Architecture of the Sacred : Space, Ritual, and Experience From Classical Greece to Byzantium

"In this book, a distinguished team of authors investigates the role of architecture in the construction of sacred experience in ancient Greek, Roman, Jewish, early Christian, and Byzantine cultures"-- "In this book, a distinguished team of authors explores the way space, place, architecture, and ritual interact to construct sacred experience in the historical cultures of the eastern Mediterranean. Essays address fundamental issues and features that enable buildings to perform as spiritually transformative spaces in ancient Greek, Roman, Jewish, early Christian, and Byzantine civilizations. Collectively they demonstrate the multiple ways in which works of architecture and their settings were active agents in the ritual process. Architecture did not merely host events; rather, it magnified and elevated them, interacting with rituals facilitating the construction of ceremony. This book examines comparatively the ways in which ideas and situations generated by the interaction of place, built environment, ritual action, and memory contributed to the cultural formulation of the sacred experience in different religious faiths"-- Front Cover......Page 1 Title Page......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 List of Illustrations......Page 8 Contributing Authors......Page 16 Acknowledgments......Page 20 Preface......Page 22 1. Material Culture and Ritual: State of the Question - Jaś Elsner......Page 26 2. Monumental Steps and the Shaping of Ceremony - Mary B. Hollinshead......Page 52 3. Coming and Going in the Sanctuary of the Great Gods, Samothrace - Bonna D. Wescoat......Page 91 4. Entering Demeter’s Gateway: The Roman Propylon in the City Eleusinion - Margaret M. Miles......Page 139 5. Architecture and Ritual in Ilion, Athens, and Rome - C. Brian Rose......Page 177 6. The Same, but Different: The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus through Time - Ellen Perry......Page 200 7. Mapping Sacrifice on Bodies and Spaces in Late-Antique Judaism and Early Christianity - Joan R. Branham......Page 226 8. The “Foundation Deposit” from the Dura Europos Synagogue Reconsidered - Jodi Magness......Page 256 9. Sight Lines of Sanctity at Late Antique Martyria - Ann Marie Yasin......Page 273 10. The Sanctity of Place and the Sanctity of Buildings: Jerusalem versus Constantinople - Robert G. Ousterhout......Page 306 11. Divine Light: Constructing the Immaterial in Byzantine Art and Architecture - Slobodan Ćurčić......Page 332 12. Structure, Agency, Ritual, and the Byzantine Church - Vasileios Marinis......Page 363 Afterword: Bonna D. Wescoat and Robert G. Ousterhout......Page 390 Index......Page 7 Front Cover 1 Title Page 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 List of Illustrations 8 Contributing Authors 16 Acknowledgments 20 Preface 22 1. Material Culture and Ritual: State of the Question - Jaś Elsner 26 2. Monumental Steps and the Shaping of Ceremony - Mary B. Hollinshead 52 3. Coming and Going in the Sanctuary of the Great Gods, Samothrace - Bonna D. Wescoat 91 4. Entering Demeter’s Gateway: The Roman Propylon in the City Eleusinion - Margaret M. Miles 139 5. Architecture and Ritual in Ilion, Athens, and Rome - C. Brian Rose 177 6. The Same, but Different: The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus through Time - Ellen Perry 200 7. Mapping Sacrifice on Bodies and Spaces in Late-Antique Judaism and Early Christianity - Joan R. Branham 226 8. The “Foundation Deposit” from the Dura Europos Synagogue Reconsidered - Jodi Magness 256 9. Sight Lines of Sanctity at Late Antique Martyria - Ann Marie Yasin 273 10. The Sanctity of Place and the Sanctity of Buildings: Jerusalem versus Constantinople - Robert G. Ousterhout 306 11. Divine Light: Constructing the Immaterial in Byzantine Art and Architecture - Slobodan Ćurčić 332 12. Structure, Agency, Ritual, and the Byzantine Church - Vasileios Marinis 363 Afterword: Bonna D. Wescoat and Robert G. Ousterhout 390 Index 7 1107008239,9781107008236 Cambridge University Press Machine generated contents note: Preface Robert G. Ousterhout and Bonna D. Wescoat; 1. Material culture and ritual: state of the question Jaś Elsner; 2. Monumental steps and the shaping of ceremony Mary B. Hollinshead; 3. Coming and going in the sanctuary of the great