Late Antique Lamps in Attic Caves: Evidence of Cult Practice? (original) (raw)
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On Gods and Caves. Comparing cave-sanctuaries in the ancient Mediterranean
11/02/2021: “Naming and Mapping the Gods in the Ancient Mediterranean. Spaces, Mobilities, Imaginaries” Sanctuaries were at times established near a natural feature such as a spring, river, pond, lake, woods, outcrop, mountain or cave. Although these natural places can become sacralized spaces without any need of construction activities, they have sometimes developed into built sacred areas, where these elements may even have been monumentalized. This rarely occurred in the case of cave-sanctuaries, which often preserved their original (and sometimes already monumental) aspect, especially when these caves were in remote locations or accessible only by sea. Whatever their position, caves are liminal spaces, zones marked off from the world, but their boundaries are nonetheless permeable. Going into a cave means crossing a threshold, which represents the border between the worlds of the familiar and the unknown. Why was such liminality required? What type of deities inhabited these spaces? What rites were performed there? This paper aims at carefully exploring the historical, social and topographical context which influenced the establishment of certain cave-sanctuaries in the ancient Mediterranean. Three case studies will be considered: 1) Gorham’s cave (c. 8th-2nd century BC) in Gibraltar; 2) es Culleram (c. 5th-2nd century BC) in Ibiza, and 3) Grotta Regina (c. 5th-2nd/1st centuries BC) near Palermo. These three caves show different characteristics with regard to their position, landscape, sensescape, provenance and type of finds, presence/absence of inscriptions and clear evidence for a titular deity. All of them are located within Phoenician/Punic territories and were probably established by Phoenician/Punic speaking groups. The goal is to determine why, by whom and for what purpose these sanctuaries were established, by whom they were frequented, what cultic activities may have been performed inside these caves and to what types of deities they were dedicated. By comparing their features, it will be possible to identify common elements and peculiarities, and, consequently, determine their possible association with certain types of deity.
Late Paganism as Witnessed by the Syriac Cave of Treasures
Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 59 (3), 2019
The parabiblical narrative, written ca. 600, shows the author’s awareness of Hellenised oriental cults still surviving at Harran and Baalbek, of Zoroastrian fire-worship, and of astrology
ARYS, 2022
Dark caves are lit by flickering flames, and the reflection of water dances upon the ceiling, where stalactites hang, dripping with condensation. Such are the images one encounters when thinking about cave sites in the ancient world as places for potential religious experience. Cave and Worship in Ancient Greece. New Approaches to Landscape and Ritual edited by Stella Katsarou and Alexander Nagel contains an assortment of essays on the topic of ancient Greek cave shrines. According to the editors, the goal of this volume is "to situate the ancient Greek cave shrine KATSAROU, STELLA & NAGEL, ALEXANDER (eds.
Proceedings of the 29th International Congress of Papyrology, 2021
The aim of this paper is to give insight into the religious significance of oil lamps in Graeco-Roman and Byzantine Egypt through the examination of the surviving Greek papyri and ostraka as well as the sources of Greek and Latin literature. Firstly, we place emphasis on the terms denoting this artifact (λύχνος, λυχνία etc.), as well as the ritualistic process of its lighting (λυχναψία, λυχνοκαΐα). Another section is devoted to the particular role of λύχνοι in Egyptian rituals (worship ceremonies, burial practices etc.) and the continuation of their significance from the pagan era into the Christian.
