NIZA: the call of myth in the open palm of God

The creation of an ethnographic documentary exploring the significance of the shepherds’ oath as a ritual of arbitration and mediation. A project by Androidus Project Tank, implemented under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Directorate of Modern Cultural Heritage.

The word NIZA constitutes the opening invocation in a variation of the earliest recorded testimony of the shepherds’ oath, which was one of the most important “chants” among shepherd communities and was recited as follows:

“Νη Ζα, φάσκω σου και κάτεχέ το
 πως δεν κατέω πράμα
 για την αραζό τση κλεψάς των οζώ σου.”

Its translation reads:

“By Za (Zeus), I swear to you
 and let it be known that I know nothing
 about the case of the theft of your livestock.”

This archaic invocation originates from the mountainous regions of Crete around the mid-20th century, transporting us to a historic monastery in the heart of Mount Psiloritis and to a peculiar scene of justice: a kind of improvised trial in which Saint George serves as the supreme judge, the accusation usually concerns livestock theft, and the roles of victims, accused, defenders, and jurors are all assumed by the shepherds of Psiloritis.

In this emblematic scene — repeated through time as part of a system of unwritten law and communal self-regulation — the oath is symbolized by the extended palm placed before the icon of Saint George and accompanied by words that form a powerful ritual among shepherds. It was, and perhaps still is, the final stage in the definitive resolution of a dispute.

This well-known scene among the mountain shepherds takes place at the Monastery of Saint George at Diskouri. Even the place name Diskouri has fascinated historians and folklorists, as it appears to preserve an ancient riddle of worship in mountainous Mylopotamos and within the pastoral triangle formed by the largest shepherd communities of Psiloritis: Anogeia, Zoniana, and Livadia.

The invocation that begins the oath — “NIZA” — has reached us today through only a few written sources but through many oral narratives from older shepherds. It may represent a forgotten baton of transition from an older world to a newer one, where the mythic figure of Zeus survived unconsciously as a cultural remnant — a fragment of another era absorbed into contemporary religious life.

Alternatively, it may be a captivating invention of the Greek national collective imagination, shaped in the early 20th century in order to forge its own symbolic connections with an idealized past.

What remains certain, however, is that in the mountainous hinterland of Psiloritis there still survives a rich constellation of tangible and intangible elements that sketch a living cultural mosaic — one that remains deeply rooted in the pastoral communities of the mountain and in the ritual practices of its shepherds.

The aim of the Androidus Project is, with the Monastery of Saint George at Diskouri as its focal point, to record the stories of the shepherds of Psiloritis — particularly from the communities of Anogeia, Zoniana, and Livadia — within and around which the social mechanism of the oath functioned as a decisive means of resolving significant pastoral disputes.

Alongside the shepherds themselves, who form the thematic core of the project, perspectives from the fields of Anthropology, Law, Sociology, and Criminology will contribute to the narrative, as well as a religious-theological viewpoint, which does not accept the oath as a legitimate means of moral commitment, justice, or truth. Together, these perspectives will shape the thematic framework through which a dialogue of narratives on the oath and its meaning will unfold, culminating in the ethnographic documentary “NIZA.”