Una città, il suo dio ed il suo drago. Considerazi by Gian Franco Chiai
ABSTRACT – This study reconstructs the origins of the local legend of St Philip slaying the dange... more ABSTRACT – This study reconstructs the origins of the local legend of St Philip slaying the dangerous dragon called Echidna in Hierapolis. This legend goes back to an ancient Indo-European pattern, which we also find in Anatolian cultures. Numismatic and archaeological evidence shows the importance of the serpent in the local cults of Hierapolis. Epigraphic texts
from the sanctuary of Apollo reveal the image of an all-powerful deity who reigns over the territory by administering justice. This image is very similar to that of the god of the Christians.
In the colonisation of the Black Sea, the foundation of Greek colonies conditioned the exploratio... more In the colonisation of the Black Sea, the foundation of Greek colonies conditioned the exploration of new territories and cultural contacts (and exchanges) with the local populations. The establishment of Greek settlements on the northern Pontic coast made the investigation of that countryside possible. Within this historical framework, the Greeks came in contact with a new kind of landscape, characterised by different climatic and environmental conditions, in which nomadic peoples lived, namely the Scythians. After reconstructing the differentiated image of Scythians and
Cimmerians within the literary sources of Archaic times, this paper aims at investigating the perception and the role of this new environment for the description, representation and characterisation of the Scythians in the Pseudo-Hippocratic texts, as well as in Herodotus’ work. Moreover, I shall try to show the convergences and the divergences between these works.
Mediterraneo Antico, 2012
Interpretatio ist ein tiefgreifender Prozeß, der grundlegende Veränderungen im Verständnis eines ... more Interpretatio ist ein tiefgreifender Prozeß, der grundlegende Veränderungen im Verständnis eines Kultes initiieren oder widerspiegeln kann. Wir sollten uns fragen: Religious Communication between Globalisation and Particularisation.
Wie kommt es zu den verschiedenen interpretationes, wodurch werden sie motiviert und initiiert, was soll damit bewirkt werden, und wer sind die Protagonisten in diesem Prozeß? Das führt uns auch zur Frage nach den kulturellen und religiösen Konsequenzen einer interpretatio, insbesondere in einer Langzeitperspektive.
Sacred Landscapes in Antiquity: Creation, Transformation, Manipulation, 2020
A cross-cultural approach to understanding and interpreting sacred landscapes in the ancient worl... more A cross-cultural approach to understanding and interpreting sacred landscapes in the ancient world, across time and space (sorry, only first couple of pages: please do buy the book or e-book from Oxbow).
Topics includes: a 'thick description' of sacred landscapes, etiological myths, deciphering the web of ciphers in the landscape, what makes a site sacred, constructing and re-writing sacred landscapes and myths,... See Oxbow Website: https://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/sacred-landscapes.html
Questo studio si prefigge lo scopo di presentare e discutere i materiali di due stipi votive, pro... more Questo studio si prefigge lo scopo di presentare e discutere i materiali di due stipi votive, provenienti da due santuari rurali della Frigia romana 1 . I materiali in questione consistono in una serie di altari, stele, ta-1 *Ringrazio il mio amico e collega M. Palone (Edimburgo) per una lettura attenta di questo lavoro. La responsabilità di errori e sviste resta comunque la mia. Nell'articolo verranno adottate le seguenti abbreviazioni in riferimento ai Corpora epigrafici: BIWK = G. Petzl, Die Beichtinschriften Westkleinasiens, «EA» 22, 1994; PVS = T. Drew-Bear -C.M. Thomas -M. Yildizturan (eds.), Phrygian Votive Steles, Ankara 1999. La bibliografia sui culti rurali della Frigia e della Lidia di epoca romana è considerevole; in generale cfr. G. Petzl, Zum religiösen Leben im westlichen Kleinasien: Einflüsse und Wechselwirkungen, in H. Blum -B. Faist -P. Pfälzner -A.