Placing the Gods : Sanctuaries and Sacred Space in Ancient Greece

Explores the significance behind the religious sites of ancient Greece - why they grew up there, and what social, political, and anthropological influences may have contributed to their development.

Cult activity played an extremely important role in the lives of individuals and of groups in ancient Greece. Where people worshipped the gods had a major influence on their conceptual geography. In 1984, Francois de Polignac argued that the placing of cult centres played a major part in establishing the whole concept of the city-state in archaic Greece. The essays in this collection, headed by one by de Polignac himself in which he reassesses his position, critically examine the social and political importance of sanctuary placement, not only re-examining areas of archaic Greece discussed by de Polignac, but extending the analysis back to Mycenean Greece and on to Greece under Roman occupation. Not only do these essays reveal something of the complexity of relations between religion and politics in ancient Greece, but they show how important tradition, gender relations, and cult identity were in creating and maintaining the religious mapping of the ancient Greek countryside.