THE REAL AND THE IMAGINARY: Production and Religion in the Graeco‐Roman World

Gordon, Richard L.

doi:10.1111/j.1467-8365.1979.tb00031.x

Cited by 143 publications

(17 citation statements)

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“…Gell 1998. 13 The classic study on this subject is Gordon 1979. See also Ando 2008, 21-42. 14 On Pausanias, see Elsner 1996.…”

Section: The Worship Of Icons In Late Pagan Textsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Religious Viewing of Sculptural Images of Gods in the World of Late Antiquity: From Dio Chrysostom to Damaskios

Deligiannakis¹

2015

jla

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This article investigates an important aspect of traditional religiosity, the veneration of statues, as a contribution to our understanding of the relationship between opinions (often philosophical) found in non-Christian texts and the actual religious practices of communities. These presented arguments for the religious use of statues on the basis that statues off ered a symbolic presentation of divinity, served as an acceptable concession to limited human intellect, and represented something of the intelligible nature of the divine in material form. It appears that cult statues remained important until at least the fi fth century, among intellectuals as well as among the general populace. As long as shrines existed, they continued to act as contact portals. With the destruction of shrines, the pagan community turned to other, humbler forms of worship. Rising in importance during this time is the intermediary role of the holy man and the recourse to hieratic magic. Theurgic methods of invoking and compelling divine immanence relied on this long tradition of statue worship. It is here argued that the ardent commitment to cult and statues among prominent pagans was a response to the new situation after Constantine and the result of the close connection between philosophy and ritual in late Platonists through the theurgic dimension of late Neoplatonism.

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“…Gell 1998. 13 The classic study on this subject is Gordon 1979. See also Ando 2008, 21-42. 14 On Pausanias, see Elsner 1996.…”

Section: The Worship Of Icons In Late Pagan Textsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Religious Viewing of Sculptural Images of Gods in the World of Late Antiquity: From Dio Chrysostom to Damaskios

Deligiannakis¹

2015

jla

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“…The Egyptian and Syrian gouges may be seen as similar interfaces between the world of the living and the world of the sacred. Just as cult statues in the folkloristic traditions of the Greco-Roman world were believed to be more than simple representations (Gordon 1979;Stewart 2007), temples and other sacred places in Egypt embodied divine power. Pilgrims could access and possess some of this power through sensual engagements with the materiality of the temples and ritual practices, such as gouging.…”

Section: Devotion Heritage and Consumption In A Long-term Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Pilgrimage, devotional practices and the consumption of sacred places in ancient Egypt and contemporary Syria

Kristensen

2014

International Journal of Heritage Studies

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Pilgrimages are often messy affairs, not only leaving all sorts of material detritus behind, but also in many cases severely damaging or even destroying the sites that are visited as part of journeys to a sacred place. As such, this immensely popular religious tradition constitutes a social practice that is deeply tied to the landscapes and places that are considered to be holy and thus principally worthy of preservation (at least by many definitions of heritage), but which also in many cases ultimately consumes them over time, sometimes in very direct ways that immediately affect their physical state. This paper explores the contemporary and historical dimensions of this paradox, and considers the wider implications of seemingly destructive uses of sacred space by investigating the social and religious significance of so-called 'pilgrims' gouges' observable at numerous pilgrimage sites in the Eastern Mediterranean. It, thereby, sheds light on the connections between the religious experience of pilgrimage and the material consumption of sacred places by juxtaposing cases from contemporary Islamic Syria and ancient Egypt, providing a long-term perspective on the use and consumption of sacred places. Lastly, it discusses the potential ramifications of the gouges for current approaches to heritage management and conservation.

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“…The inception of monochrome as the norm for Roman statuary can be traced back to Winckelmann (Gordon 1979;Østergaard 2008;Holscher 2004). Gordon identifies the significance of Winckelmann in the creation of Classical Art History as a formalist discipline which sought to categorise and rationalise material rather than seek to understand the conditions of its creation.…”

Section: Statues In a 'Pristine' Statementioning

confidence: 99%