Abstract
After exploring the semantic field of " sacrality ", this lesson opens up the field of " regulation " and, with it, the register of themis. Against this backdrop, the world of theOdyssey's Cyclops, monsters locked in an asocial, apolitical state, emerges in negative. On the positive side, in Homer's work, themis induces expected and appropriate behavior in ritual settings, as well as in the realms of emotional and social life. In Hesiod's Theogony, conformity to themis also applies to the world of the gods, with Zeus' need to ensure a fair distribution of honors among his peers. Like Homer, Hesiod refers to themistes (themis in the plural) as precepts that govern political decisions, in the broad sense of the conditions of life in society. Such decisions are dikai(plural dikē ), which must be " straight ". As a divinized requirement for balance, Themis also appears in the genealogical order structured by the Theogony. United with Zeus, she gives birth to Eunomia, " Just distribution ", Dikē," Justice ", and Eirēnē," Peace ", who deploy the potentialities of regulation and ordering under the authority of the King of Olympus. The proper exercise of themis is associated with prosperity and peace in the oral, face-to-face micro-society of the nascent poleis of archaic poetry. The "customary law "(themistes and dikai) that emerges from Homer's and Hesiod's verses is tied in with spaces for collective deliberation, such as the " cercle hieros " in Canto XVIII of theIliad, which are close to the altars of the gods, all of which leads to a city being described as a hiera.
