The Sacred Body - Materializing the Divine through Human Remains in Antiquity (Hardcover)

The human body serves as a symbolic bridge between communities of the living and the divine. This is clearly evident in mythological stories that recount the creation of humans by deities within ancient and contemporaneous societies across a very broad geographical environment. In certain circumstances, parts of selected humans can become an ideal proxy for connecting with the supernatural, as demonstrated by the cult of human skulls in Near Eastern Neolithic communities, as well as the cult of relics of Christian saints from the early Christian era. To go deeper into this topic, this volume undertakes a cross-cultural investigation of the role played by both humans and human remains in creating forms of relationality with the divine in antiquity. This approach highlights how the human body can be envisioned as part of a broader materialisation of religious beliefs that is based on connecting different realms of materiality in the perception of the supernatural by communities of the living.

General

Imprint:	Oxbow Books
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Series:	Material Religion in Antiquity, 1
Release date:	May 2021
Editors:	Nicola Laneri
Dimensions:	240 x 170 x 17mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	160
ISBN-13:	978-1-78925-518-8
Categories:	Books > Humanities > Archaeology > Archaeological theory Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > General Books > Humanities > Archaeology > Archaeology by period / region > Prehistoric archaeology Books > Science & Mathematics > Biology, life sciences > Human biology & related topics > General Books > Religion & Spirituality > General
LSN:	1-78925-518-X
Barcode:	9781789255188

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!