Sanctuaries and Experience

Ancient religion is traditionally understood in terms of myths, rituals and institutions, as transmitted in ancient texts. The studies gathered here focus instead on the lived experience of ancient cult and the places in which that experience was formed. They build on recent explorations of Lived Ancient Religion and also on new approaches to Material Ancient Religion. All ancient societies constructed elaborate sanctuaries. Their architecture and the collective rituals that took place there shaped collective experiences. Through case studies drawn from Ancient Egypt, the Greek World and the Roman Empire these themes are explored and elaborated. Together they indicate new ways of approaching ancient religious experience, collective and individual.

Autorentext
Greg Woolf has since July 2021 been Ronald J Mellor Professor of Ancient History in the University of California, Los Angeles. Before taking up this post he directed the Institute of Classical Studies in the School of Advanced Study of the University of London and was Professor of Classics there (2015-2021). Prior to that position he was Professor of Ancient History at the University of St Andrews (from 1998). His research focus is Cultural change in the Roman World, Seasonality and Roman Society as well as Migration and human mobility in antiquity. Ilaria Bultrighini studied Ancient History, Archaeology, and Classics at the Universities of Urbino and Rome La Sapienza and received her PhD from G. d'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara (2012). In 2021 she was awarded the National Scientific Habilitation as Associate Professor of Ancient History and is currently an Honorary Research Fellow in Ancient History at UCL. Camilla Norman completed a Bachelor of Arts (honours) and Doctor of Philosophy (archaeology) from the University of Sydney, and a Masters of Cultural Materials Conservation at the University of Melbourne. She specializes in the archaeology of pre-Roman Italy, with a focus on the indigenous populations of Apulia and Basilicata.