Academic literature on the topic 'Archaeology of religions'

Au cours du XIe siècle avant notre ère la zone du détroit de Gibraltar assiste à l’arrivée sur ses côtes de populations phéniciennes venues du Proche-Orient. Ces peuples traversent en effet la mer Méditerranée pour venir s’installer et commercer avec les populations locales dans le but d’approvisionner la métropole de Tyr en métaux, pourpre et autres denrées susceptibles d’alimenter le commerce méditerranéen. C’est dans ce contexte, riche en contacts et en échanges, que se développe notre étude. Elle a pour objet les espaces sacrés qui jalonnent le parcours des pilotes, des voyageurs et des commerçants qui sillonnent le Détroit à bord de leurs navires. Les auteurs antiques, qu’ils soient poètes, géographes ou historiens, signalent un grand nombre d’autels, de temples ou même d’anecdotes mythologiques qui mettent en lumière un paysage sacré particulièrement riche dans cette zone de confins. Notre travail consiste à synthétiser toutes ces informations littéraires pour les mettre en parallèle avec les données obtenues par l’archéologie depuis la fin du siècle dernier. Au fil de l’analyse se révèle en filigrane l’existence d’un réseau d’espaces sacrés et de mythes qui viennent offrir un cadre religieux dans le Détroit. Cette synthèse inédite des données religieuses, recueillies sur les deux rives, permet une analyse et une première approche des phénomènes religieux maritimes dans la zone.Cette compilation des données religieuses doit nous permettre de mieux appréhender et de décrire avec plus d’acuité ce que devait être la vie religieuse des marins qui fréquentaient les colonnes d’Hercule. Il s’agit de déterminer les motivations qui justifient une présence si forte du religieux sur ces rivages : besoin de protection pendant la traversée, motifs économiques, contrôle des côtes et guide de la navigation… Il est également question de caractériser ces dévotions, de savoir par quels moyens et en quels types de lieux s’exprime la religion des marins. Il faut aussi s’interroger sur les émetteurs et les récepteurs de ce type de dévotions : les commerçants sont-ils les seuls à faire des offrandes ? Et quelles divinités sont mises en avant par la religion maritime de ces populations ?L’objectif de la démonstration est clairement de mettre en lumière et de mieux définir les différents éléments qui composent le paysage religieux maritime du détroit de Gibraltar. Le résultat est un essai de définition, de description et de mise en lien des divers éléments de ce réseau fait d’hommes, de divinités, de mythes, de lieux sacrés et de marques de dévotions, qui ont tous un point commun : la mer<br>This work deals with the localisation and functions of the Punic sacred places located at the strait of Gibraltar. The main purpose of this PHD is to discuss the links between those sacred spaces and navigation in this special part of the Mediterranean antique world. Using ancient writers’ quotes, talking about consecrated places on the shore of the south of Spain and the north of Morocco, we shall try and reveal a part of the sacred landscape that sailors and sea-sellers used to frequent. Many sites that have been excavated can be linked to a religious function (temple, sacred areas, holy caves or springs), we aim at discussing the evolution of those sites and the place they have in shore navigations and ports of trade<br>Este trabajo de tesis se centra en la localización y las funciones de los lugares sagrados púnicos del estrecho de Gibraltar. El objetivo principal de este proyecto es de describir los vínculos que existen entre estos espacios consagrados del litoral y la navegación en la zona del estrecho. Utilizando principalmente las referencias proporcionadas por los autores antiguos y los datos arqueológicos recuperados en las excavaciones de ambas orillas del estrecho (Andalucía, Algarve, Norte de Marruecos), intentamos describir, dibujar de la forma mas precisa posible el paisaje sagrado que los navegantes y comerciantes de esa época conocían. Varios de los sitios excavados tienen una función religiosa (templos, áreas sagradas, cuevas-santuario, fuentes consagradas), el objetivo del trabajo nuestro es presentar una síntesis de estos sitios, describiendo su evolución y el papel que ocupaban en las navegaciones costeras y en la red de puertos del estrecho

Castration has a long temporal and geographical span. Its origins are unclear, but likely lie in the Ancient Near East around the time of the Secondary Products Revolution and the increase in social complexity of proto-urban societies. Due to the unique social and gender roles created by castrates’ ambiguous sexual state, human castrates were used heavily in strongly hierarchical social structures such as imperial and religious institutions, and were often close to the ruler of an imperial society. This privileged position, though often occupied by slaves, gave castrates enormous power to affect governmental decisions. This often aroused the jealousy and hatred of intact elite males, who were not afforded as open access to the ruler and virulently condemned castrates in historical documents. These attitudes were passed down to the scholars and doctors who began to study castration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, affecting the manner in which castration was studied. Osteometric and anthropometric examinations of castrates were carried out during this period, but the two World Wars and a shift in focus meant that castrate bodies were not studied for nearly eighty years. Recent interest in gender and sexuality in the past has revived interest in castration as a topic, but few studies of castrate remains have occurred. As large numbers of castrates are referenced in historical documents, the lack of castrate skeletons may be due to a lack of recognition of the physical effects of castration on the skeleton. The synthesis and generation of methods for more accurate identification of castrate skeletons was undertaken and the results are presented here to improve the ability to identify castrate skeletons within the archaeological record.