gods, Samothrace Bonna D. Wescoat; 4. Gateways to the mysteries: the Roman propylon and in the City Eleusinion Margaret M. Miles; 5. Architecture and ritual in Ilion, Athens, and Rome C. Brian Rose; 6. The same, but different: the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus through time Ellen Perry; 7. Mapping sacrifice on bodies and spaces in ancient Judaism and early Christianity Joan Branham; 8. The 'foundation deposit' from the Dura Europos Synagogue reconsidered Jodi Magness; 9. Sight lines of sanctity at Late Antique Martyria Ann Marie Yasin; 10. The sanctity of place and the sanctity of buildings: Jerusalem vs. Constantinople Robert G. Ousterhout; 11. Divine light: constructing the immaterial in Byzantine art and architecture Slobodan Ćurčić; 12. Architecture as a definer of sanctity in the monastery tou Libos in Constantinople Vasileios Marinis; Afterword Bonna D. Wescoat and Robert G. Ousterhout. "In this book, a distinguished team of authors explores the way space, place, architecture, and ritual interact to construct sacred experience in the historical cultures of the eastern Mediterranean. Essays address fundamental issues and features that enable buildings to perform as spiritually transformative spaces in ancient Greek, Roman, Jewish, early Christian, and Byzantine civilizations. Collectively they demonstrate the multiple ways in which works of architecture and their settings were active agents in the ritual process. Architecture did not merely host events ; rather, it magnified and elevated them, interacting with rituals facilitating the construction of ceremony. This book examines comparatively the ways in which ideas and situations generated by the interaction of place, built environment, ritual action, and memory contributed to the cultural formulation of the sacred experience in different religious faiths"--Provided by publisher "In this book, a distinguished team of authors explores the way space, place, architecture, and ritual interact to construct sacred experience in the historical cultures of the eastern Mediterranean. Essays address fundamental issues and features that enable buildings to perform as spiritually transformative spaces in ancient Greek, Roman, Jewish, early Christian, and Byzantine civilizations. Collectively they demonstrate the multiple ways in which works of architecture and their settings were active agents in the ritual process. Architecture did not merely host events; rather, it magnified and elevated them, interacting with rituals facilitating the construction of ceremony. This book examines comparatively the ways in which ideas and situations generated by the interaction of place, built environment, ritual action, and memory contributed to the cultural formulation of the sacred experience in different religious faiths"--Note de l'éditeur

In this book, a distinguished team of authors explores the way space, place, architecture, and ritual interact to construct sacred experience in the historical cultures of the eastern Mediterranean. Essays address fundamental issues and features that enable buildings to perform as spiritually transformative spaces in ancient Greek, Roman, Jewish, early Christian, and Byzantine civilizations. Collectively they demonstrate the multiple ways in which works of architecture and their settings were active agents in the ritual process. Architecture did not merely host events; rather, it magnified and elevated them, interacting with rituals facilitating the construction of ceremony. This book examines comparatively the ways in which ideas and situations generated by the interaction of place, built environment, ritual action, and memory contributed to the cultural formulation of the sacred experience in different religious faiths.

"In this book, a distinguished team of authors investigates the role of architecture in the construction of sacred experience in ancient Greek, Roman, Jewish, early Christian, and Byzantine cultures"-- Provided by publisher "In this book, a distinguished team of authors investigates the role of architecture in the construction of sacred experience in ancient Greek, Roman, Jewish, early Christian, and Byzantine cultures"--Note de l'éditeur Contributors investigate the role of architecture in the construction of sacred experience in ancient Greek, Roman, Jewish, Christian and Byzantine cultures