-M. Wittke (Hrsg.), Brückenland Anatolien? Ursachen, Extensität und Modi des Kulturaustausches zwischen Anatolien und seinen Nachbarn, Tübingen 2002, 381-391 (che sottolinea il carattere etico); B. Dignas, Religious Centres in the Greek East. Worlds Apart?, in E. Schwertheim -E. Winter (Hrsg.), Religion und Region. Götter und Kulte aus dem östlichen Mittelmeerraum (AMS 45), Bonn 2003, 77-91 (che mette in rilievo come questi culti rivelino un world apart); S. Hübner, Spiegel und soziale Gestaltungskraft alltäglicher Lebenswelt: Der Kult des Men in Lydien und Phrygien, in E. Schwertheim -E. Winter (Hrsg.), Religion und Region. Götter und Kulte aus dem östlichen Mittelmeerraum (AMS 45), Bonn 2003, 179-200 (che studia il culto del dio Men come paradigma della religiosità rurale, analizzando gli epiteti cultuali); N. Belayche, Les steles dites de confession: une religiosité originale dans l'Anatolie impériale?, in L. De Blois -P. Funke -J. Hahn (eds.), The impact of imperial Rome on religions, ritual and religious life in the Roman Empire, Boston-Leiden 2006, 66-81; Ead., Rites et "croyances" dans l'épigraphie religieuse de l'Anatolie impériale, in J. Scheid (éd.), Rites et croyances dans les religions du monde romain (Entretiens sur l'antiquité classique LIII), Genève 2007, 73-103 (che approfondisce i punti di contatto delle iscrizioni confessionali con i culti di Asclepio e gian franco chiai 2 vole ansate, rilievi e statuette, per la maggior parte, purtroppo, in condizione alquanto frammentaria. Questi materiali rappresentano una fonte privilegiata per lo studio della comunicazione religiosa in due santuari rurali della Frigia di epoca imperiale. Gli artefatti in questione mostrano infatti non solo che i media della comunicazione religiosa di Iside); tra i contributi incentrati maggiormente sulla documentazione epigrafica T. (sulle iscrizioni sacre quali fonti per lo studio dei fenomeni sociali); M.P. de Hoz, Die lydischen Kulte im Lichte der griechischen Inschriften (AMS 36), Bonn 1999 (che ha raccolto i testi sacri della Lidia di epoca ellenistico-romana); G. Petzl, Die Beichtinschriften Westkleinasiens, «EA» 22, 1994 (che ha raccolto, tradotto e commentato i testi delle iscrizioni confessionali); da ultimo mi permetto di rimandare ai miei contributi seguenti, incentrati sui media della comunicazione religiosa: G.F. Chiai, Medien religiöser Kommunikation im ländlichen Kleinasien, in G. Schörner -D. Sterbenc-Erker (Hrsg.), Religiöse Kommunikation im römischen Reich, Stuttgart 2008, 59-83; Id., Religiöse Kommunikationsformen auf dem Land im kaiserzeitlichen Phrygien: Der Beitrag der Epigraphik, in R. Häussler (éd.), Romanisation et epigraphie, Montagnac 2008, 113-136; Id., Allmächtige Götter und fromme Menschen im kaiserzeitlichen Kleinasien, «Millennium Jahrbuch» 6, 2009, 61-102; Id., Perchè un dio è potente? Considerazioni sull'enoteismo e sulla costruzione del divino in Asia Minore, «SMSR» 76, 2010, 187-230. Per un quadro generale delle comunità di campagna dell'Anatolia ellenistico-romana cfr. C. Schuler, Ländliche Siedlungen und Gemeinden im hellenistischen und römischen Kleinasien, München 1998; allo stesso studioso si deve un interessante contributo sull'epigraphic habit delle iscrizioni provenienti da queste regioni (C. Schuler, Inscriptions and Identities of Rural Population Groups in Roman Asia Minor, in J. Davies -J. Wilkes (eds.), Epigraphy and the Historical Sciences, Oxford 2012, 63-100, su cui tuttavia si vedano anche le note critiche di H.W. Pleket in SEG LVII, 1953).
Wie die Forschung nachweisen konnte, sind die in Pontos verehrten Gottheiten das Ergebnis ei-nes ... more Wie die Forschung nachweisen konnte, sind die in Pontos verehrten Gottheiten das Ergebnis ei-nes hochinteressanten und komplexen Synkretismus 1 , in welchem anatolische, griechische und iranische Elemente zu finden sind. Leider fehlt bis heute eine umfassende Monographie, in der das religiöse Leben dieser Regionen ausführlich untersucht wird und die literarisch-dokumen-tarischen Quellen zusammengestellt und ausgewertet werden 2. Diese Aussage trifft vor allem für ein Territorium zu, das in vielerlei Hinsicht bisher vernachläs-sigt wurde: Paphlagonien. Nach einer synthetischen Rekonstruktion der historischen und religiösen Entwicklung dieser Region hat die vorliegende Arbeit das Ziel, durch vergleichende Betrachtungen epigraphischer und numismatischer Testimonia den Charakter der in hellenistischer wie römischer Zeit sowohl in den Poleis aber auch in den ländlichen Regionen verehrten Gottheiten zu untersuchen und dabei die beachtenswerten Parallelen mit den lokalen ruralen Kulten Phrygiens und Lydiens aus der Kaiserzeit zu verdeutlichen.
