Theme:
4. Persisting with Change: Theory and Archaeological Scrutiny
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
Destruction, Burial or Just Fading away. Roman Case Studies on the De-sacralisation of Religious Sites and Material Culture in Antiquity
Content:
The aim of this session is to explore what happened to religious sites when they (or a particular cult or part of a sanctuary) were de-sacralised, profaned and abandoned. Especially in Late Antiquity, many cult places were abandoned, but did they just fade away? Apart from the architectural remains, a particularly interesting question relates to the fate of the religious material culture, such as cult figurines and statues, altars, votive offerings, sacrificial instruments, and priestly garments. Some sites clearly show the deliberate deposition of such artefacts, such as the large metal deposition of carnices, a bronze horse and many more items at the La Tène sanctuary of Tintignac, or the deposition of Roman-period votive and ritual objects, for example from Bury St Edmunds, notably priestly regalia. Sometimes only a part of a sanctuary might be involved, for example when the cult of a particular god or goddess ceased, like Jupiter Dolichenus in the mid-third century CE: did people still consider his cult statues and altars to be ‘sacred’? The aim is to investigate various sites from different periods to explore what happened to a cult and its material culture once the worship ceased. What is the meaning behind the depositions of religious items: burial or merely temporary storage? What rituals were involved in this process? It also raises the question of what alternative treatments we can identify, such as the destruction and recycling of de-sacralised artefacts. This session is less interested in the widely studied transformation of ‘pagan’ sites into Christian churches, but focuses on the afterlife of a religious place, cult and religious material culture.
Keywords:
Roman religion, Cult places, De-sacralisation, Deposition, Material culture
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
Main organiser:
Anthony King (United Kingdom) 1
Co-organisers:
Ralph Haussler (United Kingdom) 1
Wolfgang Spickermann (Austria) 2
Francisco Marco Simon (Spain) 3
Affiliations:
1. University of Winchester, UK
2. University of Graz , Austria
3. University of Zaragoza, Spain
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