Abstract

The volume comprises an introduction and 15 thematic chapters with a strong methodological focus on the spatial analysis of ritual and cult, by both established and young scholars. It is organised around three major themes: the relationship between sacred landscapes, socio-political units and socio-economic networks; experiencing sacred landscapes; and the employment of artefacts and agency in the creation and perception of sacred space. The authors have contributed case studies from across the Mediterranean, across a very broad chronological span, and focused on both inter- and intra-site spatial approaches. The terms “ritual” and “cult” have been used broadly to include sanctuaries, as well as domestic and funerary spheres of life. The volume investigates the interaction between political and religious structures, as expressed in sacred landscapes and space, but moving also beyond elite and political structures, it considers the human experience of the numinous in the creation of personal and communal spiritual identities.
In particular, the contributions in the volume explore:
a) the placement of ritual and cult in the broader landscape as revealed by inter-site analysis of cult places;
b) the expression of elite and non-elite religious identities as revealed by the intra-site spatial analysis of the material expression of ritual and cult;
c) the expression of personal and communal identities as revealed by the intra- and inter-, micro- and macro-site analysis of ritual and cult;
d) the employment of textual evidence, iconography and art-historical approaches when investigating the spatial or landscape dimensions of ritual and cult;
e) computational developments of sacred landscapes and ritual space;
f) phenomenological, performative and experiential analyses of sacred landscapes and ritual space;
g) the transformation processes of sacred landscapes and ritual space