STMAC aims to advance an inter-disciplinary and inclusive approach to the study of science in the... more STMAC aims to advance an inter-disciplinary and inclusive approach to the study of science in the ancient world, ranging from mathematics and physics, medicine and magic to astronomy, astrology, and divination and covering the Mediterranean world, the Near Middle) East, and Central and East Asia. The series is open to different types of publications including monographs and edited volumes as well as text editions and commentaries. Physiognomy and ekphrasis are two of the most important modes of description in antiquity and represent necessary precursors of scientifi c description. The primary way of divining the characteristics and fate of an individual, whether inborn or acquired, was to observe his external characteristics and behaviour. This volume focuses initially on two types of descriptive literature in Mesopotamia: physiognomic omens and what we might call ekphrastic description. These modalities are traced through ancient India, Ugarit and the Hebrew Bible, before arriving at the physiognomic treatises of the Greek world, where physiognomic discussions become intertwined with ekphrastic descriptions of otherwise non-visible human characteristics or personality traits. In the Graeco-Roman world, literary and visual iconic media often interact, as the representations of famous historical fi gures such as Pericles, Socrates or Augustus clearly show. The Arabic compendial culture absorbed and remade these different physiognomic and ekphrastic traditions, incorporating both Mesopotamian links between physiognomy and medicine and the interest in the ekphrasis of characterological 'types' that had emerged in the Hellenistic period. This volume offers the fi rst wide-ranging picture of these modalities of description in antiquity.
Interpretatio Romana/Graeca/indigena. Religious communication between globalisation and particularisation, 2012
Culture clash and the spread of religious ideas were common place In the entangled, global world ... more Culture clash and the spread of religious ideas were common place In the entangled, global world of the ancient Mediterranean. How did people make sense of local deities and foreign deities in this world? How did the increasing interaction, especially in Hellenistic and Roman times, change people's understandings and perceptions of their deities, their cult practises,...? This volume includes a series of papers from a conference held at Osnabrück University in 2010, organised by Gian Franco Chiai, Christiane Kunst and Ralph Haeussler.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Gian Franco Chiai, Ralph Häussler, Christiane Kunst, Einleitung. Interpretatio: Religiöse Kommunikation zwischen Globalisierung und Partikularisierung;
- Clifford Ando, Die Riten der Anderen;
- Gian Franco Chiai, Die Götter und ihr Territorium: Münzen als Quellen zur Interpretatio im kaiserzeitlichen Phrygien;
- Alessia D'Aleo, Butes in Eryx. Constructions and religious interpretation of an 'oikistes' between Hellenes, Phoenicians and natives;
- Christiane Kunst, Isis Aphrodite. Annäherungen an eine panhellenische Gottheit;
- Lennart Gilhaus, Religiöses Leben im tunesischen Hinterland der hellenistischen Zeit;
- Manfred Hainzmann, Interpretatio Romana vs. translatio Latina. Zu einzelnen Aspekten des theonymischen Interpretationsverfahrens bei Caesar und Tacitus;
- Ralph Häussler, Interpretatio indigena. Re-inventing local cults in a global world;
- Françoise Gury, Mars et le taureau. À propos du bloc sculpté provenant du sanctuaire de Mars Mullo à Allonnes (Sarthe);
- Katja Lembke, Interpretatio Aegyptiaca vs. interpretatio Graeca? Der ägyptische Staat und seine Denkmäler in der Ptolemäerzeit;
- Francisco Marco Simón, Patterns of interpretatio in the Hispanic provinces;
- Jörg Rüpke, Wie funktioniert Polytheismus? Götter, Bilder, Reflexionen;
- Günther Schörner, Eine Artemis für Alle: Bildliche Darstellung als interpretatio;
- Isabella Solima, Griechische Heiligtümer und Kulte in Magna Graecia und die Beziehungen zu den lokalen Kulten; Gli storici, la storia.
