Religion, Culture, and Sacred Space
Religion, Culture, and Sacred Spaces is a comparative exploration into the nature of the human relationship to physical space advancing the startling thesis that the human capacity for narrative and identity imbues landscapes with meaning and sacredness.
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R e ligion, Cu lt u r e, a n d Sac r ed Spac e
M a rt y n Sm i t h
RELIGION, CULTURE, AND SACRED SPACE
Copyright © Martyn Smith, 2008. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2008 978-0-230-60830-6 All rights reserved. First published in 2008 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-37514-1 ISBN 978-0-230-61617-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230616172 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Smith, Martyn. Religion, culture, and sacred space / by Martyn Smith. p.cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. 1. Sacred space. I. Title. BL580.S65 2008 2039.5—dc22
2008007164
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: November 2008 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Emily and Aurora
Con t e n t s
Acknowledgments
ix
One
How to Build Places with Words
1
Two
Abydos: Inventing a Landscape
39
Three
Delos: The Soft Power of Poetry
69
Four
Mecca: Through the Eyes of a Pilgrim
115
Five
A Storied Wilderness
153
Works Cited
173
Index
181
Ac k now l ed gm e n t s
This book grew out of reflection on my own travels to various places. Without the experience of learning to see the world through the eyes of other people, I never would have formulated the thesis of this work. My favorite teachers have been those who have allowed me to experience more clearly a view of the world that was not mine by birth. I must begin by thanking my parents who instilled in me a spirit of exploration through family vacations and the unusual care lavished on the values of the ancient world. Some early teachers and mentors who fostered this spirit were Douglas Lewis, Chip Anderson, Bob Reynolds, Dennis Casebier, Phil McDermott, and Jim Butler. I began work on this project under the direction of Peter Bing at Emory University, whose care and attention to literary texts and their reception was an inspiration for this project. Several others from Emory continue as my models for careful reading: Kristen Brustad, Mahmoud al-Batal, Walter Reed, Gay Robins, Garth Tissol, Louise Pratt, and Steve Strange. I am also grateful to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences for their generous support of language acquisition programs and for an internationalization grant that enabled me to visit Greece and Turkey. A fellowship from the Center for Arabic Study Abroad funded a year’s residence in Cairo, and many of the ideas and experiences that w
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