gods", which extends the international conference of the same title held at the Université catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve in February 2025, will take place again on Wednesday, June 3rd, from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM (Paris time).
We warmly invite you all to join us online for this session. We are honored to host Luana de Almeida Telles (University of Juiz de Fora), who will deliver a presentation titled:
“ Nymphs and the perception of the divine: a Greek perspective on landscape ”.
Below, you will find a brief abstract of the talk.
This session is also part of the 2026 Environmental History Spring program, organized by the RUCHE (University Network of Environmental History Francophone Researchers).
Registration: All are welcome. To register and receive the connection link, please send an email to: colloque...@gmail.com.
Those who have already registered for previous sessions will automatically receive the link for this event—no need to email us again.
Best regards,
Kevin Bouillot & Loredana Lancini
Summary of the talk:
It is well known that for the Greeks, the contemplation of the natural extended beyond its instrumental dimension. Cohen and Larson emphasize that, in polytheistic cultures, the aesthetic perception of nature is intrinsically linked to the sacred, where natural beauty expresses the divine presence (OGDEN, 2007a, p. 58). Larson (2007b, p. 152) notes that nymphs “were truly nature gods in the sense that they personified specific features in the landscape or phenomena in the environment" bringing life and beauty to the places they inhabited. These female deities were more than representations of springs, forests, or mountains—they symbolized spaces where the sacred manifests. Barbosa (2015, p. 72) observes that when nymphs appear in the retinue of other deities, they embody the natural environment, showing how the Greeks viewed nature as an extension of the divine.
Nymphs inhabited the liminal spaces between the civilized world and the untamed wilderness. They represented the intrinsic beauty of the natural landscape and its sacredness, suggesting a vision in which the environment is not just a physical space, but a locus amoenus — a place of divine presence that invites rest, reflection, and even epiphanies, as noted by Larson. Nympholepsy, described in ancient literature as trance, inspiration, or ecstasy induced by the presence of nymphs, reveals the deep connection between the Greeks and nature. The beauty of a landscape was not merely something to be admired, but a doorway to the divine, Socrates captures this in Phaedrus: “There’s something truly divine about this place, so don’t be surprised if I’m quite taken by the Nymphs’ madness” (PHDR., 1997, p. 517).
The problem lies in comprehending how the nymphs as embodiments of the landscape influence our understanding of nature in Greek religious thought. The relationship between the nymphs and the environments they inhabit reveals how the observation and experience of nature were fundamental in shaping religious beliefs and the concept of divinity. Nympholepsy, as a manifestation of this interconnection, shows that nature was perceived as an expression of the divine, where natural beauty and spiritual enchantment were intrinsically intertwined. This research involves a detailed bibliographic analysis of authors such as Cohen and Larson, along with a critical review of primary sources, including the Homeric Hymns and the Theogony. The study uses an interdisciplinary approach, integrating mythology, philosophy, and the sacred aspects of nature in Greek culture.
We are delighted to announce our twelfth monthly meeting dedicated to the connections between environment and religions in ancient societies. Our online seminar, "On Nature (and) of the Gods", which extends the international conference of the same title held at the Université catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve in February 2025, will take place again on Wednesday, June 3rd, from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM (Paris time).
We warmly invite you all to join us online for this session. We are honored to host Luana de Almeida Telles (University of Juiz de Fora), who will deliver a presentation titled:
“ Nymphs and the perception of the divine: a Greek perspective on landscape ”.
Below, you will find a brief abstract of the talk.
This session is also part of the 2026 Environmental History Spring program, organized by the RUCHE (University Network of Environmental History Francophone Researchers).
Registration: All are welcome. To register and receive the connection link, please send an email to: colloque...@gmail.com.
Those who have already registered for previous sessions will automatically receive the link for this event—no need to email us again.
Best regards,
Kevin Bouillot & Loredana Lancini
Summary of the talk:
It is well known that for the Greeks, the contemplation of the natural extended beyond its instrumental dimension. Cohen and Larson emphasize that, in polytheistic cultures, the aesthetic perception of nature is intrinsically linked to the sacred, where natural beauty expresses the divine presence (OGDEN, 2007a, p. 58). Larson (2007b, p. 152) notes that nymphs “were truly nature gods in the sense that they personified specific features in the landscape or phenomena in the environment" bringing life and beauty to the places they inhabited. These female deities were more than representations of springs, forests, or mountains—they symbolized spaces where the sacred manifests. Barbosa (2015, p. 72) observes that when nymphs appear in the retinue of other deities, they embody the natural environment, showing how the Greeks viewed nature as an extension of the divine.
Nymphs inhabited the liminal spaces between the civilized world and the untamed wilderness. They represented the intrinsic beauty of the natural landscape and its sacredness, suggesting a vision in which the environment is not just a physical space, but a locus amoenus — a place of divine presence that invites rest, reflection, and even epiphanies, as noted by Larson. Nympholepsy, described in ancient literature as trance, inspiration, or ecstasy induced by the presence of nymphs, reveals the deep connection between the Greeks and nature. The beauty of a landscape was not merely something to be admired, but a doorway to the divine, Socrates captures this in Phaedrus: “There’s something truly divine about this place, so don’t be surprised if I’m quite taken by the Nymphs’ madness” (PHDR., 1997, p. 517).
The problem lies in comprehending how the nymphs as embodiments of the landscape influence our understanding of nature in Greek religious thought. The relationship between the nymphs and the environments they inhabit reveals how the observation and experience of nature were fundamental in shaping religious beliefs and the concept of divinity. Nympholepsy, as a manifestation of this interconnection, shows that nature was perceived as an expression of the divine, where natural beauty and spiritual enchantment were intrinsically intertwined. This research involves a detailed bibliographic analysis of authors such as Cohen and Larson, along with a critical review of primary sources, including the Homeric Hymns and the Theogony. The study uses an interdisciplinary approach, integrating mythology, philosophy, and the sacred aspects of nature in Greek culture.
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