This volume sheds new light on the significance and meaning of material culture for the study of pilgrimage in the ancient world, focusing in particular on Classical and Hellenistic Greece, the Roman Empire and Late Antiquity. It thus discusses how archaeological evidence can be used to advance our understanding of ancient pilgrimage and ritual experience. The volume brings together a group of scholars who explore some of the rich archaeological evidence for sacred travel and movement, such as the material footprint of different activities undertaken by pilgrims, the spatial organization of sanctuaries and the wider catchment of pilgrimage sites, as well as the relationship between architecture, art and ritual. Contributions also tackle both methodological and theoretical issues related to the study of pilgrimage, sacred travel and other types of movement to, from and within sanctuaries through case studies stretching from the first millennium BC to the early medieval period.

Table of Contents:
List of figures Preface Notes on contributors 1. Introduction: Archaeologies of pilgrimage Wiebke Friese and Troels Myrup Kristensen 2. Inter-cultural pilgrimage, identity, and the Axial Age in the ancient Near East Joy McCorriston 3. Collective mysteries and Greek pilgrimage: The cases of Eleusis, Thebes and Andania Inge Nielsen 4. Of piety, gender and ritual space: An archaeological approach to women’s sacred travel in Greece Wiebke Friese 5. The pilgrim’s passage into the sanctuary of the Great Gods, Samothrace Bonna Wescoat 6. Pilgrimage and procession in the Panhellenic festivals: Some observations on the Hellenistic Leukophryena in Magnesia-on-the-Meander Kristoph Jürgens 7. Palimpsest and virtual presence: A reading of space and dedications at the Amphiareion at Oropos in the Hellenistic period Alexia Petsalis-Diomidis 8. Roman healing pilgrimage north of the Alps Martin Grünewald 9. Visiting the ancestors: Ritual movement in Rome’s urban borderland Saskia Stevens 10. The pilgrim and the arch: Paths and passageways at Qal’at Sem’an, Sinai, Abu Mina, and Tebessa Ann Marie Yasin 11. Movement as sacred mimesis at Abu Mena and Qal’at Sem’an Heather Hunter-Crawley 12. The allure of the saint: Late antique pilgrimage to the monastery of St Shenoute Louise Blanke 13. Excavating Meriamlik: Sacred space and economy in late antique pilgrimage Troels Myrup Kristensen 14. Pilgrimage and multi-religious worship: Palestinian Mamre in Late Antiquity Vlastimil Drbal Responses 15. Excavating pilgrimage Jas’ Elsner 16. Pilgrimage progress? Jan N. Bremmer Index