Z archeologii symbolu: „symbola orfików”
On the Archeology of Symbol: Orphist “Symbola”

Summary/Abstract: The word symbolon, from which terms referring to human semiotic activities derives, primarily meant a concrete material object used as an identification. Its linguistic counterpart was the term synthēma allowing to recognize identity in darkness. From the point of view of the history of semiotic thought, symbola were used in mystery cults. The present article shows a special type of mystery symbols, namely Orphist gold leaves: gold-leaf tablets put into the graves of those initiated into mysteries. They contained written formulas the soul of the deceased would cite in the underworld, and a description of his way after death in the dark realm of Hades. A convincing tool for analysis of the texts in question is Krzysztof Pomian’s theory of semiophors due to a semiophor’s performative character and its close connection to material form.

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