Mythos. Rivista di Storia delle Religioni (n.s), 12, 2018
This study aims at making a comparison between the local traditions of the sanctuaries of Adrano,... more This study aims at making a comparison between the local traditions of the sanctuaries of Adrano, of Efesto in Enna and the Palici and the situations of daily life narrated in the confessional inscriptions and in the prayers for justice. My purpose is to find points of contact and analogies that allow us to reconstruct the presence of common models in the
choice and use of certain forms of religious communication. Secondly, I intend to make some considerations on the way in which the
contact with the Greeks and their culture has made sure that new forms and media of religious communication were introduced within
the local cults. The new media of religious communication made possible that the local religious elements were not obliterated, but thanks to a process of redefinition, which finds interesting parallels also in other regions of the Greek and Roman world, these continued to exist in a new (Greek) habit.
Questo contributo, che intende indagare la ricezione e l'uso dei topoi etnografico-letterari sul ... more Questo contributo, che intende indagare la ricezione e l'uso dei topoi etnografico-letterari sul Nord e sui suoi popoli nell'ambito della fisiognomica, mi consente di esporre, in via preliminare, i primi risultati di due progetti di ricerca condotti presso la "Freie Universität" di Berlino. Il primo riguarda le rappresentazioni letterarie del Nord nella letteratura greca e latina 1 , il secondo indaga l'uso della fisiognomica nel discorso letterario classico 2 . Si tratta di due ambiti di ricerca, apparentemente distinti, ma che in realtà possiedono molti punti in comune, come cercherò di dimostrare in questo articolo. Premetto anche che il presente lavoro riprende e sviluppa quanto da me già esposto l'aprile del 2016 in un convegno svoltosi ad Aarhus 3 , in cui presentai un confronto tematico e lessicale tra la *Ringrazio in primo luogo gli organizzatori del convegno per il cortese invito e per la possibilità concessami di esporre e discutere nell'ambito di questo convegno le mie tesi. Esprimo i miei più sentiti ringraziamenti anche ai due revisori anonimi, le cui osservazioni mi sono state molto utili. 1 Si tratta di un progetto finanziato nel 2014 dal "Center for International Cooperation" della Freie Universität di Berlino, condotto nell'ambito dell'"Arbeitsbereich -Geographie des antiken Mittelmeerraumes" del Prof. Dr. Klaus Geus. In generale sulle rappresentazioni antiche del Nord cfr. la fondamentale monografia di NORDEN 1920, nella quale vennero per la prima volta raccolti e studiati in maniera sistematica tutti i topoi letterari ed etnografici sui popoli del Nord; tra gli studi apparsi successivamente LUISELLI 1992; DE ANNA 1994 (che studia il "Weiterleben" dei topoi classici sul Nord nella letteratura medievale); KOCHANEK 2004 (incentrato soprattutto sulla letteratura patristica); RAUSCH 2013 (che studia le fonti greche dal periodo arcaico sino all'ellenismo). Per una storia dell'esplorazione del Nord cfr. TIMPE 1989. Da ultimo, sull'argomento mi permetto di segnalare un mio studio, CHIAI 2016, a cui rimando per ulteriore bibliografia sull'argomento. 2 Progetto connesso al ciclo di conferenze "Physiognomik zwischen Orient und Okzident", diretto da me e dal Prof. Dr. Markham Geller presso la Freie | 133 ὅρµος -Ricerche di Storia Antica n.s. 10-2018, pp. 132-161
In der Renaissance wurden die nummi bzw.
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Una città, il suo dio ed il suo drago. Considerazi by Gian Franco Chiai
from the sanctuary of Apollo reveal the image of an all-powerful deity who reigns over the territory by administering justice. This image is very similar to that of the god of the Christians.
Cimmerians within the literary sources of Archaic times, this paper aims at investigating the perception and the role of this new environment for the description, representation and characterisation of the Scythians in the Pseudo-Hippocratic texts, as well as in Herodotus’ work. Moreover, I shall try to show the convergences and the divergences between these works.
Wie kommt es zu den verschiedenen interpretationes, wodurch werden sie motiviert und initiiert, was soll damit bewirkt werden, und wer sind die Protagonisten in diesem Prozeß? Das führt uns auch zur Frage nach den kulturellen und religiösen Konsequenzen einer interpretatio, insbesondere in einer Langzeitperspektive.
