La nympholepsie entre religion et paysage

Nympholepsy, that is the possession caused by Nymphs, is well- known mostly because of its role in the Phaedrus. The aim of this article is to analyse a body of literary, epigraphic and archaeological sources in order to show how this phenomenon – rather marginal – concerns the problem of the representation of space in ancient Greece. In fact, nympholepsy cannot occur everywhere, but only in particular places that Nymphs are believed to inhabit. In this way, the perception of the divine presence, detected by the nympholept, is indispensable for constructinga natural environment as a religious landscape. In this context, land- scape represents the intermediary that makes communication between humans and gods possible.