Research

Lodging / Living in a Sacred Context

As the central focus of a comparative diachronic study, the various forms of receiving and accommodating participants in and/or staff for rituals and festivals, those seeking healing, pilgrims or simply guests in the context of sacred places from Greek Antiquity until the early Byzantine era are being investigated.

Fig.1: Epidauros, Katagogion

 

At the forefront of this newly adopted project is the question of the varying requirements in terms of rooms for such collective accommodation and the associated ritual-related or organisational structures. For this, aspects such as the nature and duration of the stay or the level of involvement in ritual and liturgical events will be explored. The analysis will be based on a wide range of materials and will take equal account of philological, epigraphic and archaeological/architectural history sources as well as involving national and international partners.

Fig.2: Abū Mīnā, Xenodocheion reception area for pilgrims
Fig. 3: Deir el-Bachît-Paulo Monastery, Monk's cell no. 27 with three beds

 

Fig. 1: taken from B. Emme, Peristyl und Polis. Entwicklung und Funktionen öffentlicher griechischer Hofanlagen (Berlin/Boston 2013) Fig. 43a.
Fig. 2: taken from P. Grossmann, Pilgerunterkünfte in Abū Mīnā, in: I. Eichner, D. Ariantzi (Eds.), Für Seelenheil und Lebensglück. Das byzantinische Pilgerwesen und seine Wurzeln. Mainz (2020) 201-210, esp. 203, fig.2.
Fig. 3: © DAIK und ÖAW/ÖAI, I. Eichner

Team

Duration

from 2021