Image and function in 'Christian' and 'Pagan' late antique terracotta lamps
Like many other locally produced ceramic objects, lamps were a ubiquitous part of Late Roman society, found associated with structures across the economic spectrum and in a wide range of contexts. When filled with oil, they illuminated rooms, shops, and other buildings, but beyond this quotidian function they could play other roles through the images and decorations they possessed or the alternative contexts in which they could be used. The analysis of these two facets assists in problematizing the ways in which an object could or could not designate religious persuasion, either paganism or Christianity. Between the fourth and sixth centuries, lamps take on a wide range motifs and images; some ornamental, such as vegetal or geometric motifs, with others far more illustrative, including those bearing mythological, Jewish, or Christian symbols or decoration. These range from the depiction of simple crosses and menorot within decorate patterns to full depictions of gods, cult figures (such as Mithras or Isis), or saints; and while the cross or the Chi-Rho does not become a popular decoration until the fourth century, mythological figures continue to be depicted on lamps into the sixth century, suggesting that as popular object lamps may have little religious value without contextual evidence. Beyond their decoration, lamps often found alternative uses, funerary, devotional, and apotropaic. In the city of Rome, they held magical defixiones; in Anatolia, they are frequently found in assemblages of late Roman Grave goods; in Egypt, they could be the vessels for holy oil. While some of these contexts point to social and cultural practices, they do not exclude lamps as representative of a certain devotional practice, but rather can reinforce their religious functions. By tying together these approaches with a range of examples from across the late antique Mediterranean, this chapter seeks to assess how everyday objects take on religious meanings and functions in the changing social and cultural contexts of Late Antiquity. Published in: Pagans and Christians in the Late Roman Empire: New Evidence, New Approaches (4th-8th centuries), ed. M. Sághy, E. Schoolman (Budapest, 2017)
This article examines three cave-sanctuaries in the Iron Age western Mediterranean: Gorham’s Cave in Gibraltar, Es Culleram in Ibiza and Grotta Regina in western Sicily. Notwithstanding some gaps in the archaeological record resulting from the history of their investigation, they are compared by considering parameters such as their landscape, position, visibility, physical features, provenance/type of finds, titular deities, ritual activities and sensorial experiences. The complexity of their data and the type of ritual activities performed inside these spaces show the variety of religious responses to cavescapes. Their location between land and sea and in a border position emphasises the connection of these three sanctuaries and their deities to liminality and physical and spiritual journeys, although specific facets of the deities worshipped in these caves emerge particularly at Es Culleram and Grotta Regina, which also show a strong connection to the territory and the local people.
Opuscula 5, 190-192, 2012
This book brings together the papers from a conference which took place at the Centre for the Study of Antiquity and the Department of Classical Archaeology at the University of Aarhus in 2004. The aim of the event was twofold, on the one hand, to establish a network of young scholars working on ancient Greek cult, and on the other, to let them discuss their ideas under the guidance of Richard Hamilton, a seasoned scholar, and subsequently develop them into articles. The scope of the volume is presented by one of the organisers, Jesper Tae Jensen, in a short preface. Then follow eight articles, seven of which were presented at the conference. The book is concluded with an index and a list of the contributors. The articles span a wide field including archaeology, philology, architecture, history, musicology and religion with the particular aim of combining the study of material culture with ancient texts and inscriptions. The first paper, by Lisbeth Bredholt Christensen, explores the definition of the term "cult" within various branches of scholarship, in particular in relation to concepts like "religion" and "ritual", stressing the great distinctions in the uses of the modern terminology. Within the study of religion "cult" has either been of very little interest or considered as "ritual lived" and discussed primarily within particular religions from an emic perspective with no attempt at applying an analytic apparatus, contrary to "ritual" which is treated as a category where different kinds can be discerned, such as transitory rituals, prayer, sacrifice etc, clearly an etic approach. Sociology (at least in the anglophone sphere) instead uses cult for private religions experience often contrasted with how institutionalized and mainstream religion is practiced. In prehistoric archaeology and Classical archaeology and history, on the other hand, cult is a central concept. In the study of prehistory, the preference of the terms cult, rituals and religious practice instead of religion can be explained by the nature of the archaeological evidence, which does not allow for the reconstructions of belief, the core of religion. Among Classicists the situation is partly the inverse, as cult is used as a synonym to religion rather than to ritual, an effect of the prominence of the written evidence which facilitates the interpretation of the archaeological material. This paper cautions for an unreflected use of terms, but there is are certainly further distinctions between the terminologies in different languages which should be addressed as well. Richard Hamilton analyses the relationship between altars, animals and baskets (kistai) on Attic votive reliefs from the Classical period by applying a statistical method, a chi-square test. The evidence consists of 224 reliefs dedicated to Zeus, Apollon, Artemis, Athena, the Nymphs, Asklepios and the banqueting hero, presented in a catalogue in an appendix. Several interesting observations are made. Of particular importance is the relation between altar and kiste, two elements that have to be taken as having different connotations in the reliefs. Altars more frequently occur with animals than with baskets, refuting van Straten's proposal that the kiste holds sacrificial cakes. There is also a variation between the deities and in reliefs for the Nymphs altars may have had a different meaning than to suggest animal sacrifice. A closer investigation of the kistai shows them to be is more strongly associated with children and family groups, in particular women, rather than with sacrifice of animals or vegetarian offerings, a conclusion backed up by a brief detour into Attic vase-painting. Statistics are rarely used in this way on ancient evidence, which makes the paper interesting, in particular, as pointed out by Hamilton, such an approach demands both a precise description of one's thesis and a consideration of the converse of the same thesis. On the other hand, the relationships revealed cannot be explained by this method. Bronwen Wickkiser's contribution examines the relation between the establishment of Asklepios in Athens and the plague, as the introduction of the god is usually taken to be a response to the local healing gods' incapacity to help. The only source informing us about the