It is claimed that during the 1960s and 1970s a new chapter in the history of English Religious Education (hereafter RE) began. Christian Confessionalism, whereby children were introduced to, nurtured in, and encouraged to adopt, the Christian faith, was swept aside and replaced by a non-confessional, phenomenological, multi-faith model, in which children were introduced to a variety of World Religions, with the aim that they would become more understanding of and tolerant towards others. Subsequently the study of World Religions (hereafter SWR) was adopted at all phases of the school system. Whilst this transition has been subjected to a wealth of historical analysis, existing accounts concentrate on narrative reconstructions of what happened, rather than investigating the complex interaction of discourses that created circumstances in which the change became possible. By framing analysis within national boundaries these reconstructions also overlook supranational influences. Thus, the supranational ecumenical movement (concerned with achieving greater unity and co-operation between denominationally separated Christian groups) has hitherto been largely overlooked. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s historical methods, I have developed a critical methodology, which examines how certain practices become possible. This method, Statement Archaeology, follows Foucault in emphasizing ‘discontinuities’, ‘statements’, and the search for the ‘relative beginnings’ of particular practices. Deploying the method entailed a detailed forensic exploration of relevant primary, unutilized, sources drawn from relevant domains of ecumenical discourses at both supranational (World Council of Churches) and national (British Council of Churches) levels. These sources were identified by tracing the provenance, and origin, of ecumenical statements repeated within Schools Council Working Paper 36 (1971). A ‘compound’ framework of understanding, combining the notions of Governmentality and Normalization, has been used. The thesis presents a number of original contributions to knowledge. By focusing on the multiple intersections of supranational and national domains of ecumenical discourse, Statement Archaeology reveals a much greater level of complexity than has hitherto been described and exposes a more nuanced understanding of how it became possible for SWR to be adopted, suggesting that the ‘relative beginnings’ of the practice are located—to some extent—in national ecumenical discourses. Further, supranational issues that affected these processes are unearthed, and motivations behind them are exposed, thus highlighting the importance of incorporating ecumenical discourses into the historiography of RE. The research also problematizes some assertions that have become characteristic of the existing historical narrative. Amongst other things, it disputes the existing positioning of Working Paper 36, highlights the problematic positioning of ‘mass immigration’ as a causal factor in adoption of SWR, and exposes a complexity of terminology, none of which appear to have been examined previously. These findings have application both in England and elsewhere, and are briefly discussed in relation to two other national contexts where approaches akin to SWR have been adopted. Finally, the limitations of the study are discussed and recommendations made for further work.

In the fourth book in the extensive work of the Christian scholar Adam of Bremen, the temple of Uppsala is described along with the heathen’s rituals and practices. Adam of Bremen is the main source of the Swedish history during the late Viking era to the early Middle Ages, and that’s why his fourth book is still interesting for us to analyze over and over again. This essay deals with Adam of Bremen’s notations of the temple and the possibility of an existing temple, like the one in Adams descriptions. With earlier research and the archaeological material as starting point I’ve examined the probability of the existence of Adam of Bremen’s temple and if so, where in Old Uppsala it would have been built. In my study I also go through some of the previous studies about Adam’s temple and discuss different theories. The essay then continues with a discussion on more contemporary material in order to examine whether it is possible to say anything new about the temple. I’ve used content analysis to extract the key notions in the text in order to apply them on the archaeological material to see if they confirm each other. A historical critical method helped with the source criticism, since Adam’s Gesta Hammaburgensis is almost 1000 years old. The first part of the essay is a historical flashback from the research of the 20th century, where relevant material is discussed. The second part focuses on the material from the excavations Gamla Uppsala – framväxten av ett mytiskt centrum. In the early studies Adam’s Gesta was considered genuine and indisputable and so was the belief of the existence of the temple. Later it became obvious that Adam hadn’t experienced what he’d described, and many recent researchers chose to believe that part of the book is exaggerative, and that the temple was really just a hall. I’ve been able to see that not much of the old or the more recent material supports the thought of an independent temple building, and I agree with the researchers which suggest that the closest we’ll come to finding a temple is the multifunctional hall buildings. There are some interesting discoveries from the excavations regarding rituals in Old Uppsala. The ritual objects that were found were tied to several significant locations in the area, not to a specific building. The high-quality discoveries were linked to the royal estate plateaus (Kungsgårdsplatåerna) and it’s likely that the cult had been controlled by the conductive layer in society, which had its abode there.

