Gesti umani e gesti divini: sputare tre volte e invocare Nemesis

The article focuses on the gesture—often associated with the female sphere—of spitting three times on the kolpos. Evidence shows that this practice, documented only from the Hellenistic period onward, eventually became linked to the goddess Nemesis. Several iconographic representations from the Imperial period depict her in a posture that appears to reference this very act. The analysis examines how the gesture was performed and which parts of the body were involved, aiming to uncover the network of meanings it conveyed, as well as its unique connection to both the realm of speech and the figure of Nemesis.