Topics includes: a 'thick description' of sacred landscapes, etiological myths, deciphering the web of ciphers in the landscape, what makes a site sacred, constructing and re-writing sacred landscapes and myths,... See Oxbow Website: https://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/sacred-landscapes.html
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Gian Franco Chiai, Ralph Häussler, Christiane Kunst, Einleitung. Interpretatio: Religiöse Kommunikation zwischen Globalisierung und Partikularisierung;
- Clifford Ando, Die Riten der Anderen;
- Gian Franco Chiai, Die Götter und ihr Territorium: Münzen als Quellen zur Interpretatio im kaiserzeitlichen Phrygien;
- Alessia D'Aleo, Butes in Eryx. Constructions and religious interpretation of an 'oikistes' between Hellenes, Phoenicians and natives;
- Christiane Kunst, Isis Aphrodite. Annäherungen an eine panhellenische Gottheit;
- Lennart Gilhaus, Religiöses Leben im tunesischen Hinterland der hellenistischen Zeit;
- Manfred Hainzmann, Interpretatio Romana vs. translatio Latina. Zu einzelnen Aspekten des theonymischen Interpretationsverfahrens bei Caesar und Tacitus;
- Ralph Häussler, Interpretatio indigena. Re-inventing local cults in a global world;
- Françoise Gury, Mars et le taureau. À propos du bloc sculpté provenant du sanctuaire de Mars Mullo à Allonnes (Sarthe);
- Katja Lembke, Interpretatio Aegyptiaca vs. interpretatio Graeca? Der ägyptische Staat und seine Denkmäler in der Ptolemäerzeit;
- Francisco Marco Simón, Patterns of interpretatio in the Hispanic provinces;
- Jörg Rüpke, Wie funktioniert Polytheismus? Götter, Bilder, Reflexionen;
- Günther Schörner, Eine Artemis für Alle: Bildliche Darstellung als interpretatio;
- Isabella Solima, Griechische Heiligtümer und Kulte in Magna Graecia und die Beziehungen zu den lokalen Kulten; Gli storici, la storia.
choice and use of certain forms of religious communication. Secondly, I intend to make some considerations on the way in which the
contact with the Greeks and their culture has made sure that new forms and media of religious communication were introduced within
the local cults. The new media of religious communication made possible that the local religious elements were not obliterated, but thanks to a process of redefinition, which finds interesting parallels also in other regions of the Greek and Roman world, these continued to exist in a new (Greek) habit.
from the sanctuary of Apollo reveal the image of an all-powerful deity who reigns over the territory by administering justice. This image is very similar to that of the god of the Christians.
Cimmerians within the literary sources of Archaic times, this paper aims at investigating the perception and the role of this new environment for the description, representation and characterisation of the Scythians in the Pseudo-Hippocratic texts, as well as in Herodotus’ work. Moreover, I shall try to show the convergences and the divergences between these works.
Wie kommt es zu den verschiedenen interpretationes, wodurch werden sie motiviert und initiiert, was soll damit bewirkt werden, und wer sind die Protagonisten in diesem Prozeß? Das führt uns auch zur Frage nach den kulturellen und religiösen Konsequenzen einer interpretatio, insbesondere in einer Langzeitperspektive.