This thesis examines the changing form and function of non-funerary cult buildings in early Latial and Etruscan settlements in order to better describe and understand the advent of monumental temples in the archaeological record. It draws on a significant quantity of material excavated in the past forty years and developments in relevant theoretical frameworks to reconstruct the changing appearance of cult buildings from huts to shrines and temples (Chapters 2 to 4), and to place monumental examples within wider religious, topographical, and functional contexts (Chapters 5 to 7). This broader perspective allows a more accurate assessment of the extent to which monumental temples represent continuity and discontinuity with earlier religious architecture, and furthermore clarifies the respective roles of Latium and Etruria in the transformation of cult buildings into distinctive, prominent parts of the built environment. Although it is possible to find many different accounts of religious monumentalisation in existing scholarship, this thesis holds that traditional narratives no longer accurately reflect the archaeological evidence. It sets out a sequence of developments in which early religious architecture was a dynamic, rather than conservative, phenomenon. It demonstrates that temples were not the inevitable product of a natural progression from open-air votive deposition to monumentality, or simply an imported concept, but rather a deliberate response to the opportunities offered by an increasingly mobile Mediterranean population. It also contends that Latium played a more important role in formulating the characteristic components and functions of central Italic temples than previously thought. This thesis consequently offers a new account of early religious architecture in western central Italy as well as an alternative interpretation of its monumentalisation.

La présente étude offre un regard nouveau sur les systèmes de croyances religieux grecs et mésopotamiens. Adoptant une démarche comparative et contrastive, la déesse grecque Aphrodite est confrontée à la déesse mésopotamienne Inanna/Ištar. Étudiant de manière interne à chacun des deux panthéons les différents modes d'action des déesses, il s'agit de comprendre comment s'exprime la notion de " pouvoir " divin dans les sources grecques archaïques et les compositions paléo-babyloniennes du IIe millénaire av. J.-C. Parts d'honneur, parures, cortèges sont autant d'expressions des réseaux de pouvoir d'Inanna/Ištar et d'Aphrodite ; ils se transmettent, s'échangent et avec eux circulent les souverainetés spécifiques des déesses. L'enjeu principal de cette thèse est d'étudier les différentes expressions des "pouvoirs" divins dans un même complexe culturel, le monde grec ou la Mésopotamie, d'en saisir les dynamiques internes, puis de les soumettre à comparaison afin d'apporter de nouveaux éclairages sur les fonctionnements des panthéons grecs et suméro-akkadiens.

La réputation de philoxénie dont jouit Athènes dès l'Antiquité pose la question de la réelle capacité d'accueil et d'intégration de la cité à l'égard des étrangers, de leur culture et de leur religion. Elle conduit à étudier les modalités d'introduction et de réception d'un ensemble de cultes, réunis sous le qualificatif générique et commode - bien qu'aujourd'hui très discuté- de "cultes orientaux" : dans cette étude, les <> sont définis au sens géographique du terme, comme l'ensemble des cultes provenant de l'Est du bassin méditerranéen (Egypte, Anatolie, Syrie et Phénicie), y compris le christianisme et le judaïsme. S'appuyant sur une documentation abondante et variée - et notamment sur un corpus épigraphique conséquent - , ce travail vise à mettre en évidence les vecteurs de diffusion de ces cultes et les circonstances dans lesquelles ils s'implantent dans la cité athénienne. Une approche chronologique souligne l'existence de dynamiques locales, qui expliquent l'inégale popularité rencontrée par les cultes orientaux auprès des Athéniens : alors que certains sont critiqués et rejetés, les cultes de Cybèle et Isis remportent un grand succès en Attique. Une telle réussite suppose nécessairement des transformations, des modifications, pour permettre aux cultes de s'adapter à un public différent, à un nouveau cadre de réception: après leur arrivée, les nouveaux cultes entrent en interaction avec le milieu religieux local et subissent- à des degrés variables - un phénomène d'hellénisation, facilité par le processus de l' interprétation. Dans la cité, les divinités orientales présentent ainsi certaines caractéristiques universelles, que l'on retrouve un peu partout dans le monde méditerranéen à l'époque impériale, mais les contacts et les interactions avec les divinités locales- et notamment avec Déméter, la grande déesse d'Eleusis- ont aussi conduit à l'émergence de spécificités locales, particulière au contexte athénien.