The Omphalos of Delphi. A psychoanalytic contribution to an archaeological hypothesis
Poezevara, Kévin
The Omphalos of Delphi. A psychoanalytic contribution to an archaeological hypothesis - 2020.
65
In 1900, the archeologist Jane Ellen Harrison formulated a hypothesis about a possible interpretation of the classical representation of the Omphalos of Delphi. The netted fabric in which the Omphalos was draped could have been the remnant of a ritual in which the sacred stone was covered in an aegis decorated by multiple Gorgon heads. Admittedly, Harrison lacked evidence to support her theory, but this article offers to push her hypothesis further using several elements of the psychoanalytic corpus, starting with Freud’s essay Medusa’s Head. Adopting a psychoanalytic point of view will lead me to develop one of Lacan’s statements concerning the fetishistic value of the sacred stone as a symbol of the center of the world. I will then discuss the clinical relevance of this symbol for the study of obsessional neuroses and its specific implication in women’s identification with the phallus.
The Omphalos of Delphi. A psychoanalytic contribution to an archaeological hypothesis - 2020.
65
In 1900, the archeologist Jane Ellen Harrison formulated a hypothesis about a possible interpretation of the classical representation of the Omphalos of Delphi. The netted fabric in which the Omphalos was draped could have been the remnant of a ritual in which the sacred stone was covered in an aegis decorated by multiple Gorgon heads. Admittedly, Harrison lacked evidence to support her theory, but this article offers to push her hypothesis further using several elements of the psychoanalytic corpus, starting with Freud’s essay Medusa’s Head. Adopting a psychoanalytic point of view will lead me to develop one of Lacan’s statements concerning the fetishistic value of the sacred stone as a symbol of the center of the world. I will then discuss the clinical relevance of this symbol for the study of obsessional neuroses and its specific implication in women’s identification with the phallus.
Réseaux sociaux