Topics includes: a 'thick description' of sacred landscapes, etiological myths, deciphering the web of ciphers in the landscape, what makes a site sacred, constructing and re-writing sacred landscapes and myths,... See Oxbow Website: https://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/sacred-landscapes.html
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Gian Franco Chiai, Ralph Häussler, Christiane Kunst, Einleitung. Interpretatio: Religiöse Kommunikation zwischen Globalisierung und Partikularisierung;
- Clifford Ando, Die Riten der Anderen;
- Gian Franco Chiai, Die Götter und ihr Territorium: Münzen als Quellen zur Interpretatio im kaiserzeitlichen Phrygien;
- Alessia D'Aleo, Butes in Eryx. Constructions and religious interpretation of an 'oikistes' between Hellenes, Phoenicians and natives;
- Christiane Kunst, Isis Aphrodite. Annäherungen an eine panhellenische Gottheit;
- Lennart Gilhaus, Religiöses Leben im tunesischen Hinterland der hellenistischen Zeit;
- Manfred Hainzmann, Interpretatio Romana vs. translatio Latina. Zu einzelnen Aspekten des theonymischen Interpretationsverfahrens bei Caesar und Tacitus;
- Ralph Häussler, Interpretatio indigena. Re-inventing local cults in a global world;
- Françoise Gury, Mars et le taureau. À propos du bloc sculpté provenant du sanctuaire de Mars Mullo à Allonnes (Sarthe);
- Katja Lembke, Interpretatio Aegyptiaca vs. interpretatio Graeca? Der ägyptische Staat und seine Denkmäler in der Ptolemäerzeit;
- Francisco Marco Simón, Patterns of interpretatio in the Hispanic provinces;
- Jörg Rüpke, Wie funktioniert Polytheismus? Götter, Bilder, Reflexionen;
- Günther Schörner, Eine Artemis für Alle: Bildliche Darstellung als interpretatio;
- Isabella Solima, Griechische Heiligtümer und Kulte in Magna Graecia und die Beziehungen zu den lokalen Kulten; Gli storici, la storia.
choice and use of certain forms of religious communication. Secondly, I intend to make some considerations on the way in which the
contact with the Greeks and their culture has made sure that new forms and media of religious communication were introduced within
the local cults. The new media of religious communication made possible that the local religious elements were not obliterated, but thanks to a process of redefinition, which finds interesting parallels also in other regions of the Greek and Roman world, these continued to exist in a new (Greek) habit.
The aim of this book is to reconstruct the history and the religious life in Phrygia from the Bronze Age up to the Late Antiquity period. The documentary [archaeological evidence, inscriptions, coins e.g.] and literary sources show that sacred ideas and rituals, which already existed in the Bronze Age, have continued to exist as a substrate over the centuries until the spread of Christianity. Since various people, Anatolians, Greeks, Iranians, Jews and Romans, lived together with their own religions in Phrygia over the centuries, this region is an ideal research field to study the syncretism and the contact among religious communities. The aim of this book is to reconstruct the history and the religious life in Phrygia from the Bronze Age up to the Late Antiquity period. The documentary [archaeological evidence, inscriptions, coins e.g.] and literary sources show that sacred ideas and rituals, which already existed in the Bronze Age, have continued to exist as a substrate over the centuries until the spread of Christianity. Since various people, Anatolians, Greeks, Iranians, Jews and Romans, lived together with their own religions in Phrygia over the centuries, this region is an ideal research field to study the syncretism and the contact among religious communities.
Papers are written in French, English and German.
This volume incorporates inter alia papers from a conference entitled 'romanisation et epigraphie' at the Museum of Lattes (nr. Montpellier) and a session at the Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference in Amsterdam, 2008, both of them organised by the editor.
The book is still available from Editions Mergoil: see link.
From generation to generation, people experience their landscapes differently. Humans depend on their natural environment: it shapes their behaviour and it is often felt that one has to appease one's deities that were responsible for natural benefits, but also for natural calamities, like droughts, famines, floods and landslides. In many societies, we presume that lakes, rivers, rocks, mountains, caves and groves were considered sacred. Individual sites and entire landscapes are often associated with divine actions, mythical heroes and etiological myths. Throughout human history, people also felt the need to monumentalise their sacred landscape. But this is where the similarities stop as different societies had very different understandings, believes and practises. The aim of this book is therefore to carefully scrutinise our evidence and rethink our methodologies in a multidisciplinary approach. More than thirty papers investigate diverse sacred landscapes from the Iberian peninsula and Britain in the west to China in the east. They discuss how to interpret the intricate web of ciphers and symbols in the landscape and how people might have experienced it. We see the role of performance, ritual, orality, textuality and memory in people's sacred landscapes. A diachronic view allows us to study how landscapes were 're-written', adapted and redefined in the course of time to suit new cultural, political and religious understandings, not to mention the impact of urbanism on people's understandings. How was the landscape manipulated, transformed and monumentalised, especially the colossal investments in monumental architecture we see in certain socio-historic contexts or the creation of an alternative humanmade, seemingly 'non-natural' landscape, with perfectly astronomically aligned buildings that defines a cosmological order? This volume therefore aims to analyse the complex links between landscape, 'religiosity' and society, developing a dialectic framework that explores sacred landscapes across the ancient world in a dynamic, holistic, contextual and historical perspective.