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Scholarly study of ancient Greek sanctuaries has tended to focus on religion and ritual, monuments, deities, sacrifice, and topography. Logistics in Greek Sanctuaries takes a completely novel perspective by shifting the focus away from the religious sphere and monumental aspects of sanctuaries to practical activity and the experience of the human visitor. Close examination of the more mundane and everyday life and activity in Greek cult places, e.g., sanitation, water and food supply, accommodation, markets, managing crowds and behavior, workers, and finances, reveals relatively unexplored facets of ancient Greek sanctuaries and offers new paths of investigation for the future.
Price: $199.00
Pages: 266
Publisher: Brill
Imprint: Brill
Publication Date:
03 September 2025
ISBN: 9789004720893
Format: Hardcover
Sanctuaries and their everyday life are integral to the life of the Greek polis, from its beginnings until late antiquity. This book answers practical questions about who did what, when, in sanctuaries and how ancient Greek religion worked in practice; these are questions that seldom get asked, let alone answered. The result is a series of authoritative essays on topics including sanctuary dining, drinking, hotel facilities, sanitation, commercial transactions, craft production, regulation, and policing. Each essay is rich in literary, epigraphical, archaeological, and visual documentation, much of it never before brought to bear upon Greek sanctuaries. The authors trace the complex movements of personnel, sacrificial animals, votive offerings, commodities, and equipment in and out of the Greek sanctuary as if it were a living organism, demonstrating throughout the lack of a clear dividing line between the religious, the ideological, and the practical. The editors and authors are to be commended for making an original contribution to the scholarly literature on Greek sanctuaries that will stand the test of time.
Catherine Keesling
This is exactly the direction of research we need for Greek sanctuaries: understanding the practicalities of how they worked – for those who visited and those who were employed there; the multiple ways in which sacred space was used (and abused); as well as the plethora of ways in which the core religious activities at these sites would have been perceived, experienced and regulated at times of high and low demand. This volume makes Greek sanctuaries alive, messy, exciting places to be and sparks endless further questions to investigate.
Michael Scott
Catherine Keesling
This is exactly the direction of research we need for Greek sanctuaries: understanding the practicalities of how they worked – for those who visited and those who were employed there; the multiple ways in which sacred space was used (and abused); as well as the plethora of ways in which the core religious activities at these sites would have been perceived, experienced and regulated at times of high and low demand. This volume makes Greek sanctuaries alive, messy, exciting places to be and sparks endless further questions to investigate.
Michael Scott
Judith M. Barringer, Ph.D. (1990), Yale University, is Professor Emerita of Greek Art and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh. Her scholarly work centers on the archaeology, art, and culture of ancient Greece from the Archaic through Hellenistic periods. She has published several monographs, most recently, Olympia: A Cultural History (Princeton 2021), as well as numerous articles and essays. Her textbook on The Art and Archaeology of Ancient Greece (Cambridge 2014) has received two book prizes.
Gunnel Ekroth, Ph.D. (1999), Stockholm University, is Professor of Classical Archaeology and Ancient History at the University of Uppsala. Her research focuses on ancient Greek religion, from both a practical and a theoretical perspective, integrating ancient texts, inscriptions, iconography and archaeological remains, including animal bones. Her most recent publications are the co-edited From snout to tail (Stockholm 2024) and Revisiting the work of Marin P. Nilsson (Stockholm 2024).
David Scahill, Ph.D. (2012), University of Bath, is a Senior Researcher at the Austrian Archaeological Institute in Athens and a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. His research, field projects and publications focus on architecture, craft production and transmission of design. He is co-editor of New Directions and Paradigms for the Study of Greek Architecture (Brill 2020).
With contributions by Laura Gawlinski, Jenny Wallensten, Jan-Mathieu Carbon & Edward Harris, Christophe Chandezon, Patrik Klingborg, Monika Trümper, Gunnel Ekroth, David Scahill, Floris van den Eijnde, Michael MacKinnon, Annalisa Lo Monaco, Véronique Chankowski, Jeremy McInerney, Judith M. Barringer and Petra Pakkanen.
Gunnel Ekroth, Ph.D. (1999), Stockholm University, is Professor of Classical Archaeology and Ancient History at the University of Uppsala. Her research focuses on ancient Greek religion, from both a practical and a theoretical perspective, integrating ancient texts, inscriptions, iconography and archaeological remains, including animal bones. Her most recent publications are the co-edited From snout to tail (Stockholm 2024) and Revisiting the work of Marin P. Nilsson (Stockholm 2024).
David Scahill, Ph.D. (2012), University of Bath, is a Senior Researcher at the Austrian Archaeological Institute in Athens and a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. His research, field projects and publications focus on architecture, craft production and transmission of design. He is co-editor of New Directions and Paradigms for the Study of Greek Architecture (Brill 2020).
With contributions by Laura Gawlinski, Jenny Wallensten, Jan-Mathieu Carbon & Edward Harris, Christophe Chandezon, Patrik Klingborg, Monika Trümper, Gunnel Ekroth, David Scahill, Floris van den Eijnde, Michael MacKinnon, Annalisa Lo Monaco, Véronique Chankowski, Jeremy McInerney, Judith M. Barringer and Petra Pakkanen.